Forts News

G'day Forts fans!

Six 2021 Ranked medalists. Two survivors from last week's qualifier. Double elimination. Tournament XXI started off the new year with everything we could hope for. Classic matchups revisited and new rivalries formed. Strategic innovation and miraculous comebacks. Doorsnipes, massive explosions, sudden collapses, and above all outstanding play from all parties.

Congratulations to EtaN the first Forts Champion of 2022! The road to victory for the number one seed weaved like a smoking warhead. The first scare came in the second round against perennial nemesis Matteo. Then a loss in the semifinals against Noha who put on a clinic of efficient Architect defense. For the first time EtaN found himself in the position of underdog, needing to battle back from the lower bracket.

The prospect of sudden death did nothing to encourage a more conservative approach. But who anticipated an all-in portal mortar rush? The high risk, high reward strategy paid off and earned him a spot in the finals and a rematch against Noha. Mortars again carried the day as he took the next two matches with a series of pixel perfect shots.

Congratulations also to Noha and Firework, our runner-up and 3rd place finishers. While Noha's colorful journey onto the competitive scene has had its ups and downs his stellar performance here solidifies his position as a top player and title contender. Firework's consistent results have made him a permanent fixture within the top 10, reaching a high of 2nd last Season.

bl00dparasite is another competitor to watch moving forward. Advancing through qualifying with unique builds and playing seldom picked commanders they've demonstrated unconventional tactics can compete at the highest levels. Will this inspire the next wave of players?

The matches from Tournament XXI and the qualifying event are now available to download through the Featured tab of the Forts Replays menu. You absolutely need to see Matteo's spectacular comeback showing how the loss of your heavy weapons can be countered with map control.

As always, thank you to Ximsa, creator of Observer Tools. Thank you to our competitors for investing their time and effort into mastering the game, the mapmaking competition winners who provided two of the current battlegrounds, Bobereto host of the qualifiers.

And thank you Special commentator Noze and our tournament host, Project Incursus. The full cast of the live tournament is available now on his channel.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


[h2]Discord[/h2]
If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server to connect with other players, share strategies, create maps and mods, and for more information on upcoming events.

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Congratulations to Amburulo and bl00dparasite who emerged from a field of 12 to place 1st and 2nd respectively in qualifying. For their efforts they each earn a spot in Tournament XXI where they will compete against opponents comprised entirely of past medalists from the 2021 ranked seasons. The finalized bracket is as follows:

1. EtaN
   
2. Firework
   
3. Noha
   
4. Matteo
   
5. Geiger
   
6. KillerGruetze
   
7. Amburulo
   
8. bl00dparasite
   

In 3rd and 4th place respectively, Teutonick and Malme will be our alternates should any of the seeds be unable to attend. Thank you to Bobereto for hosting. You can watch the qualifying event on his channel, and the qualifying match replays are now available in the Featured tab in the Forts Replays menu.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Qualifier results Challonge bracket

Join us next week for Tournament XXI hosted by Project Incursus

• Tournament XXI starts Jan 15, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT Jan 16th (Eastern Australia)
  

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Tournament XXI Challonge
  
• The Official FORTS Discord
  

• 1v1 Death Match
  
• Double elimination
  
• Best out of 3 finals
  
• 15 minute time limit
  
• Tons of Guns enabled
  
• Moonshot enabled
  
• Portals enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Commander bans! Each player selects 1 commander to ban at the start of each game
  
• Failure to honour the bans will result in immediate disqualification
  
• Draws decided by core damage inflicted (total damage if same core damage)
  
• Max number of competitors to be determined
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Late or absent players forfeit their matches
  
• Use of exploits or bugs for self-charging or any other purpose is strictly forbidden.
  
• Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed
  

Project Incursus With special commentator Nozehed


The season 15 Ranked map pool.

Balls

Ledge Grab

Moorings

Stalactites 1v1

Desert Ruins

Battlegrounds 1v1

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

What better way to start off the new year than to crown a new 1v1 champion? We're extending an invitation to all 2021 Ranked medalists to compete for a chance to be the first winner of 2022. Anyone with a top 3 finish during the 2021 seasons (9-14, Leaderboards) will be granted automatic entry into Tournament XXI. If you did not earn a medal in 2021 fear not! A qualifying event will be held on January 8th at 3PM EST and hosted by Bobereto. Tournament XXI will be hosted by Project Incursus.

How will qualifying work?

Spaces in Tournament XXI will first be reserved for any 2021 Ranked medalists who wish to participate. Additional participants may gain entry by signing up and competing in the qualifying tournament.

How do you earn entry into Tournament XXI from the qualifying tournament?

The remaining spots will be awarded to the top finishers of the qualifying tournament with tiebreakers held as needed.

How large will the qualifying tournament be? How many tournament XXI spaces will be available?

This will depend on the total number of entries and the number of 2021 medalists who choose to enter. We have a minimum number in mind but if enough people register we may expand that at our discretion. If it becomes necessary to cap the qualifying event we may also offer some additional direct invitations on the basis of past tournament performances.

What format will the tournaments have?

This will also depend upon the number of participants. We may use a mix of single elimination and double elimination rounds depending on the final size of the tournament in order to fit time constraints. We may also give first round byes to top seeds if there is an asymmetrical bracket, such as 12 total players.

Please note however. As before, both tournaments will also feature commander bans. At the start of each match both competitors will be asked to select the commander they would like to ban. The two banned commanders may not be chosen by either player for that game on penalty of immediate disqualification.

Seeds? How will players be seeded?

Players in the qualifying tournament will be seeded first on the basis of their Season 14 ranked position. If they were unranked, consideration will also be given to placements in prior seasons, then past tournament performance, and finally hours in-game.

Tournament XXI seedings will first be assigned to any participating 2021 medalists on the basis of their season 14 position, and for the qualifying players on the basis of their results from the qualifying tournament.

If you have any additional questions please contact us on Discord.

In order to participate, you must do the following...

• Join the Official FORTS Discord
  
• Your name on Discord and Steam must match
  
• Inappropriate competitor names will not be accepted
  
• Send a direct message on Discord to Romerolagus#9918 and say you would like to join
  
• Entries will be accepted up until the the start of the qualifying tournament, Jan 8th 12PM PST
  
• Ranked medalists (top 3) from seasons 9-14 will be granted automatic entry into Tournament XXI
  
• All other entrants must compete in a qualifying tournament on January 8th at 12PM PST
  
• Max number of competitors to be determined
  
• The qualifying tournament results will be used to fill the remaining Tournament XXI slots
  

• Qualifier Tournament will be held Jan 8th, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT (Eastern Australia)
  
  
• Tournament XXI starts Jan 15, 2022 at...
  
• 12PM (PST West Coast USA)
  
• 3PM (EST East Coast USA)
  
• 8PM UTC/GMT (London)
  
• 9PM CET (France, Germany)
  
• 6AM AEDT Jan 16th (Eastern Australia)
  

• The FORTS Tournament lobby
  
• The Official FORTS Discord
  

• 1v1 Death Match
  
• Round format to be determined
  
• Best out of 3 finals
  
• 15 minute time limit
  
• Tons of Guns enabled
  
• Moonshot enabled
  
• Portals enabled
  
• Commanders enabled
  
• Commander bans! Each player selects 1 commander to ban at the start of each game
  
• Failure to honour the bans will result in immediate disqualification
  
• Draws decided by core damage inflicted (total damage if same core damage)
  
• Max number of competitors to be determined
  
• Check-in on Discord at least 15 minutes before tournament start
  
• Late or absent players forfeit their matches
  
• Use of exploits or bugs for self-charging or any other purpose is strictly forbidden.
  
• Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed
  

Bobereto Project Incursus With special commentator Nozehed


The season 15 Ranked map pool.

Balls

Ledge Grab

Moorings

Stalactites 1v1

Desert Ruins

Battlegrounds 1v1

Cheers,
EWG

Seasons greetings, Forts fans!

We hope that this festive update meets you all in fine spirits. As ever, we have updated the game with limited time holiday features, such as reskinned front end, holiday jingle and baubles, and festive tech buildings! Also, Forts is on sale for 50% off as part of the Steam Christmas Sale!



We hope you've been enjoying the game and our updates over the past year. It might appear from the outside that we have been quieter this year, than previous years, however, we can assure you that something big is brewing behind the scenes at EarthWork Towers. We know you're going to love it and can't wait to share it with you in 2022!

Happy Holidays from all of us at EarthWork Games!

Cheers,
EWG

G'day Forts fans!

Season 14 concludes as the first full season played with increased warhead upgrading times and faster clearing of smoke by repair stations. Who was able to adapt and who fell behind? Undeterred by these changes EtaN once again takes gold and his 5th title out of the last 6 seasons. Warhead and smoke changes also proved no impediment to Firework, another perennial top 5 player and spoiler to EtaN's nearly perfect Season 13, who adds a silver trophy to their collection. 3rd place experiences a shakeup though as Noha reaches the podium for the first time takes home a shiny bronze trophy.

While the top 3 places receive Gold, Silver, and Bronze, every player finishing within the top 20 will receive a Season 14 Medal. Congratulations!

1. EtaN
   
2. Firework
   
3. Noha
   
4. Teutonick
   
5. Matteo
   
6. Zupper
   
7. Malme
   
8. Bowser
   
9. Property Tax
   
10. Amburulo
    
11. YumKaaX
    
12. bl00dparasite
    
13. steffen
    
14. Geiger
    
15. tecru
    
16. Domi
    
17. Gruetze
    
18. Salzwerk
    
19. Finn
    
20. Kregazi
    

Unfortunately we must also address a far less pleasant topic this season. It had not occurred to us that we would need to specify some prohibited activities in ranked matches. Among these are match fixing, and more seriously account sharing and use of multiple accounts to engage in match fixing. Our expectation was that these behaviours were commonly understood by all players to be unacceptable. A player with access to two accounts and playing against themselves is in no way a reflection of the spirit of fair competition. Account sharing is also a violation of Steam's Subscriber Agreement and may result in account termination.

To end on a more uplifting note we wanted to highlight one player's ranked story. Salzwerk has provided German casts on Twitch for several official and community run tournaments, as well as match commentaries. Near the start of the year he began playing ranked himself and has been documenting the entire journey on his YouTube channel. From his very first games through the current season you can follow along and share his ups and downs, the excitement and frustration, and perhaps even the occasional dash of salt. Culminating in his first top 20 finish this season and a badge of his own to show off in lobbies. Well done!


Season 15 is already underway and will run through January 31st on the new six map rotation, now including the winner of Forts Map Making Contest III, Pyro's Battlegrounds 1v1.


If you haven't already, join our Forts Official Discord server for discussions on weapons, strategies and modding with our friendly and helpful community!

Cheers,
EWG