Frostpunk 2has finally arrived after a six-year wait following the release of the original Frostpunk in 2018, and has turned the dial up to eleven in almost every aspect. Settlements now contain tens of thousands of citizens, campaigns contain multiple settlements to jump between and manage simultaneously, and building now follows a unique district-building mechanic, all of which exponentially increase the complexity of the game.
Review: Frostpunk 2
We do what we must for the greater good.
Newcomers and longtime fans of the franchise alike are entering a whole new world in Frostpunk 2, with tons of new systems, challenges and mechanics to learn and manage. We all could use some help leading humanity through the new ice age, so some starting tips and tricks would come in handy!
10Always Be Frostbreaking
It’s (basically) free real estate!
One of the most important new features in Frostpunk 2 is frostbreaking, which clears the way for new buildings by removing thick ice from the ground that prevent the city from expanding. It’s crucial to plan ahead in this game, and frostbreaking is no exception: when you have the resources (heatstamps and workforce), keep opening up new space by frostbreaking.
There’s nothing worse than receiving a surprise influx of survivors and realizing they have no place to stay, then having to subject them to disease because there’s no room for a housing district. The same goes for extracting all the resources from a plot and having no cleared land to build another extraction district on, putting a dent in your stockpiles of supplies.
9You Can Directly Interact With Factions
Click on the people at the bottom!
There are a total of eight different factions that can gain a following in New London and now there’s a plethora of options to take advantage of for each of them. At the bottom of the screen, click on the representative for whichever faction (higher reputation with a faction increases the number of possible actions) and take a look at the different moves you can make with them.
There are ways to increase your standing with each of the factions, as well as decrease their influence and fanaticism. But be careful when using these actions, because every action has a downside, whether it be losing trust, increasing violence or even causing deaths.
8You Need to Expand to Add Buildings
Why you can’t place your Research Station
Buildings allow players to add unique features and upgrades to the five different kinds of districts in the game, and are unlocked by completing projects in the research tree. Several of these buildings may not be available to use once researched, though, even with all the required materials to build them.
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The reason for this could very well be that you haven’t added an expansion to the district you’ve chosen yet. Each expansion adds a new slot for a building for each individual district, as well as expanding into three more tiles of space. Some districts start with a free slot, but others do not.
7Don’t Only Play the Mission Objectives
Slow and steady wins the race
This one might be a bit of a no-brainer for city-builder/RTS fans, but it’s still an important one: don’t limit your progression to one single resource or focus. The best way to ensure a bright future for New London is to play the field and maintain a slow and steady level of progression across the board, rather than in one place such as fuel or exploration.
The main objectives are great and necessary guides for making it through the campaign, but are also designed as checkpoints that activate new issues and events for the player. Basically, the more time you take making sure every part of your civilization is efficient, stockpiled and ready for an accident is the best strategy.
6Rules Are Harder to Pass Than Laws
Diplomacy, diplomacy
There’s a democracy of representatives from the different factions of New London, which vote on the suggestions that you bring to the floor in council meetings. But be sure to note that while most of the time you’ll be voting on normal laws in the Survival, City and Society branches, there’s also a chance you’ll vote on the much different set of laws under the Rule category.
The laws enacted in the Rule category are much more wide-reaching, giving the powers at be much higher regulation and surveillance abilities, as well as increasing their unchecked power. Before you go voting on a rule, be sure to remember that while laws only require a majority vote of 51 “yes” votes, Rules need to rule in unanimous favor, with a minimum of 67 votes to pass.
5Don’t Go Past The Max For Proximity Bonuses
Maximize your district snuggle sessions
One of the new mechanics in the district system is proximity modifiers, which provide districts with positive (or negative) effects based on their placement near other kinds of districts and geographical landmarks. In order for these to activate, a district must have three different hexes touching an adjoing district or area.
A tracker will appear when building or expanding that tells you the exact progress and rewards of a proximity bonus that you’re approaching. It’s an important source of efficiency and heat conservation in the game, so be sure not to waste space by placing more than three hexes next to an adjoining district.
4It’s Almost Impossible to Get Rid of a Faction
Don’t let them radicalize!
Denouncing and attacking a faction may seem like the right way to go about eliminating them from the picture, but it’s not nearly as easy as it seems. Every time you take a negative action against a faction, you risk increasing their Fervour, which is a direct reflection of their violent motivation for their cause.
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A faction can be below 10% percent of your population and still be a big issue if radicalized. For example, our run included the Faithbringers faction, who at full Fervour at 9% of the population began murdering innocent people in the streets by the hundreds.
3Always Be Stockpiling
The Whiteout is coming one of these days
It’s not enough to be meeting the bare minimum in the world ofFrostpunk; you need to be creating materials in excess in case of an emergency down the road. Whiteouts (the game’s apocalyptic months-long blizzards that put a literal freeze on productivity) can start approaching when you least expect it, forcing you to gear up and hunker down with little time to get all of your affairs in order.
You also never know when you’ll be tasked with an event or problem that requires an increase in consumption of one of your resources, and it’s best to make sure that one of these events doesn’t cause a city-wide decrease in productivity or survivability.
2If You Need Heatstamps, Ask A Friendly Faction
Raise Funds!
One of the best actions you can use in the sub-menus for each faction is the “Raise Funds” action. At the expense of some reputation with the selected faction, they will band together and provide you with an instant helping of heatstamps.
Heatstamps are a crucial part of the game and are given to the player at a slow rate. So, if you need some heatstamps for an emergency project as soon as possible, you’re able to always get help from a favorable faction.
1You Must Manually Choose Goods At Industrial Factories
Goods: useless until they aren’t
It took us way too long to figure out that Industrial Districts don’t automatically start producing Goods when they are built. In order to start Goods production, you have to select it in the pop-up menu for each individual district, forcing you to choose between producing Goods or Prefabs.
Thankfully, there are building upgrades that allow you to start producing both Prefabs and Goods at the same time in one district. Keep an eye out for them on the research tree and be sure to expand your districts for max efficiency!
