G’day Forts Fans! We are SUPER excited to announce phase one of Forts Steam Workshop support has been released! This has taken quite a bit of work, so there might be a few issues to iron out.

Along with this update comes a few fixes and balance changes that we hope you will appreciate. Players can now join even if ‘lock teams’ is on, but only on the team they started on, or an observer if they were not part of a team at start.

You will now be able to “Save & Upload” your maps from the Map Editor.

Players can browse maps using the Workshop menu item in the main menu or through Steam directly.

In multiplayer, if a host wants to play a Workshop map, all players can download the map by clicking the convenient download icon in the lobby. Other players can also suggest a map that the host can subscribe to.

As this is phase one, we will be adding more functionality in the near future, so stay tuned. We look forward to seeing some crazy fun maps from the community, and as always are keen to hear your feedback on the Steam Forums and Forts Discord.

If you have not yet tried your hand at making maps, we encourage you to check out the Forts Map Editor guide. We provide support on Discord. To improve the quality of your maps, please refer to Blammo’s excellent Style Guide.

Pro-Tip

Setting up the cameras for a map allows the player to start the battle with an overview, zoom into their side’s fort(s), and jump to the overview with the Spacebar. The map’s preview images are saved from these cameras, so without them set they won’t show off your work properly.

To do this in the editor, select the Terrain tab, adjust the camera appropriately, then press:

Ctrl + NumPad1 to set the starting camera for Team 1
Ctrl + NumPad2 to set the starting camera for Team 2
Ctrl + NumPad3 to set the overview camera

It’s a good idea to have the HUD visible when doing this. Also, keep in mind that ultra-wide screen users will have the top and bottom clipped, so it’s better to go a little wider than you think.

Change List

Add: Steam Workshop support for maps, in-lobby subscription
Add: allow late join when teams are locked, but not on AI teams
Balance: reduce sniper reload period
Balance: increase sniper hit points to take 5 machine gun rounds (up from 3)
Balance: increase build time of heavy mortar to 20s
Fix: weapons can be repaired while firing
Fix: password not set if Enter is not pressed in connect dialog
Fix: crash in replay menu when clearing invalid replays with a selection
Fix: shields under construction reflect lasers
Fix: neutral batteries don’t cause damage in campaign, affecting some fort collapses
Fix: gaps visible around edge of Vanilla Large during screen shake
Fix: terrain manager lines and cursor cross hair visible when taking screenshots
Fix: map editor preview screenshots do not have a reliable order
Fix: translations incorrect for some chat system messages
Optimise: large ground blocks have bounding circles in path of projectiles in Vanilla Large

Thanks for playing Forts!

Cheers,
EWG