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Frostpunk 2adds a political layer to the original’s post-apocalyptic survival city-building with the introduction of communities and factions. Nothing is ever easy in the Frostlands, though, so you can expect your people to start arguing - or even fighting - as soon as their political lines are drawn in each playthrough.
At the beginning of the game, you have a limited amount of control over which parties form within the city. You can use this to your advantage, but know that there will always be an opposition ready to fight for their beliefs, no matter how good your intentions.
Communities And Factions
Your city’s populace are divided intocommunities and factions, visible at the bottom of the screen. Every member of the populace belongs toexactly one of these groups.By hovering over each group’s icon, you may seewhat percentage of your people follows them, as well as what they currently think of your rule as the Steward.
A population’s votes in the Council are proportional to their percentage of the population.
Communitiesare everyday civilians, and for most of your playthrough will make up the bulk of your population. A communityis aligned to a single Cornerstone;their Delegates will usually vote in line with that guiding principle, but can go either way on other issues. Delegates from communities also tend not to be hardliners, andcan usually be negotiated withif you need them to vote against their Cornerstone.
Factionsare organized political parties, aligned tothree Cornerstonesinstead of just one. Unlike communities, they willrefuse to vote against their beliefs, and can’t be negotiated with in the Council. They will alsoorganize Rallies or Protestsif their relations with the Steward are sufficiently high or low, respectively. While factions are more likely to cause trouble if they aren’t getting their way, there aremore options for interacting with them, including benefits for keeping them happy.
When a faction gains members, they will be drawn from a community that shares that faction’s beliefs. When a faction loses members, they will return to their original community.
Communities And Factions In Story Mode
The population of New London starts the game divided intotwo pre-existing communities and a single faction, depending on the event decision you makeduring the prologue. No matter what, the civilian population will always consist of:
Your starting faction will be theStalwartsif you chose Order in the prologue, and theFaithkeepersif you chose Faith. As the story progresses, a second faction will arise,directly in opposition to the first.Hence, if the Stalwarts are present, they’ll be opposed by thePilgrims, while the Faithkeepers will be challenged by theEvolvers.
Recruit Enforcers:Provides additional Guard Squads.
Communities And Factions In Utopia Builder
In Utopia Builder, Frostpunk 2’s sandbox mode, your city always starts withthree communities and no factions.There will always betwo communities with opposite Cornerstones, and a third community selected at random.
You can choose who the two opposing communities are during setup, or you can let the game decide randomly. The third community is always random, no matter what.
Reason
Nobles
A faction will formonce your city has made steps toward a Cornerstone on all three axes.The faction will base itself on whichever three principles arecurrently ahead, as seen at the bottom left of the screen. This means that bycarefully selecting your laws and ideas, you may push your city toward getting the faction (and opposition) that you want.
Once the first faction forms, their opposition faction will arrive a short while later. The opposition isalways the faction with the exact opposite Cornerstonesas the first one. In most cases, the opposition will start with a lower opinion of the Steward, but you are free to work with them to repair relations or even support their ideals.
Since there are three communities but only two factions,one faction will always have more potential support from the populace than the other.Whether that translates into support from the Steward is up to you.
