Quick Links
You’ve just finishedFrostpunk 2’s prologue, helped The Wanderers establish a small civilisation, and learned the ropes of the game. Now, it’s time to return to New London and see how it’s grown since we last saw it inFrostpunk. The Captain has died, and now you have to take up the mantle of Steward and lead your city.
While the prologue covered the basics of Frostbreaking and building districts, this chapter will introduce you to the sequel’s new Faction and Council mechanics, showing you how to manage the different communities in your city and their different agendas.
This guide was developed by playing on Citizen difficulty. You may need to adapt or streamline your strategy to succeed on higher settings.
Bringing Heat To New London
Your first task will be tofind more coalfor the city andbuild more shelterfor its people. To do the first, Frostbreak towards theShallow Coal Seamin thebottom right cornerof the map.
Choose your tiles so that you uncover as many resource tiles as possible in one action. As Frostbreaking takes up Heatstamps and requires part of your workforce, it’s best to be precise with the tiles you uncover so as to maximise the use of your resources.
Once you’ve done that,build Extraction Districtsover them. While these build, you cancontinue Frostbreaking– ensure to uncover coal deposits for future use, and create paths towards other deposits you’ll need soon. These extend in different directions on the map, so you should send as many teams out in as many directions as possible.
You’ll want to be sure to Frostbreak towards one of the threeOld Waystationson the map, as you’ll need them later in this chapter. You’ll find them on the very edges of the map – one on the bottom, one on the left, and one on the top right.
Best Housing Layout
Once your district is built,turn on the generatorandbuild Housing Districts in the crevasseson either end of the city. They will have +20 Heat bonuses because they’re sheltered from the wind. Make sure to take advantage of natural features on the map as you build. As heat bonuses can max out for a single District, you don’t need to build your whole Housing District inside the crevasse.
When you build districts, the game may warn you about penalties or bonuses to those districts because of their proximity to other districts. In this case, you may want to consider not building a Housing District bordering an Extraction District as it will increase Squalor there.
How To Unlock The Idea Tree
Now that shelter and heat is handled, you’ll have tobuild a Research Institute, but you can only do that in a Housing District with anavailable building slot. Right now, your Housing Districts don’t have building slots, but you can create them byexpanding the District. I chose to expand the one on the left of my city, as it was further from any Extraction Districts.
Once that’s done, open up theBuilding menuand select the Research Institute under theHousing tab. When you select it, a beam of light in theExpanded Housing Districtwill indicate it can be placed there. Once you place it, you will unlock theIdea Tree,which we have acomplete guide on.
Open the Idea Tree to theHeating category, and you’ll see a quest marker on the‘Coal Mines’ node. Clicking it will reveal what ideas the different Factions in the city may have. You’ll have different Factions depending onthe choice you made in the prologue.
In my case, the Frostlanders wanted to look into a Dust Coal Mine, while the Stalwarts and New Londoners wanted a more destructive Blasting Coal Mine. Whatever you decide,click on the research buttonto spend 50 Heatstamps on exploring the option.
If you regret your decision, don’t worry – you can always spend more Heatstamps to research different ideas.
The research will take ten weeks, so go ahead and build some other districts around the city to preempt any resource scarcity that might come up. You should prioritisebuilding a Food District, anExtraction District over the Prefabs(this will stave off the need for an Industrial District for a while), andexpand your Housing Districtsto ensure your citizens have shelter.
Don’t worry about including every resource tile into a single district – you can expand it later by three more tiles to maximise each district’s reach and save on construction costs.
When the research is complete, select it in theBuilding menuunder Extraction and pop it into yourExtraction Districtin theShallow Coal Seam. ensure you have the Heatstamps and Workforce necessary to construct it, or you won’t be able to select it.
Building The Council Hall
Now, the people you lead want to decide if you deserve to lead them or not. This means you’ll have to form the Council. The game will prompt you tobuild the Council Hall. Select it in theBuildings Menufrom theCentral taband place it in theCentral District.
Once you build it, the Council will hold a vote on whether you get to stay in power or not.Our guide on the Councilwill walk you through how tonegotiate with Factionstosecure enough For votes. Remember tofollow up on the promises you made, or your relationship with that Faction will suffer.
Finding Fuel In The Frostlands
Now it’s time to venture out into the Frostlands and find a new source of fuel, which means you’ll have tobuild a Logistics Districtover anOld Waystation. Hopefully you’ve already Frostbroken your way to one of the three on the map, but if you haven’t, do that, then build the District.
Heating is probably becoming a big problem now, so while this District is building, you shouldresearch Housing Insulationin the Idea Tree, which will make your Housing Districts require less Heat.
Once the Logistics District is built, we cango out into the Frostlands. We have acomplete guide to Frostland Exploration, but here’s how to finish this objective most efficiently.
With one Logistics District built, you’ll have 15 Frostland Teams to send out for exploration. A question mark on the Frostland map will allow you totake in a group of New Londoners. Use five Frostland Teams to escort them back to the city, and send another ten Frostland Teams to theFrozen Bayto explore.
While waiting for the expedition to finish,build new Housing Districtsfor the rescued New Londoners,Frostbreakinto more crevasses for future Districts,researchnew ideas, andpass lawsin the Council. As you continue to play, your citizens will ask you to pass laws and regulations, so prioritise the most pressing ones.
Once theFrozen Bayis explored, go back to the Frostlands map. A notification will tell you to investigate the Desolate Coast, and another will tell you there’s a group of Frostlanders to take in. Send an expedition to theDesolate Coastandrescue the Frostlanders, building Housing Districts accordingly.
TheFishing Villagevacated by the Frostlanders can beharvested for Foodas long as it hasfive Frostland Teamsin it.
Around this time, your Prefab resources will begin to run out. Make sure tobuild Extraction Districtson Materials andan Industrial Districtor two tocreate Prefabs and goods. Building Industrial Districts on theborders of Extraction Districtsoffersextra heat.
Once your teams have scouted the Desolate Coast, click on the icon with a flashing exclamation mark over it to find theOld Dreadnoughtfrom the prologue. Congratulations, you’ve found oil! To access it, you’ll need to build a trail between theOld DreadnoughtandNew London.
Select theTrail Constructionbutton on the button right selectConnect Pathfrom the Old Dreadnought. Connect pins on the map tocreate a routeto New London. Once that’s done, you’re able to send 20 Frostland Teams to create a colony at the Old Dreadnought.
Even if you expand your Logistics District, you won’t have enough teams to maintain the Dreadnought colonyandthe Fishing Village. Go back to New London andbuild a new Logistics Districtover another Old Waystation.
You should alsobuild a Survivalist’s or Scout’s Headquartersover your existing Logistics District so you can explore new areas.
When construction is complete, send a team tocolonise the Old Dreadnought. When they reach the location, you’ll have tobuild a settlementthere – getting deja vu? Build the appropriate districts over the appropriate resources, and don’t forget to check back in on New London regularly to make sure nothing goes awry.
Once you’ve started extracting oil, click on theOld Dreadnought iconnext to the Frostlands icon. There will be an icon of a box with arrows on either side with a flashing exclamation mark over it – opening that menu will let youtransfer resourcesfrom Old Dreadnought to New London. Adjust the sliders so that the colony is receiving enough food to survive, and is transferring oil out to New London.
You’ll have to transfer more citizens to the colony to build all the districts and have them fully efficient.
Continue to adjust this as you build more oil extraction districts. Completing this objective ends the chapter.
Important Events And Decisions
While you’ll be called on to resolve a number of events arising from your decisions so far, the most important one that recurs is what to do with the Wanderer graves at the Old Dreadnought.
Oil Tombs: Nomads
Remember in the prologue, when the Wanderers lowered their dead into the Oil deposits as part of their funerary rites? You now have a choice to desecrate those graves in order to access more oil, or respect the dead and leave some oil deposits untouched.
Deposits Run Low: Coal Is Running Out
Another decision you’ll have to make involves your coal mines. If you begin to run out of coal before finding oil, which you most likely will, you’ll see an event telling you that the different Factions in New London have different ideas about how to maximise your existing coal deposits.
