Forts

[Asid]

“Forts is a physics-based RTS where foes design and build custom bases, arm them to the teeth and blast their opponent's creations to rubble.

Official Site: Here
Official forum: Here
Steam: Here
Youtube Channel: Here


Single-player, Online Multi-Player, Online Co-op


launch Trailer




About This Game
Forts is a physics-based RTS where foes design and build custom bases, arm them to the teeth and blast their opponent's creations to rubble.

Build an armoured fort in real-time and arm it to the teeth. Collect resources, develop your tech-tree, unlock advanced weapons to target your opponent's weak points, and feel the satisfaction as their fort comes crashing down.


Features

•   Build forts of any size and shape, as you fight
•   Up to 8 players in online multiplayer with co-op and team death match
•   28 mission single-player campaign
•   Challenging skirmish mode
•   Unlockable tech-tree
•   Various materials and hidden rooms
•   Ten unique weapons
•   Three factions
•   Commander characters with unique game-changing abilities
•   Powerful replay system
•   Built-in level editor
•   Designed from the ground up to support mods

[Asid]

Introducing Commanders

Commander characters are a new feature for Forts, available in multiplayer and skirmish modes. Each of the nine Commanders have passive abilities, active throughout the battle, and a powerful dynamic ability which, once charged, can change the tide of battle. Choose the commander to compliment your strategy. More to be revealed soon!



Eagle Eye - Eagle Empire
Passive Abilities
•   Laser sights - Snipers are fitted with adjustable laser sights.
•   Increased accuracy - Machine Gun and Minigun spread is reduced.
•   Bigger magazines - Machine Gun and Miniguns magazines capacity increased

Dynamic Ability
•   Explosive bullets - Snipers, Machine Gun and Miniguns fire devastating bursts of explosive shells.



Architect - Dragon Army
Passive Abilities
•   Cheap materials - Fort building materials have a reduced cost.
•   Higher storage capacity - Batteries and Metal Stores enjoy increased capacity.

Dynamic Ability
•   4x build speed - Weapons, devices and structures build at 400% normal rate.



Armourdillo - Iron Bear Alliance
Passive Abilities
•   Cheap Armour - Armour and Doors are less expensive to build.
•   Quick open Doors - Doors open and shut at twice normal rate.

Dynamic Ability
•   Rapid Repair - Weapons, devices and structures are repaired at an increased rate, and for half normal cost.

About EarthWork Games

EarthWork Games is an independent game developer based in Brisbane, Australia. With over fifty five years of game development experience between us, we are eager to create games that we enjoy playing, and enjoy making.

[Asid]

Developer Diary - The Foundations

Part 1 of the Dev Diary looks at the inception of Forts, and how it was brought to life. We talk about how we came to work on the project, and features some old build footage from the archives. Check out how Forts came to be...




Dev Diary Part 2 - The Architect

G'day Forts Fans! We're making good progress on an update that will enable the AI on 2v2 and larger maps. In the meantime, we've got another Dev Diary for you, this time concentrating on Tim, and how he built the engine from scratch, and balanced it with his other interests and arrival of his new son. Check it out!

[Asid]

Happy Birthday FORTS!
20 APRIL - [DEV] NOZEHED



Happy Birthday FORTS!

It's hard to believe it's been a year already. Time flies when you're having
fun!

From all of us here at EarthWork Games, we'd like to give all of our players a huge thanks for your support. We literally could not have done it without you. Your feedback on the forums and discord has been super helpful in making FORTS even more fun now than when it launched.

A big thanks to the YouTubers and Twitch Streamers including Project Incursus & Smash Gamingwho have been making heaps of cool videos and streams, and getting involved with the tournaments and community.

Thanks to the map and mod makers who are creating great content for the game that we never anticipated. In particular big thanks to Dineth the Destroyer for helping us with maps prior to launch and to Skoddle who's been helping us with coding over the last year.

We'd also like to thank our playtesters for their time and effort in testing game tweaks and features. You are highly valued members of our community.

Now, for some interesting stats on the game since launch:
•   FORTS Launched April 19th, 2017 live on Facebook
•   200,000 units sold so far!
•   Big streamers love FORTS including Jack Septic Eye, Baron Von Gamez, Blitz, Lirik and Draegast
•   We're up to our tenth FORTS Tournament with more to come.
•   On Nov 1st, 2017 FORTS won an Australian Game Development Award[gamesweek.melbourne].
•   We released some Dev Diaries that go behind the scenes.
•   FORTS is now playable in 14 different languages!
•   35 Updates have been released, not including hotfixes.
•   Most popular commander: Hurricane
•   Players completed campaign on hard: 217
•   Battles fought: 1.1 million
•   Hours spent: 1.5 million
•   Major features added since launch
o   June 2017: Multi-fort AI
o   Sept 2017: Steam Workshop Maps
o   Oct 2017: Six new weapons (Tons of Guns)
o   Dec 2017: Three new BPO Commanders
o   Feb 2018: Steam Workshop Mods
What's next?

Amongst other things and the usual balancing, bug fixing and tweaks, we're working on ranked multiplayer matchmaking as well as campaign mods. Even more to come in the future!

Thanks again everyone, and remember - have fun playing FORTS!

Cheers,
EWG

[Asid]

Tons of Guns 1.10 Update
20 APRIL   - [DEV] BEEMAN



G'day Forts fans! This one year anniversary update looks small compared to the last one, but packs a punch. Read on.

We have addressed some of the pressing balance issues. The cannon has received a buff to its splash damage, and the swarm missiles which dominated the recent tournament are now more costly to build and fire. Eagle Eye receives some love in the form of quick build snipers and more damaging explosive rounds. Upgraded mines produce more metal and turbines are cheaper to upgrade. Check out the full list below, and practice up if you're participating in the upcoming tournament.

In addition the networking has had some optimision, by packing commands together. This reduces the number of messages sent, and total bandwidth used. The game will also have a short time window to queue commands, smoothing the simulation on poor connections.

A bug which the AI was exploiting to build structure while short of resources has also been fixed. Thanks to Romerolagus for reporting that one.

Build 2018-04-20a Changelist
Add: reset nickname button in lobby search
Balance: reduce Eagle Eye sniper build times by 50%
Balance: increase Eagle Eye explosive round damage (+20%) and radius (+12%)
Balance: reduce 20mm fire energy cost from 2500 to 2000
Balance: increase minigun damage multiplier vs rockets/shotguns from 1.6x to 3x
Balance: increase cannon splash damage (+33%) and splash radius (+15%)
Balance: increase upgraded mine metal income from 5 to 6, energy consumption from -7 to -10
Balance: reduce upgraded turbine metal cost from 200 to 100
Balance: swarm build cost increased from 400 to 500
Balance: swarm fire cost increased from 1000 to 1800 energy
Balance: increase anti-air machine gun accuracy (reduced std dev from 8 to 7)
Balance: reduce sandbags hitpoints from 300 to 250
Optimise: Buffer commands into one at the host, flushed by tick message
Optimise: piggy back time sync message on ping message
Fix: extrusions sometimes don't turn out correctly on poor network connections
Fix: simulation can stutter on poor network connections
Fix: ping is sent as a reliable message, causing blowouts during congestion
Fix: affordability of a brand new strut is not tested for, allowing AI to build when it is short of resources
Fix: crash when AI activates their commander then accesses the current script state in the same update
Fix: crash when structures fall outside of the map
Fix: crash when dereferencing expired sorted effect
Fix: human assist AI unnecessarily tracks player created nodes
Fix: Error messages don't remain red in console
Fix: World::ActivateCommander can execute and crash without commanders being enabled
Fix: Firebird not making flaming mortars when active
Fix: missiles targeted by auto air-defences while they are still reaching the attack phase
Fix: mod subscribe & download flow issues
Fix: minigun, shotgun and rocket do not make the correct upgrade sound
Fix: FormatChatString displays garbage characters in a replay when player was in the lobby

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

[Asid]

Commander Update
Fri, 9 October 2020

Check out what new powers you favourite commander has gained!



G'day Forts fans!

Today we have an big update for you all. We've been keeping track of the state of the commander meta, as it became obvious that only a select few were being used by the best to increase the chance of victory, specifically Architect, Overdrive and especially Pinchfist. Over the last couple of months we have been working hard on buffing and re-balancing the commanders, and have added a host of exciting abilities and powers to make them more viable. Check out the list below, with new abilities listed on bold...


Read on....

[Asid]

Commanders Invitational Tournament


Join us to celebrate the recent Commander Update with this exclusive tournament!



G'day, Forts fans!

Last week we launched a huge commander update, and to showcase the new commanders powers and abilities available we are hosting an invitation-only tournament. Join us to watch some of the best Forts players in the world take each other on in a 2v2, double-elimination contest and see how your favourite commander measures up!

Format
Date: Sunday 1st November
Time: 12:00 PDT / 15:00 ET / 21:00CET
Mode: 2v2
Teams: 8
Format: Double Elimination
Maps: TBD

Teams
Firebird: Bobereto & Bowser
Warthog: LancenShield & Felix
Eagle Eye: SamsterBirdies & Tanya
Armourdillo: 42scientist & Noxx
Shockenaugh: LivelyEngineer & RageAlert
Scattershot: KingBenjai & Romerolagus
Phantom: Alexc & Cronk
Spook: Joepocalypse & M4r0x



Streams
Joining Nozehed on commentary duties will be the dulcet tones of Incursus and the hype of Synergy, fresh from his own 2v2 tournament from last month. Both will be streaming the tournament on their respective channels.

Project Incursus https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLt1h4r2RaDFc4J1fujvCGg
Synergy Gaming TV https://www.twitch.tv/synergygamingtv/

Artwork
EWG artist Blammo has produced this announcment's art as part of Inktober. To see more re-imaginings of some of the Forts commanders, you can follow EWG's Twitter account here https://twitter.com/EarthWorkGames or Blammo here https://www.instagram.com/nick_5mith/

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

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

[Asid]

Happy Hallowe'en!
Wed, 28 October 2020



As darkness falls across the land, Forts takes on a spooky re-brand!



A deadly mist now consumes this land
Where once a mighty fort did stand
Before haunted structures aged a thousand years
Sent shells and warheads to resurrect your fears

And fight as you might to remain standing
Cursed bullets and bombs on your base were landing
Until no repair work of any amount
Could save you from Sal Vaux, The Count...

Haunted Main Menu



Cursed Landscape



Wishing you a happy Hallowe'en,
EWG

[Asid]

Forts Invitational Commander Tournament - Winners!
Tue, 3 November 2020



G'day, forts fans!

On Sunday night we hosted the Forts Invitational Commander Tournament. Renowned community members partnered up to take each other on in a double elimination knockout competition. Each team committed to competing with a single commander throughout the tournament, to see which of the recently updated characters would come out on top.

After sixteen punishing battles expertly called by Incursus, Synergy and Nozehed, we had our champions. Congratulations to Samster Birdies and General Tanya, who took Eagle Eye to victory against second place Lancenshield and Felix, playing as Warthog. Matteo and 42 scientist's Armourdillo came in a valiant third.

Thanks go to all the competitors for their participation in the tournament and help with the commander update. Big shout out to Incursus and Synergy for their casting and commentating contributions, and to 42 scientist for helping us with the smooth running of the operation behind the scenes.

Streams
Missed the action? No problem! Catch up with these links:

Project Incursus
SynergyGamingTV

Discord
If you haven't already, sign up to the Forts Official Discord to join our growing community of friendly, helpful and knowledgeable players and raise your game.

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG

[Asid]

Happy Holidays - Update 1.9
Tue, 22 December 2020

Wishing you happy holidays with some festive cheer and tweaks and fixes!


Seasons greetings, Forts fans!

Finally, 2020 is at an end, and to celebrate we are bringing you some festive cheers and a small update. We have brought back the holiday features with reskinned front end, holiday jingle and baubles, plus some tweaks and fixes.

2020 Retrospective

We hope you have been enjoying escaping the real world by jumping into the Forts world, with the may additions we have brought to the game over the last year. Let's have a look back at some of the highlights.

Commander Update



A few months back we released a huge free update for the commanders of Forts. This included huge rebalancing and a swathe of additional powers and abilities. As a result, we've seen the competitiveness of the fifteen commanders spread more evenly, with players moving away from the characters seen as traditionally strong, to see what the updated commanders have to offer. Click here to find out more!

Pro-HUD



While the vanilla game and the Moonshot DLC had their own unique HUDs, we wanted to experiment with our first mini-DLC. This re-skin adds a new lick of paint to the main console, reactor readouts, commander gauge and replay panel, as well as adding unique versions of these for the Moonshot HUD. This was perfect for players who wanted to refresh their Forts experience with a slick visual overhaul, while also supporting us as developers, for which they also received an in-game medal. Click here to find out more! https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/410900/view/2198263022930076515

Steam Trading Cards



It only took three years, but Forts trading cards finally arrived on Steam, and boy did players enjoy them. Featuring a host of commanders, they were being traded immediately. Along with those, come emoticons, and steam backgrounds, my personal favourite. Click here to find out more!

Changelist 2020-12-22a

Add: console Enter, Backspace, Paste and Quit (for cmdlist command) rebind-able keys
- found at end of input/all keys
Add: log time to load environment resources for dropout debugging
Add: CPU info logging for performance debugging

Improve: when auto recessing, don't consider devices being scrapped
Improve: Updated to latest fmod 2.01.06
Improve: use translated ReplayCorrupt string
Improve: some Chinese translations, mostly commander descriptions
Improve: rename English 'Toggle mute chat' to 'Mute chat'

Fix: crash when viewing replays of games with a timer
Fix: (Eagle Eye) laser sight tip can show twice in quick succession
Fix: (Warthog) Howitzer doesn't receive 2 second reload reduction
Fix: (Warthog) second chance icons aren't removed cleanly when weapons are deleted or disconnected
Fix: mute chat button sometimes fails due to double clicking
Fix: pressing keys while binding in input screen jumps within the list
Fix: the console will process some keys while the IME is open
Fix: players who re-join after elimination can't see the commander panel
Fix: 'Host 5 moonshot lobbies' awarded to non-owners through ranked hosting
Fix: (Pyromaniac) AI sometimes doesn't build delete the EMP, therefore not building the cannon
- Add DD_* result codes to DeleteDevice* script functions
Fix: logging of AI DESTROY_DEVICE actions incorrect for ground devices
Fix: AI instantly gives up trying to build a ground device if it's obstructed by an existing one
Fix: a period in the installation path will prevent some textures from loading, or cause a crash
Fix: timeouts when loading dlc environments due to decompression of dlc packs on slow computers
Fix: slow loading of environment packs can cause some players to drop out
Fix: smoke doesn't block machinegun AA in Moonshot campaign
Fix: Pack does not allocate enough memory in mTempFile to load the largest pack file
Fix: host chat is not logged to own replay
Fix: crash when double clicking maps, replays and training maps with missing required maps/mods
Fix: EnableDeviceUpgrade and EnableWeaponUpgrade doesn't handle * wildcard properly
Fix: multiple upgrade icons issue when first upgrade device is disabled
Fix: workshop screen doesn't cycle through map previews, shows cycle button for mods
Fix: uniform weapon spread is inconsistent
Fix: clicking on a checkbox fails to correctly check and uncheck many settings
Fix: (Drop the Bomb) buildable ground above bombs has non-buildable surface

Happy Holidays from all of us at EarthWork Games, and we'll see you in 2021 with more vaccines for your boredom!

Cheers,
EWG

[Asid]

Forts/Moonshot Update 1.10
Sun, 7 February 2021



G'day Forts fans! As always we are constantly trying to improve the performance and experience of Forts. Today brings a mixed bag of improvements and fixes, as well as a couple of features added to the 'Alert to new lobbies' setting in the Lobby selection screen. We appreciate your continued support, bug reports and suggestions.

Changelist 2021-02-06

Add: sound effect and highlight when a new lobby appears in lobby select screen with Alert to New Lobbies enabled
Add: a count of lobbies found to the Lobby Select screen's Online tab

Improve: remove steam IDs from ranked replays
Improve: prefix ranked replays with the season
Improve: (Armourdillo active) new sounds for AP Sniper and fixed its sounds cutting off when spammed
Improve: (Magnabeam) hit sound has more variation to help solve loud sfx during accelerator
Improve: add error message when a weapon's inverted type doesn't exist
Improve: add logging of monitor selection for debugging
Improve: eliminate weapon overheating when rapid fire is enabled
Improve: change email address to support@earthworkgames.com
Improve: add player steam id to crash and desync filenames
Improve: 'alert to new lobbies' set in Lobby Select screen is triggered for ranked lobbies
Improve: only show cursors in replays when position commands are being received
Improve: (Wedge) updated to have proper AI
Improve: remove featured replays that no longer exist on ftp on game startup
Improve: Raknet socket failure is not fatal to Steam multiplayer
Improve: hide "Player Name" text in reporting dialog for ranked matches
Improve: various map fixes

Fix: (Magnabeam) field projectile isn't recreated when the beam returns from off-screen
Fix: (Magnabeam) impact effect appears on portals
Fix: (German) translation of 'Capture'
Fix: (Chinese) various translations
Fix: ranked score logging accidentally enabled and spamming log
Fix: replays with missing local maps are considered invalid (old or corrupt). They can't be loaded and will get cleaned up if players click "delete invalid replays".
Fix: crash when a file prefixed with 'language-' exists in the mod folder
Fix: (Firebird active) flaming trail sounds missing
Fix: (Armourdillo active) AP minigun passes through many shields
Fix: (Buster active) flaming and flaming damaged DU warheads don't have DU projectile
Fix: when projectiles hit a shield, penetrate effects are not executed according to momentum; it's always impact
Fix: PhysicsManager::ExecuteProjectileAction doesn't apply speed loss to surviving projectiles
Fix: when the player doesn't have the resources to build a ground device, the error effect is at the origin
Fix: (Blastdoor) missing audio
Fix: invalid versioned featured replays appear in the featured replays list
Fix: game crashes if item download completes after being kicked from a lobby
Fix: terrain edges are drawn twice due to display list generation in both background and foreground
Fix: terrain filling and edge display lists assume current blend function and colour
Fix: (BreakStructure) when PlaceNode fails the link is not correctly destroyed
Fix: (replay desync) keyframes can be made in the middle of messages received for the current frame
Fix: (replay desync) temporarily braced node positions are not consistently updated after a keyframe is restored
Fix: disconnected player reporting issues

Remove: (ranked) Capture as an option due to lack of popularity