G’day Forts Fans! It’s been a long time coming but we’re pleased to be able to bring you Ranked Multiplayer Matchmaking! Also included in this update is a new device, the Repair Station, along with the usual fixes and improvements.
Ranked Multiplayer Matchmaking
Ever wanted to play Forts against another player with a similar skill level? Well, now you canI Players who opt to play ranked matches will have the result of their battles figure into their score, and their rank will be adjusted accordingly on the public Leaderboard. This should lead to more competitive battles, and a more competitive multiplayer scene in general.
Ranked matches have some restrictions that custom games don't:
- Symmetrical built-in maps only
- Only a few built-in mods may be selected
- AI settings are symmetrical
- Teams must be even and lobbies full
- You can't battle the same player more than 3 times in the last 10 games
- The host receives artificial lag based on the average ping
Players are scored like so:
- The larger the difference in score, the higher the gain the lower ranked player receives if they win, and the lesser the gain the higher ranked player receives
- Part of your score comes from how current your last match was
- Quitting early results in a forfeit, even if you are knocked out of TDM
- The host can quit without forfeit within 30s to correct game configuration
- In 2v2 if your team mate forfeits you can still go on to win
- Disconnecting results in losing points if you are losing (judged by damage)
- Desyncing results in no change to scores
To play a ranked match, follow these steps:
1 - Click ‘Multiplayer’ from the Main Menu
2 - Select ‘Ranked Match’ from the Lobby Select screen
3 - Check the box for the game type you want to play, 1v1 or 2v2, and click ‘Start’. You will get placed into a lobby with a player of a similar rank, or if none are available, start your own ranked server to await an opponent of similar rank.
1v1 Steam Leaderboard Link
2v2 Steam Leaderboard Link
Repair Station
In an effort to reduce APM and to add another element of strategy, we have created the Repair Station. Available as a device built directly from the Reactor, the Repair Station repairs damage to surrounding building materials and devices as and when they are damaged in exchange for an ongoing resource cost. Multiple Repair Stations can be built at a time, but should be placed with care to maximise their coverage, while also ensuring they don’t put too much of a strain on your economy. Armourdillo has the passive ability of having a larger repair redius for his Repair Stations.
FORTS Tournament XI
Also, a quick reminder that the FORTS Tournament XI is on June 9th, 6pm BST. Sign up is open now! Click here.
Build 2018-06-01a Changelist
Add: Ranked multiplayer with leaderboards (1v1 and 2v2)
Add: Repair Station device (Armourdillo has increased radius)
Add: New achievement for completing 10 ranked multiplayer games
Add: translations for maps and mods
Add: 'English names' check to file select screen to turn off translation
Add: category tag to uploaded mods
Add: link to tournament news item on main menu
Add: additional logging for workshop and file select to help track down issues
Add: increase away from keyboard time to 3 minutes lobby search
Balance: auto-defenses enabled in campaign hard mode
Balance: +50% minigun damage vs bracing
Balance: remove Hurricane active buff for swarms
Balance: add extra shrapnel to flak (9 -> 12)
Balance: make heavier weapons more expensive to repair (17% -> 33% of build cost)
Balance: boost damage caused by flaming projectiles (mortars, missiles, rockets up to +33%)
Optimise: trim down effect particle allowances and durations
Fix: players can get stuck in Playing state in lobby
Fix: translation of some strings incorrect or out of date
Fix: UpdateProjectiles attempting to delete out of range nodes
Fix: PhysicsManager::HandleCollisions copies vector of every node, allocating memory every frame
Fix: various unnecessary dynamic allocation of small amounts of memory
Fix: full lobbies are not sorted below open lobbies
Fix: use stable_sort for sorted effects to prevent fighting of overlapping particles
Fix: crash in editor: effect.Effect from mSortedEffects dereference crashes
Fix: in PlayerController::StartInstantReplay() host doesn't always recognise itself as such, not allowing pause in replay
Fix: missile flight paths show in replays
Fix: German text overlaps in replay screen
Fix: machine guns not overheating fast enough
Fix: overheating machine guns don't always produce steam
Fix: Ping string not translated due to conflict with unused table
Fix: Limit campaign display names to 19 characters and reduce font size
Fix: validate map foldername/filename in SinglePlayer when selecting a map
Fix: damage tracking for a projectile was cumulating the target type modified damage values
Fix: projectile damage_used tracking for damage multipliers == 0
Fix: Workshop download error message doesn't match errors from failing to download hidden items
Hotfix: crash when browsing ranked lobbies in progress using German language, and maybe other languages
Thanks for playing Forts!
Cheers,
EWG