There’s a lot to do at the beginning of a campaign inFrostpunk 2.Whether you’re playing in Story Mode or Utopia Builder, your city will be in a tenuous position. Nearly every resource will be in deficit, and without careful planning and execution you’re only a few years away from defeat.
One great way to close the gap and stabilize from the starting situation is to pass Laws in the Council. If you aren’t sure which proposals to put forth, or which ones are worth negotiating with hesitant delegates for, consider the following picks.
1Foraged Additives / Chemical Additives
Survival Laws
A good issue to bring to the Council straight away ishow to extend the city’s food supplies.Both options are useful, so it’s usually best topick the one that aligns with the Cornerstone you plan to pursue.Alternately, you canstart with Foraged Additives,thenswitch to Chemical Additivesonce you have several Food Districts up and running.
2Paid Essentials
City Laws
The next time the Council convenes, go to the City Laws section andpropose Paid Essentials.It’s far from the most empathetic choice, but this isn’t that kind of game. Passing this law gives you aboost to Production Efficiencyacross the board and, more importantly,an increase to your weekly Heatstamp income.
That income bonus is especially important because, until you can produce enough Goods to satisfy your city’s demand, you’ll actually be suffering an income penalty.Passing Paid Essentials as early as possiblehelps offset that.
Later in the game, when you aren’t as strapped for cash, you canswitch to Free Essentialsfor a quick increase in Trust. This can save you from the dreaded Vote of Confidence if things are going poorly otherwise.
3Machine-Centric Shifts
Resource Ideas
Eventually, you’ll need to startresearching new Lawsfrom the Ideas Tree. These still need to be voted on once they’re researched, so be ready to make some concessions if you have to. The first Law Idea that you should take is usuallyMachine-Centric Shifts, which plans your workforce’s schedules around automaton maintenance.
Choosing Machine-Centric Shiftsreduces all Workforce requirements,letting you staff more districts and buildings with the same amount of people. This is critical in the early game, when you might have trouble growing your population at first. It’swell worth the small increase to Squaloryou’ll suffer once the Law passes.
4Heat Recycling
Once you’ve unlocked Machine-Centric Shifts, the next node on the Resource Ideas Tree will be available. It has one of themost efficient Ideas in the game, so it’s well worth going straight for it and pushing a vote through immediately.
Heat Recyclingreduces the Heat Demand of all Housing Districts in the city. Considering how many of them you’ll build, that leads to a considerable savings in fuel. As an added bonus, thisAdaptation Ideamakes a nice bone to throw any factions upset over Machine-Centric Shifts.
On higher difficulties, Heat Recycling may spawn an event that causes it toalso generate Disease, but it’s still worth it - after all, a lack of heating generates much more Disease, and worse.
5All Do Maintenance / Unproductive Do Maintenance
By this point, you’ll probably be hurting for Materials andsuffering some Squalorpenalties. You can get a few extra weeks out of your remaining stockpiles - and support your eventual Industrial Districts - byreducing your overall need for Materials.Choosing a Maintenance Law is a quick way to make that happen.
As with your Food Additives Law, your choice can reflect your eventual Cornerstone preference, or you can choose based on how bad your current Materials deficit is.
6Family Apprenticeships
Society Laws
Once things start stabilizing, you’ll usually get an event requiring you topass a Childhood Lawor suffer a steady increase to Crime in the city. Of the two options,Family Apprenticeshipsis generally better unless you really, really want to push the city toward Reason early.
Having enough Workforce will be an issue throughout the game, and Family Apprenticeshipsincreases the percentage of your population that can work.While the bonus to Research Speed offered by Mandatory Schools is certainly attractive, the Heatstamps penalty it carries is a tall ask, especially on Steward difficulty and higher where your base income is low to begin with.
7Dutiful Youth
Society Ideas
Once you’ve got the kids set up learning job skills, you can go one further andresearch an advanced Childhood Law. While picking Family Apprenticeship and then going straight intoDutiful Youthdoes skew your city towards Tradition early, it gives youeven more Workforceand a hefty reduction in Crime to boot!
8Harvesting Funerals
One last Law will bring you out of the early game and establish the foundations of your new city - deciding what to do with the dead. The Reason Cornerstone has been a bit neglected, but any factions that follow it will be happy to see you pickHarvesting Funerals.
Organ transplants helpreduce the city’s Disease ratingand also give you a small boost to Research Speed. It’s a great Law overall. The only real reason to switch to Ceremonial Funerals would be ifyou’re expecting a lot of deaths, perhaps because of an impending Whiteout or because you’re about to enter Winterhome in the Story Mode campaign. You canuse Ceremonial Funerals to reduce the Trust penalty from those casualties,then switch back.
