G’day Forts Fans! Quick update for you all, including balance changes to some of the weapons, and for all you Alienware users out there, new interactive lights feature. Thanks to Alienware for supplying the hardware to develop this feature.

AlienFX Lighting

If you’re the lucky owner of an Alienware system or RGB peripherals complete with AlienFX Lighting support, you will now be able to enjoy a whole new level of Forts interactivity, as the lights dynamically change based on what’s happening in battle. These features include:

• Lights solid white when a reactor is destroyed
  
• Lights flash light blue when commander is fully charged
  
• Lights flash blue when commander active
  
• Lights flash red when reactor is taking damage
  
• Lights flash orange when missiles fired by enemy
  
• Lights flash yellow if there are fires burning
  
• Lights show average reactor health (green -> red)
  
• Set lights to red or green based on local player’s ready status in lobby
  
• Host’s lights go green when all players are ready. Otherwise they remain red
  
• Reset to solid orange in pause menu to avoid distracting flashing
  
• Option to disable AlienFX
  

Build 2017-01-25a Changelist

Add: AlienFX lighting integration with context dependent colour and flashing
Add: alternative mouse input based on Windows cursor to avoid input lag on some systems (Options -> Input -> Mouse -> set Use DirectInput off)
Add: label to show meaning of speech bubble in lobby select screen
Balance: increase cost of firing emp and rockets (20/700->20/800, 20/700->30/1200)
Balance: increase cost to fire shotgun (30/500 to 30/800)
Balance: snipers and miniguns less vulnerable to shotgun (100% -> 25%)
Balance: miniguns less vulnerable to flak – same as machine gun (100% -> 25%)
Balance: emp, rocket, and shotgun more vulnerable to minigun (100% -> 160%)
Balance: increased incendiary radius of Firebird’s active warhead from 120 to 180
Optimise: Reduce Firebird active flaming missile trail length and effect lifespan
Fix: mine can be created off the ground surface when nearest foundation is above the ground
Fix: PhysicsManager::SnapToNode uses graphical position to snap to node positions, causing a desync when AI snaps to nodes, and when testing for proximity to enemy fort
Fix: struts with an attached device can be deleted by using delete key from a non-materials tab (e.g. technology)
Fix: limit length and display of Windows username as unique identifier for privacy
Fix: structure repair doesn’t cancel when metal supply can’t keep up
Fix: empty new lobby name can be entered and sticks after cancel, making it impossible to edit
Fix: If new lobby name is saved as empty the default is not restored
Fix: cursor visibility and pause issues when Steam overlay is made visible during loading
Fix: player fort allocation recorded too late, early drop outs cause an instant desync
Fix: Firebird active icon not shown over missile silos
Fix: restarting during commander active period causes commander icons to appear after building marked items
Fix: placing ground devices fails when snapped to a ground/grid intersection

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG