G’day Forts Fans! In preparation for next week’s 2v2 tournament , we are bringing you a balance update, some post battle stats, and for the map makers out there, some procedural shape tools.

Balance Changes

Firebeam: Travels up to 160 units through bracing only, vs 120 with armour first.
Repair Station: Repair is 50% faster close to station.
20mm Cannon: Added extra shot (8 -> 9). Increased effectiveness against sandbags (20% -> 60% normal damage).
Minigun: Reduced build cost (200 -> 125 metal).
Turbines: Reduced upgrade build time (30s -> 15s).
Swarm Missiles:: Reduce damage (-8%).
Hurricane: Reduced build buff (20% -> 10%).
Scattershot: Small amount of variation added to mg, miniguns and 20mm during Scattershot active (10% of normal).

Post Battle Stats

Now, at the end of a battle, players will be presented with stats showing:
– Battle duration.
– Reactor health.
– Damage inflicted.

Map Editor Shape Tools

Inspired by Forts community member Ximsa, we have added procedural shape tools to the map editor. To get started, run the editor and type terraform scripts/shapes.lua Help().

Build 2018/07/07a Changelist

Add: terraform map editor console command
– First parameter is a script filepath
– Remainder is script to execute within that LuaState
Add: scripts/shapes.lua to be used with terraform command:
– Help function, use: terraform scripts/shapes.lua Help()
– Rectangle, Circle, Ellipse, Star, Polygon and Cog shape
– Sine, stepped, and teeth waves
– Translate, Scale and Rotate functions
Add: set edges of all selected blocks
Add: reset all overridden edges when setting the edge set of an entire block, except blank ones
Add: blank edges are always overridden, so they are not removed when setting the block surface
Add: apply flag and owner changes to all selected blocks
Add: show stats for online games (game duration, reactor health, damage received)
Add: shift ranked search bracket down if player is new (down by 150)
Balance: firebeam travels up to 230 units through bracing only, vs 120 with armour first (hotfixed, see below)
Balance: Firebird’s firebeam goes for 3.2s (up from 2.5s)
Balance: Firebird’s firebeam travels up to 30 units deeper in bracing
Balance: repairs 50% faster close to repair station
Balance: add an extra shot to the 20mm (8 -> 9)
Balance: 20mm more effective against sandbags (20% -> 60% normal damage)
Balance: reduce Hurricane build buff from 20% to 10%
Balance: miniguns cheaper (200 -> 125 metal)
Balance: upgraded turbines faster to build (30s -> 15s)
Balance: add a small amount of variation to mg and miniguns during Scattershot active (10% of normal)
Balance: slightly reduce swarm missile damage (by 8%)
Balance: give the sniper a lower view floor in A Bridge Too Far and in Sitting on a bomb
Balance: increase firebird max Firebeam penetration by 30
Optimise: course radius test in PhysicsManager::UpdateProjectiles doesn’t factor in time step
Fix: use Windows mouse by default
Fix: can’t select an edge set when there is no block selected
Fix: surface item is still highlighted when returning to tab
Fix: going from props tab to surfaces tab, terrain tab is also highlighted
Fix: incorrect vertex snapping when moving multiple blocks
Fix: crash when selecting a device with an upgrade that doesn’t exist
Fix: messages from old sessions can be acted on and cause problems
Fix: crash in FileSelect::AddItem when overlay texture name isn’t found
Fix: anti-air collisions are missed in some circumstances
Fix: replay desync in ‘That sinking feeling’, WMD and other missions
Fix: crash in CommandInterpreter handling client_team message when client is not found
Fix: client connected via LAN not removed when timed out
Fix: LAN clients don’t time out
Fix: long display and item names cause buffer overflow crash in Multiplayer::SendSystemChat
Fix: unable to press mouse buttons or keys if game is not in focus during launch
Fix: ClientDatabase::HandleClientStatusMessage creates a client if an operation arrives on an invalid client
Fix: desync when client toggles ready status or team immediately before start
Fix: prioritise almost full lobbies in lobby search over ones with many
Fix: tips can be shown in TDM after player is defeated
Fix: subscribed Workshop items don’t appear correctly if SteamLibrary path includes non-ANSI characters (better Unicode support)
Fix: teams can get out of sync
Fix: changing team just before joining can cause a crash
Fix: Hurricane, Firebird and Warthog weapon mods not applied correctly
Remove: intro movie, now uses static image to avoid compatibility issues
Remove: disable infinite loop test to leave lobby (handled well enough by lobby filtering)
Remove: force use of windows mouse until changed to DirectInput

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a
Balance: reduce Firebeam penetration depth from 230 to 160
Balance: reduce Firebird’s Firebeam penetration from 260 to 180
Balance: allow laser to rotate twice as fast and still damage/ignite backbracing
Fix: mAchievements is invalidated when deleted from script (Motherlode completion crash)
Fix: What are tiers ? mod causes stack corruption; increase maximum number of materials to 100
Fix: unable to get oil drop in Underbelly
Fix: oil drop animations slightly offset from Achievements panel
Fix: unnecessary init.dat missing error in log file
Fix: standalone device costs are out (e.g. ap sniper, swarm)
Fix: going to map selection screen while host starts game breaks loading
Fix: client can rejoin when host quits, and gets stuck waiting

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-07-18)
Add: Sal Vaux link to Tournament video
Add: GetBlockCount() to let terraform scripts query all blocks
Fix: can’t fire missile group if first missile is reloading
Fix: can run out of resources if building neutral structures in map editor
Fix: crash when script GetBlockSelection() receives an invalid index

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-08-07)
Add: Sav Vaux link to Tournament XIII info and Workshop campaigns
Add: Don’t show news if player hasn’t started campaign
Fix: Lobby appears full in browser but actually has free slots
Fix: Lobby may not be exited correctly in case of network interruption

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-08-13)
Add: Sav Vaux link to Tournament XIII info and Workshop campaigns
Fix: memory corruption and related crashes in projectile sprite set up

HOTFIX 2018-07-09a (updated 2018-09-04)
Fix: language selection screen contains no text
Fix: crash when a weapon or projectile action can’t find a projectile type
Fix: console sometimes gets stuck in dropped position
– Make cross on console reset inactivepos to zero
Fix: ilLoadImage can fail to load PNG files for some users
– Fall back to loading all image types as a lump

Tournament XII

On July 14th we will be hosting a 2v2 tournament. Qualifying ends this weekend! Click
here to find out more!

Thanks for playing Forts. You can help us increase our player base by leaving a positive review on the game’s Steam page. We’d really appreciate it.

Cheers,
EWG