Frostpunk 2 is an incredibly challenging city-builder that requires you to expand and manage New London, one of the final bastions of humanity. If you're wondering the best ways to get started as the Steward, here's our handy Frostpunk 2 guide to help you along the way.
Frostpunk 2 Guide - 10 Tips and Tricks
Since the game itself doesn't have a tutorial for you to rely on, we've listed and explained the most important tips and tricks below for getting started in Frostpunk 2. These will help you get New London back on its feet as the new Steward.
How to get and use Prefabs
One of the first and most fundamental resources that you start with in Frostpunk 2 is a stack of Prefabs. These are what allow you to literally expand New London by building various Districts, constructing specialized Buildings inside of those districts, and managing their upkeep by repairing them when needed.
Prefabs are also used to help conduct scouting missions across the Frostlands and build Trails and Skyways to establish outposts, other settlements, and the retrieval of newly discovered resources.
Keeping a good stock of Prefabs at all times is crucial to maintaining the structural integrity of New London and other settlements. You can make more Prefabs by building Industrial Districts and using their materials to specifically manufacture Prefabs instead of Goods. Another option is scouting regions in the Frostlands that indicate sources of available Prefabs. Some of those sources may have strings attached, however, so choose wisely.
How to get and use Heatstamps
Your other fundamental resource for expanding and maintaining New London is Heatstamps (also known as "Scraps" in the prologue). This also serves as a sort of universal income, as you need it not only for all types of construction but also for Frostbreaking, scouting Frostland regions, researching ideas, and funding various factions.
As long as New London is up and running, your supply of Heatstamps will gradually replenish as the city collects them weekly from every community. The higher your population grows, the more Heatstamps you'll earn each week. Those earnings can further be influenced by satisfying your city's current Goods Demand, constructing certain Buildings, and passing certain Laws.
You can also request extra Heatstamps from particular factions, preferably ones who favor you, but do so wisely as this can potentially cause tension where you don't need it.
Unlocking the Idea Tree
The key to truly expanding and upgrading New London's technological potential is by unlocking the Idea Tree. To do so, you first need to build at least one Research Institute in an established Housing District. Once you've done that, the Idea Tree and all of its sub-categories will become available to you, and you'll want to start researching ideas as soon as possible.
Keep in mind that each idea will cost you 50 or more Heatstamps to research. You can track the progress of a researched idea via the ticker on the bottom right side of your HUD. Once it reaches 100%, you'll receive a notification that a new idea is ready to be put into action.
As you negotiate laws in the city's Council Hall, some factions will stipulate researching ideas that align with their views. If you agree to one or more, you'll need to start researching them as soon as possible as you will have a deadline as well. If you fail to meet it, your relations with that faction will worsen as the result of a "broken promise".
To increase the speed of your research, you can build more Research Institutes in other Housing Districts (recommended), or unlock the Tesla City Research Outpost west of New London. Employing Frostlander teams there will boost your research speed significantly, however at the loss of spare teams to use.
Best Ideas to Research First
When it comes to expanding New London's capabilities, knowing which ideas to prioritize first is paramount when you're constantly against the clock. Based on our experiences so far, we recommend researching the following ideas first:
- Generator Upgrade I (Heating category) - Choose whether the Generator will use Adaptive Pumps to make use of any available fuel source (i.e. - coal, oil, steam) or Oil Pumps that exclusively prioritize oil.
- Be aware that this upgrade CANNOT be undone once you've researched and implemented either option.
- Coal Mines (Heating category) - Choose whether to create Dust Coal Mines or Blasting Coal Mines.
- Sawmills (Resources category) - Choose whether to create an Untreated Sawmill or Mechanised Sawmill to produce a charcoal alternative for fuel from wood.
- Filtration Towers (Resources category) - Choose whether to create Moss-Filtration Towers or Ventilation Towers to help combat Squalor.
- Scouts' Headquarters (Frostland category) - Choose whether to create Survivalists' Headquarters or Scouts' Headquarters to help decrease Exploration time and reduce Territory threat levels in surrounding regions.
- Logistics Bays (Frostland category) - Choose whether to build Vanguard Logistics Bay or Automated Logistics Bay to provide more Frostland teams for scouting regions.
- Hospitals (Society category) - Choose whether to build a Teaching Hospital or a regular Hospital to help combat Disease spread by cold and other illnesses. This leads to fewer deaths, which impacts your Trust gauge.
- Watchtowers (Society category) - Choose whether to build Surveillance Watchtowers or regular Watchtowers to provide more Guard Squads which help combat increases in Crime and dissolve protests.
- Emergency Medical Hub (Hubs category) - Research and build an Emergency Medical Hub (same across all factions) that further helps combat Disease.
Unlocking the Council Hall
Another building that you can unlock early on in New London's Central district is the Council Hall. This will allow you to organize delegate sessions with the city's communities and vote on different laws that will shape the direction of New London's future.
When the Council is in session, you can click on its respective button on the bottom left side of your HUD to pull up your current options. There are four categories of potential legislation for you to select, but they only become available when the delegates request a vote for them.
Once you choose a law that you want to pass or shoot down, select 'Propose' to bring it to the Council floor for a vote. This will also pre-emptively affect your Trust meter, so choose carefully. Before you do, there is also a 'Negotiate' option that can allow you to encourage a particular faction to vote either for or against it by agreeing to one of three optional stipulations. They range from researching preferred ideas to allowing that faction to decide the next law to be voted on, to providing them Heatstamp funds (hooray bribery).
Politics in Frostpunk 2 is one of the most challenging and meticulous aspects of the game, as keeping the city's factions appeased is no easy task. You'll often find yourself at odds with one or another, as there are little to no instances where everyone agrees on something.
Pick your battles carefully, and try to avoid letting one or more factions become hostile towards you. If they do, they'll start organizing protests that can effectively shut down districts of your city, and if they obtain enough support from the populace they can and will overthrow you.
Scouting the Frostlands
As you start building out into the tundra surrounding New London, one thing that you'll want to do as soon as possible is frostbreak a path to one of the three Old Waystations found around the outskirts of the city. One is south of New London, one is on the west side, and the other is found in the northeastern area near the Shallow Iron Vein deposit.
Once done, build a Logistics District on top of the Old Waystation to make it usable again. This will unlock the option to scout the regions surrounding New London using Frostlander teams. Doing so is essential to preparing for certain objectives in each chapter, such as finding Oil, preparing for the Whiteout, uncovering the ruins of Winterhome, etc.
Not only that, you can discover several new resource deposits that can provide more Prefabs, Materials, Coal, Food, Workers, and so on. However, be aware that you only have a limited amount of Frostlander teams available to you, and certain expeditions will cost more teams. Certain regions are deemed "dangerous" and will cause you to lose some of those teams if you don't pre-emptively set up a scouting station near it.
If you improve your relations with the Frostlanders and Pilgrims specifically, they can help you by providing extra Frostlander teams. Building Logistics Districts at all three Old Waystations around New London will do the same.
Best Frostland Regions to Scout First
Scouting the Frostlands as soon as you're able to is pivotal to not only progressing the story but also uncovering and taking advantage of absolutely essential resources. Knowing where to start can be tricky, so based on our experience so far, we recommend scouting the following locations first:
- 'Mountains' west of New London - Along with coal and a prefab outpost at Tesla Crater that you can use to supply New London, this region contains the Tesla Research Outpost, which once occupied can boost your Idea research speed substantially.
- Frozen Bay - Directly northwest of New London; contains the Fishing Village outpost that can give your food supply a big boost.
- Desolate Coast - Unlocks Old Dreadnought settlement where your primary source of Oil is located for the story objective. Also has a secondary oil source at the Oil Cistern at the southern border of the region.
- Foothills - Directly north of New London; this region contains a huge coal deposit at the Abandoned Mine Outpost that can help supply the city, along with Cores from the Rusted Engine, and Frostlanders from the Old Observatory to provide a population/workforce boost.
Expanding New London (frostbreaking, districts, buildings)
The first half of Frostpunk 2 is all about expanding and making New London powerful and resilient enough to withstand the worst of the elements, including Whiteout storms, and also providing all necessities needed for your ever-growing populace.
As soon as you start Chapter 1, you'll want to immediately start frostbreaking to the most important areas around the city. This includes the Shallow Coal Seams southeast of the city center, the Frozen Forests in the central south area for Materials, and the Fertile Soil deposits either on the southwestern or northwestern side. Do be careful not to frostbreak too much at once, as doing so will eat up your supply of Heatstamps.
The best Districts to build first are your essential Extraction districts for Coal, Materials, and Food. These will pave the way for building Industrial Districts that produce Goods and Prefabs. However, make sure to build at least one or two Housing Districts also to help minimize the number of people exposed to the cold.
Finally, build your first Logistics District at one of the Old Waystations as soon as possible, so you can get scouting parties out on the road.
Repairing and upgrading the Generator
The first big objective in bringing New London up to speed is to repair its broken-down Generator, which serves as the central hub for heating the entire city. Heat is one of your most precious necessities in a neverending winter, so you want to address this issue as soon as possible.
Starting out, the Generator is represented by a bright red icon, indicating that it's disabled. To make the initial repair to the Generator, frostbreak your way to the nearby Shallow Coal Seam deposits and build an Extraction District on top of them. This will start producing a sufficient amount of fuel. Next, select the Generator in the center of the city to bring up its submenu.
You now should be able to turn on the Generator by hitting the toggle switch on the bottom left side. This will start generating heat for the city and bring down the overall demand. Soon enough, however, you'll need to upgrade the Generator so that it can handle a higher demand, use different sources of fuel, etc.
To be able to upgrade the Generator, you need to unlock the Idea Tree and research each tier of 'Generator Upgrade' ideas under the 'Heat' category, such as Surplus Injectors. The stronger the Generator becomes and the more fuel you provide for it, the better it can handle extreme temperatures and keep your citizens warm and healthy.
Finding and securing a source of Oil
After you successfully repair the Generator, eventually the city will take notice of the nearby Coal deposits running low, and you'll then be tasked with finding a reliable, permanent source of fuel in the Frostlands that can help replace Coal (though making Charcoal is an option as well).
You'll need to send your available Frostland teams out west to the Desolate Coast, which will be your first discovery of Oil, and allow you to establish a settlement there called Old Dreadnought. Once you set up sufficient Extraction districts, you'll be able to start transferring oil back to New London to use as its newest source of reliable fuel.
Making difficult choices and sacrifices
One of the most challenging aspects of Frostpunk 2 is the neverending sequence of difficult choices that you're forced to make when they appear on your screen. These choices are strongly influenced by a variety of factors, such as how you decide to expand New London, necessities such as food and heat, the technology you prioritize, the laws you pass, and the factions that you must either placate or rebuff any number of times.
One thing to always keep in mind is that just like its predecessor, Frostpunk 2 is designed to be unforgivingly brutal, especially from a moral and ethical standpoint, and that carries into virtually every aspect of the game. The survival of New London as a whole is your goal, no matter what, and that can mean labor exploitation (even children), questionable methods of producing food, employing police forces to dissolve protests, and more. To survive a subzero apocalypse, you have to be willing to do what's necessary, even if it means sacrificing the weak for the strong.
Additional Guides for Frostpunk 2
- Best Factions to earn trust with in Frostpunk 2
- How to get more workforce in Frostpunk 2
- All Core Locations in Frostpunk 2
- How to make more Coal in Frostpunk 2
- All endings in Frostpunk 2
Be sure to check out our other for Frostpunk 2 at Pro Game Guides, like our Frostpunk 2 Review.
Published: Sep 19, 2024 06:46 am