Now that we’ve finished the first chapter of Frostpunk 2’s Story Mode, fully come to grips with the basics, and secured ourselves a steady supply of oil, we have to figure out what to do with it.
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PostsThe different Factions in your city will want you to do different things with the oil – some dream of a New London so warm that the snows melt away and never come back. Others think this is a foolish dream, and want to turn outwards, creating settlements so New London isn’t the only safe place in the Frostlands.
This guide was developed by playing on Citizen difficulty. You may need to adapt or streamline your strategy to succeed on higher settings.
Will You Defeat Or Embrace The Frost?
Chapter 2, Ambitions, opens on this decision. You can choose either of these two options:
- Defeat the Frost: Unlock the ‘Oil Pumps’ Generator Upgrade that only uses oil, and unlock the ability to exploit unlimited deep deposits.
- Embrace the Frost: Unlock the ‘Adaptive Pumps’ Generator Upgrade that uses any fuel, and unlock unlimited output Frostland settlements.
While you’ll still follow the same general path and face similar challenges throughout the game regardless of your decision here, your objectives will be slightly different. Defeating the Frost will mean channelling resources towards New London, while Embracing the Frost will mean spending more time establishing sustainable settlements in the Frostlands.
Whichever option you choose, a Faction will disagree with it, and their fervour will increase, therefore increasing political tensions inside New London.
Defeating The Frost
If you choose to Defeat the Frost, you’ll immediately receive a number of tasks that can be done concurrently.
- First, you’ll have to build theDeep Melting Drill in the Central District, which allows Food and Extraction Districts to access the infinite Resource nodes in New London.
- You’ll also have to research the second Generator Upgrade, which is a Surplus Heat Injector that burns excess oil instead of stockpiling it for a city-wide productivity bonus.
You’ll have to turn it on once it’s built to progress the story, but you can turn it off if you need to stockpile for the Whiteout.
The Injector requires four Cores to build, so you’ll need to salvage them from the Frostland and potentially prioritise it ahead of other advanced buildings.
Embracing The Frost
If you choose to Embrace the Frost, you’ll face different objectives and challenges.
- First, you’ll have to construct the Adaptive Pumps in the Central District, which can be done immediately if you have enough Heatstamps.
- You’ll also have to research two new ideas: Settlement Heating and Skyways. Settlement Heating allows you to heat permanent Frostland Settlements, while Skyways allow you to move more resources between Settlements in the same amount of time.
- The third task is to find an outpost in the Frostland to upgrade to the first Settlement.
- We have a guide explaining how to establish Settlements, but the most important thing to remember here is that you should be continually exploring the Frostlands to find and create these outposts.
The Old Dreadnought does not count as a Settlement in this case.
One of the possible Settlements you’ll find earlier in the game is the Whale Mine in The Approach, where pods of whales have frozen.
Since you’re Embracing the Frost, this is a good place to establish an Outpost and harvest whale meat for a steady flow of 100 Food.
You’ll have to build a Trail or Skyway to reap the benefits of this Outpost.
The last is to construct or upgrade settlements to have a significant population. When you’ve established an Outpost, you can upgrade it to a Settlement as long as you fulfil all the requirements.
In this case, you’ll need to meet the following requirements to Construct it:
- Unemployed Population
- Prefabs
- Cores
- Settlement Heating must be researched
- Skyway Connection
The Settlement will also have different permanent requirements of:
- Frostland Teams
- Materials
- Oil
Once the Settlement is built, you can Upgrade it to provide additional food with more Population, Prefabs, and Cores. It will have a new, larger permanent requirement.
How To Survive The Whiteout
Of course, you’ll have to do all this while simultaneously expanding your City’s capabilities and taking care of your citizens, while also managing tensions between opposing Factions. What’s more, once you’ve finished the above objectives, you’ll find out that a Whiteout is coming.
The task for this section is simple: survive the incoming Whiteout. Depending on if you chose to Defeat or Embrace the Frost, you’ll have to focus either on taking large stocks of resources from the Frostlands or establishing more Settlements to create a steady influx of resources.
You will not be able to send expeditions to affected areas during the Whiteout, so ensure you do this before it reaches New London.
This is the time to focus on building your stockpiles, ensuring that you have plenty of activated Districts and as many citizens as possible are employed, and that everyone has adequate shelter.
As the Whiteout will significantly increase Heat demand and lower Food production, you must prioritise these resources. Consider enacting Emergency Shifts in Food and Coal Extraction Districts.
The Wanderers Return
In Chapter 1, when you created a colony at Old Dreadnought, you had to make a choice of whether to desecrate the Wanderers’ graves or leave them untouched. This decision comes into play now.
A group of Wanderers have arrived at the Old Dreadnought, and since you’ve taken over their camp, they ask you for a stockpile of Oil so they can survive the Whiteout.
If you desecrated their graves, they will be far more hostile to you than if you did not, and they will ask for more oil.
You have two options in this scenario:
- Stockpile 24,000 Oil in the Old Dreadnought within 48 weeks. If you succeed, they will take the Oil and leave. If you do not, they will raid your colony, steal your Oil, and murder many people.
- Turn them down and use eight Guard Squads to guard the colony. You’ll have to build a Watchtower to defend the colonists – if you don’t, they will attack and inflict casualties.
To stockpile enough Oil, you’ll have to construct a Fuel Stockpile Hub in the Old Dreadnought and adjust your Resource Transfer accordingly.
You can still change your mind after agreeing and chase them away with 12 Guard Squads – you will see a market in the Frostlands where they’re camping and either get rid of them or give them the fuel early if you’ve managed to stockpile enough.
If you successfully give them the stockpile of Oil, they will tell you that all is forgiven between you, and disappear into the Frostlands.
If you choose to turn them down, they will be hostile to you if you encounter them later in the Frostlands.
When the Whiteout is over, Chapter 2 will end.
NextFrostpunk 2: How To Create A Settlement
Establishing outposts and settlements in Frostpunk 2’s Frostlands is a great way to get a steady influx of resources.
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