The studio 11 bit stated that the new scenario The Last Autumn for the city-building simulator Frostpunk would be challenging and even suggested starting on an easy difficulty level. And it turned out to be... or not?! In this guide, you will learn how to complete The Last Autumn on the first try, right on normal difficulty, and get the achievement Home for Christmas.
Before You Begin:
The Last Autumn is an extremely scripted scenario designed for a strictly defined order of actions. Following the plan outlined below will lead to victory.
With it, a new endless mode, Builders, appeared in the game, in which you build the generator already in the middle of winter.
The developers changed the NPC priority from building structures to laying roads. If you start construction on one end of the map and then, without waiting for completion, lay a road on the other end, then all idle NPCs and builders will run to the other end to lay the road. And only then will they return. So, lay roads at night.
If at the beginning of the game you scatter NPCs across different objects and road construction, this will lead to a critical loss of time. Do everything sequentially — road, building, road, building.
The Frostlands are empty. You will find some food rations and two steam cores in them. Closer to the end of the scenario, a hundred or two of wood and steel. Keep in mind that you don't need to touch others' belongings, don't deceive the old man, and don't go to the icy plateau (there's simply nothing there).
The first base setup task will be counted as completed when all requirements except for the gatherers are met. That is, you don't need to research the Gatherers' Base branch until the middle of the scenario at all.
Start exploring the Frostlands only after you finish the first stage of generator construction. Until then, 15 (!) pairs of working hands are more important on the construction site. Equip the expedition only when you are informed that an emergency has occurred at Site 107 and you need to search for survivors. Among them will be a dozen engineers, so you don't need to order them from the mainland, which will pay off.
Raw food is a bottleneck in the scenario. At a bad pace, it will be lacking, and there will be a temptation to equip outposts to deplete the hunting grounds (four points in the Frostlands with food supplies). However, leave them for the last days of the scenario. It is much more profitable to fish at two piers or one but around the clock.
In the lower corner of the map, in the rift, there is coal. Do not mine it; this is your strategic reserve for the end of the game.
Researching the fast gathering branch at the beginning is not necessary; you can unlock it later. It's better to start gathering with bare hands than to wait for the workshop construction and technology research, as the time saved from speeding up gathering compared to manual labor will only be 2-3 hours.
We do not recommend adopting laws about the prayer house, cemetery, pub, or baths at the very beginning. They will distract a lot of valuable resources at the start; deal with this when you establish the delivery of basic resources from the mainland.
Warehouses are not needed. You can store coal, steel, and wood in three new buildings — the Metalworks Factory, Machine Shop, and Foundry, simply by ordering (or canceling the order) to produce components.
Aggressive Start in The Last Autumn
Those who have played a lot of Frostpunk are familiar with the so-called aggressive start, where the law on 24-hour work shifts is immediately enacted, they are constantly utilized, the main focus is on research, and from the very beginning, the player balances on the brink of extreme discontent among the population, mitigating it with laws of Faith or Order.
However, the laws of Daily Life in The Last Autumn do not include 24-hour or extended shifts:
It seems that an aggressive start is impossible, but that's not the case. Over time, Labor laws become available in the game. In them, you can enact:
Extended Shifts — familiar from the base game, though not as effective as in scenarios with the usual mechanics.
Work in Two Shifts — all production buildings will begin to work around the clock, and this is not an emergency shift but a labor regime:
This regime guarantees victory!
The sooner you enact the laws for Work in Two Shifts and Shift Optimization, the better. How to speed up the opening of Labor laws? Research the Metalworks Factory and send 2-3 people to produce three profiles. Why three? Because the Work Safety script will trigger as soon as you produce three profiles. On other difficulty levels, more may be required.
But before you build the factory, follow these steps:
Immediately after the start of the game, pause and save.
Without unpausing, assign workers to collect piles of wood and steel by hand.
You will still have 15 engineers and 15 workers left; they will be building structures.
Place two gathering posts as shown in the screenshot (do not be tempted by the steam cores, they can be extracted by hand, gathering basic resources is much more important):
Enact two neutral laws from Daily Life — Radical Treatment and Double Rations.
Now save again and unpause.
The first days are the most important in Frostpunk, try to save frequently, as every hour of downtime here will result in a day's delay at the end.
As soon as the gathering posts are built, send workers to them so that both posts operate at full capacity, remove 5 workers from the piles.
Build a workshop in the designated spot in the screenshot and connect it with a road (this is the best spot at the start of the game):
Upon completion of construction, send five engineers to the workshop, start researching the Metalworks Factory.
As soon as resources become available, build a second workshop nearby and send five more engineers there.
The best place for building housing is shown in the screenshot; on the first day, you will only be able to build 5-6 tents, but that will be enough.
Keep in mind that the next day you will build two sawmills nearby, so leave space for them.
Plan for the second day:
You need A LOT of wood, so the sawmill is the next research after the Metalworks Factory.
As soon as resources become available, immediately build the factory, preferably behind the main resource depot.
Build a medical post and immediately assign 5 engineers to treat those who caught a cold after the first night. In this version of the game, people can endure hunger for up to 4 days, but the number of sick people will grow exponentially if left untreated.
Finish gathering resources from the piles and immediately dismantle the gathering posts.
Once people are free, assign 15 people to gather steam cores.
Send 10-20 people to the factory and order (for now) 1 profile. If you order more, you might run out of wood.
Finish researching the sawmill and start researching the dock.
Build two sawmills in the previously designated spots and assign people there (for now on regular shifts).
If everything was done correctly, you should be able to build another 2 or 3 tents. Do not build more than what people need right now. Save resources, remember your goal is 3 structural profiles. From the start, leave space for a future chapel (you can use the space freed up after the sawmills for bathhouses):
Plan for the third day:
You still have one gathering post with the remaining starting resources and two sawmills.
You need to have 100 wood to order 2 more structural profiles and research the drawing boards, whichever comes first.
As soon as you order, reassign all people to the Metalworks Factory and wait for the script to trigger.
During this time, you can build a kitchen (behind the workshops) and assign free workers there.
Once the script triggers, promise to increase safety, but enact the laws for Work in Two Shifts and Shift Optimization.
As mentioned above, at the start of the game, you need to enact only 2 laws and wait. You're waiting to have enough time to enact the law for short shifts (it will be the third).
Thus, by the end of the third day, 24-hour shifts become available. They are very effective, so:
Immediately enable this work mode on the two sawmills, one workshop (turning off the second one), and in the kitchen (process all raw food into rations, then reassign workers).
Research on the docks will finish at night, order the research for the Reloading Station. Don't bother with manual collection of imported resources, let people work at the station.
Now it's very important to establish communication with the mainland.
To do this, build one dock, specify steel collection (it is more important than coal), and enable it in 24-hour format with at least one worker.
This is enough for the Telegraph Station script to trigger:
At this point, you can already remove workers from the dock and kitchen, choose a place closer to the generator construction site and order the construction of the station:
You will also need people for the construction of the coal dock. Unlike metal, with coal, the same team can alternate between bringing and unloading, but for steel, you need two teams: one unloads, the other transfers to your warehouse;
As soon as the telegraph station is ready, order 1 steam core and at least 10 workers from the Mainland.
As for research, choose Sawmill Upgrade, and then Fishing Dock.
At the beginning of day 4, you will have 250-300 rations, which is enough for 2 days. We recommend building 2 fishing docks immediately to fill the warehouses with raw food and rations. At this point, you can pass the law on improved nutrition (but it's optional).
Generator Construction
At this point, the game will decide that your base is ready, and you can start building the generator. However, we do not recommend rushing into it. You need to be well-prepared; your deadline is the middle of day 16, and you still have 11 days at your disposal.
The general course of action is as follows:
Bring at least 5 engineers to launch the second workshop (removing three from the medical post). The third workshop is not needed until the very end of the game.
Bring another 10, preferably 20 workers, and the more steam cores, the better. They are needed for building factories, generator elements, and reloading stations.
Unlock the third and fourth research tiers, study Sawmill Range Extension and Steam Sawmill.
Steam Dock and Steam Reloading Station will also be needed; build and equip them with people. Workers are constantly in short supply, but you can reduce the number of workers at the fish and coal docks, leaving 2 people in the kitchen and pub.
Wood, steel, and research are the resources on which you cannot save labor. Remember that you can do without warehouses in this scenario.
So, by day 13-14, you need to:
Fully research the upgrades for the metalworks factory;
Unlock and build the ventilation unit, and conduct at least one upgrade.
Build a machine shop and manufacture 6 steam radiators to use turbocharging.
Do not fear gas concentration; it simply increases or decreases safety at the site. The game allows you to block the gas with some barriers.
For construction, it is advisable to choose moments when the gas concentration is at level 1-2 (decreasing). This will give a chance for round-the-clock work to complete the stage in one go but will require 45 to 75 workers.
Very important! Before each active construction stage, stock up on basic and new resources. You need 8-20 structural profiles (do not skimp on them), 15-20 steam radiators, 5-10 steel alloys. You can use reloading stations as another storage where you collect stocks that can be quickly processed without involving the dock.
When building the generator, there are two mandatory scripted events (i.e., they will happen regardless of your safety measures):
In the first stage, during the construction of the shaft, an explosion will occur, and you will need to rescue people, after which a strike will happen — buy them off with some law or double rations.
In the second stage, during the foundation pouring, an incident will occur that will require you to take the side of either the engineers or the workers. Engineers are better; their technical inspection will increase the safety of three objects. By this time, you will be able to get engineers from site 107.
Even in case of an incident, having control from the engineers will help avoid dire consequences
On normal difficulty, an aggressive start and round-the-clock work will allow you to fully research all three technology tabs by day 19, after which you can send engineers to monitor the workers.
Motivation and its Role in Frostpunk
The new mechanic in The Last Autumn is motivation, which increases or decreases the productivity of all workers by 30%. This factor is strongly felt in the game, do not ignore it. We recommend keeping high motivation.
Key points to remember about motivation:
It drops every morning. The further you go, the stronger it drops; by the end, it will still fall to the bottom. That's why you need to rush with round-the-clock work.
For motivation, enact all the laws of Everyday Life and meet the needs (for example, ensure that the baths fully cover the builders' tents), build a Care House, although it will be useless, it will increase motivation. Do not hesitate to turn the pub into a brothel.
Regularly use motivators — these can be sermons in prayer houses or inspections from observing engineers.
It is wrong to think «Now I'll pass some laws, fill the motivation bar to the top, and that's it». In reality, no, keep it just above the limit indicated by the game. Improve the workers' conditions over time, not immediately, and you will have enough everyday laws for a longer period. And only then can you use the stick approach.
Make sure the baths are working. When you run out of coal, and it will run out at least once during the game, the baths will automatically turn off and will not turn on when it reappears in the warehouse. And motivation will start to drop.
Workers will not strike if the production hazard level is low or absent. A riot will happen either by script (we won't spoil too much) or if you miss the worsening environmental conditions at the construction site. Every morning at 8:00, check if you need to strengthen safety measures, and then you will avoid all problems with the generator's quality.
Stay or Sail Away?
The game doesn't end with the construction of the generator; you will be offered to upgrade the generator. You can refuse, after which the game will end:
If you stay, another fork in the road appears:
You manage to finish before the ocean freezes and happily sail away, unlocking the Home for Christmas achievement.
You fail to complete the generator or its upgrade and stay to winter.
In the first case, all you need to do is intensify scientific research (which is generally not a problem with three workshops) and have the necessary amount of construction materials:
25 steel composites.
45 steam radiators.
This is where delays happen. It's best to pause during the fourth stage of generator construction and redirect workers to the factories to produce the specified number of new materials.
The second case — the ocean freezing — is the worst possible outcome in The Last Autumn. You will no longer receive steel, wood, and coal by sea, and you won't be able to fish. Eventually, an icebreaker will come to take you away, but you'll have to survive several days in terrible cold.
Theoretically, the chances of completing construction will still exist, but for this, you will need the labor of prisoners and constant overseers. Without them, workers may constantly strike due to low motivation and cold.
Food supplies in the Frostlands and coal at the location will come in handy. You can also burn the remaining wood for coal. The lack of wood can be critical in finishing the generator, as you can extract steel from a nearby sunken tanker, but all the wood will have been chopped down to the root.
Since the game won't let you build even barracks for the workers, they will be freezing badly despite the heaters. You will need several infirmaries — two or even three. To get resources, dismantle all docks and reloading stations.