The first playthrough of the Frostpunk 2 storyline can be challenging due to the numerous gameplay changes. Every decision at the beginning of the game can have far-reaching consequences, and not all of them will be immediately apparent. In this guide, we explain how to increase your chances of successfully completing the campaign and what you definitely should not do.
You start the game in a city with a population of about 8000 people, of which formally 5000 make up the workforce (60%). However, only 52.5% (4200 workers) are actually available, as part of the workforce is engaged in servicing residential areas and providing services there. Medicine, heating, entertainment, and other leisure activities operate automatically and do not require your attention.
Each production area at the beginning of the game requires between 450 and 600 people, and with each new building, an additional 500 workers are added. For the first 80-90 weeks, you will have to make do with about 5000-6000 workers (taking into account the natural population growth of about 2000). Do not hesitate to temporarily disable buildings or entire areas to reallocate the workforce to more important tasks. Alternatively, simply reduce their efficiency using the control slider.
Tip: Ignore the storyline tasks and events happening in the city. The game will constantly throw tasks at you and indicate a plan of action. If you follow it, you will only lose. Immediately after loading, pause the game, save, click through all the menus, study the map, and see where everything is located. It's time to give the first orders.
At the beginning of the campaign, the main priority is to establish coal production — without heat, the population will start freezing to death by the hundreds. You cannot skip this stage. The task is complicated by the fact that it's not easy to reach the coal deposits; you first need to clear the icebreakers. Optimally, do this in three arms to reach the deposits faster:
Now plan three residential areas to shelter the excess population from the cold. It wouldn't hurt to build a mining area over the three module deposits, as they are mined very slowly but consumed quickly. Personally, I placed all three blocks on one side of the map.
The excess food and materials at the start allow you not to rush with the construction of food and mining areas.
And most importantly — send another, fourth, team of icebreakers to clear the way to the eastern exit to the Frostlands (screenshot below). In the future, this exit will provide a short route for receiving resources. Save, unpause, and wait for the icebreakers to clear the path.
When the area above the coal deposits is cleared of ice, establish one coal district.
Send the icebreakers to clear the ice above all coal deposits to the end (screenshot above), and direct a couple of extra hexes to the northern exit to the Frostlands (but do not dig in that direction yet). It is better to finish clearing the direction to the eastern exit to the Frostlands (step #2 in the screenshot above).
The next important step: establish the construction of a logistics district (screenshot above).
As soon as the first coal district is completed, turn on the generator. It will not operate at full capacity, but it will provide a minimally sufficient amount of heat. Three residential districts and two coal districts will ensure comfort for the population at the initial stage and prevent too many people from getting sick. Save again.
At this stage, you will start running out of heatmarks, and the question will arise: whether to build the Council Hall or the Scientific Institute (which will cost almost twice as much). Expand one residential district and build the Institute, as it will start working immediately and you will research the necessary minimum technologies faster. The Council, in its first session, will only adopt a vote of confidence in your authority, and it will gather again to pass any law only after 10 weeks. The number of useful laws in the second part of Frostpunk is noticeably less than in the first, so the launch of the Council can be postponed for a long time, as there is little benefit from it.
Is the logistics district ready? Now your goal is to find coal in the Frostlands so that the generator can operate at full capacity by the nearest frosts. Ideally, complete the construction of the logistics district and the Institute simultaneously.
So, you have entered the Frostlands and looked around. What to do first? I'll say right away: do not invite residents from the outside world into the city prematurely. When will the time come? For example, when you need to build a settlement or colony, and you already lack the workforce. In the first weeks, it may seem that there are not enough workers, but you can manage. In the 45th-50th week, the city's population will grow according to the script. Wait for this moment to avoid overpopulation and related problems, such as resource shortages and infrastructure overload.
Clicking through the map of the Frostlands and nearby neighboring areas, pay attention to the threat level markers: dangerous or deadly. Do not go to these areas. Start with safe places. Usually, these are two regions — the Frozen Bay and the Foothills. The Foothills are nearby and have valuable resources, and there will also be a crucial coal mining outpost there, which can eventually be developed into a full-fledged settlement. But that will be later.
Now send the frost teams to explore the Frozen Bay and the region the Dock located behind it. In the Frozen Bay, you will find the Fishing Village — take the frostbiters (this will be an exception to the general rule mentioned above), and you will gain access to a huge supply of food — 80,000 units of provisions, which will feed New London for many weeks, using only five frost teams.
From there, immediately move to the Dock. There, in the storage, lies 50,000 coal, which can be used immediately. When there are no coal reserves at all, a useful find, agree? This will significantly ease the development of your city, freeing up resources for important research and decisions. For example, you can postpone the construction of the second mine and spend the heatmarks on more priority tasks.
The next important region is the Graveyard, located to the left and below the Dock. There you will find another 50,000 units of coal, which will be extremely necessary to keep the generator running and the city developing. Immediately drag it to the city, due to the cold you will inevitably have to use these reserves.
Between the three regions is the Desolate Coast, where you will find the dreadnought from the prologue. This will trigger a chain of events related to oil extraction and the founding of the second city (colony). In this same region, you will find a storage with 50,000 units of oil — a valuable resource, even if it cannot be transported to New London right away. For this, you first need to establish a colony.
The screenshots below show key regions and resources that can be found in the Frostlands before the first blizzard. The open map will help you better navigate the icy desert and plan routes. How to insulate the city and survive the first storm in Frostpunk 2 we told in a separate guide.
Tip: the research tree in the game is organized chaotically, more resembling a perk system in an RPG than a logical and clear structure from the first part. Important research is often hidden behind vague names, and some research is inexplicably divided into two different buildings or upgrades, which only complicates understanding and causes confusion. In general, an unpleasant feeling when looking at the technology tree is normal.
First, focus on research related to heating: Heating → Coal Mines → Explosive Coal Mines and Heating → Housing Insulation → Asbestos Cladding. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to quickly reach coal reserves, and the first cold snap is just around the corner. Extraction areas will not cope with heating without coal mines, so you will need at least one mine to provide the city with heat. The insulation will significantly reduce coal consumption for heating houses, which is important for long-term considerations.
The second important direction will be resource extraction: Resources → Sawmills → Mechanized Sawmill. The sawmill building will significantly increase material extraction and open access to further research on this topic. Without stable material extraction, economic growth in the future will slow down significantly.
The fourth step in research should be the branch Frostlands → Suspension Roads. They are easier to lay, resources travel faster on them, and with their help, you can turn outposts into full-fledged settlements. By resettling part of the population to new settlements, you will ease the burden on New London and make development more sustainable.
It is important not to confuse. In any case, you will have to produce household goods and send them to settlements, which justifies the choice of suspension roads in fourth place, not third. But the factory itself is expensive, so first you research it, but build it only after you start researching Suspension Roads.
We have determined the main research, now a few tips on the way from the beginning of the game to a more stable city position.
If you explore the first Frostlands region and the coal mine at about the same time, don't forget to monitor further developments and territory research. The game does not warn in advance when the frost squads will be free after escorting the frost fighters from the Fishing Village. As a result, they may be idle while you distribute the newcomers to new areas. It is important to establish an outpost in the Village after you have taken the residents — this is a separate action, not related to escorting the frost fighters!
Pay attention to material consumption. There may be about 35,000 units of resources in the warehouses, but it is more important to track the dynamics of their consumption. The time is coming to build extraction areas in places with large resource reserves, and fortunately, there are many such places on the map. I would recommend mastering the following area:
Planning districts in Frostpunk 2 requires some skill, but here you can almost without mistakes build three extraction areas, and one of the resources is even infinite, which will give a huge boost to extraction. If you correctly distribute the hexes, then instead of building a fourth area, you can improve the three existing ones and fully master the area.
Add 2-3 material storage centers to significantly reduce the need for labor. And if you also build a sawmill, the amount of materials in the warehouses will exceed 250,000 units. Two possible options are shown in the screenshot above and below.
Don't forget to build mines on all coal deposits. Although by the 50-55th week you will get coal from the graveyard, until then you need to survive several severe cold snaps.
Next, you just need to improve and expand the infrastructure, strengthening the city's positions. Explore all available safe territories in the Frostlands, and establish settlements wherever possible, as they extract resources on a permanent basis, i.e., they help in the long term. Start attracting the population from the Frostlands to these jobs. A storm awaits you ahead, but how not to trigger it prematurely, how to insulate the city, and how many resources are needed to survive the cold? We will tell in the next guide.
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Can the quick start in Frostpunk 2 be even better? Describe your experience in the comments!