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
Happy Birthday FORTS!
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 Gaming who 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 Tournament X : 1v1 Sign-Up Open Now
It's time to redefine who is the best FORTS player in the world! Do you have what it takes to get into the FORTS Hall of Fame? By popular request, this is a 1v1 tournament.
WHEN
Saturday May12th, 6pm EDT
(check-in opens at 5pm, please check-in on Challonge BEFORE 6pm)
(chosen randomly during the tournament (the list may change)
Abyss
Arctic Span
Balls
Boxed In
Catacomb
Hillfort
Ice Cave
Ledge Grab
Moorings
Outstretch
Penguin
Pillars
Skylands
Tundra
Vanilla
note: Earthwork Games reserves the right to make changes to this event as needed
FORTS Tournament IX Winners : Battlefield Engineers
16 two player teams battled for the title of FORTS Tournament IX Champion, and it was the Battlefield Engineers that were victorious for an amazing 2nd time in a row! Teammates Pyro and Trekjeft have made it known they are a force to be reckoned with!
Here are the results:
Supreme Champion : Battlefield Engineers
Second Place : Ballistic Skrubs
Third Place : Sim City Players
An edited stream of the tournament can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aVJ4IBQw6E
A big huge thanks to all of our competitors for their efforts, and a big shout out to Incursus and Frazzz for co-hosting the stream with [DEV] Nozehed and helping run the tournament.
The next FORTS Tournament X will be May 12th and will be 1v1. Stay tuned for more details here on Steam or on the FORTS Discord
