The first chapter of Frostpunk 2 concludes with the discovery and transfer of oil to New London. Oil serves as your permanent source of fuel, and as long as you can pump out enough to meet your city's needs, you won’t have to worry about running out of fuel for the rest of the game.
However, discovering oil offers only a brief reprieve. In the second chapter, you must protect your growing city from a familiar enemy — the Whiteout! This guide provides a detailed walkthrough of Chapter 2 - Ambitions in Frostpunk 2 with the "We will defeat the frost" choice in mind.
Frostpunk 2: All Factions and Their Motivations, Explained
Factions and Communities make up every city in Frostpunk 2, and if you'll need to know how to appeal to them to maintain peace and order.
What To Expect When Choosing To Defeat The Frost In Chapter 2: Ambitions
In Frostpunk 2, the second chapter begins with you having to make a critical decision that will determine not only how the rest of the chapter plays out, but also the rest of the game. The question is whether to defeat the frost or embrace it, and choosing to defeat it will strain your relationship with one faction and forge a stronger alliance with the other.
The discovery of oil ensures a permanent fuel source for your generator, and with the choice of defeating the frost, you must now seek ways to upgrade it. An upgraded generator will produce enough heat to eliminate the concerns of frost and Whiteouts, while allowing you to focus the efforts on developing New London. The decision to defeat the frost will also create a political divide between the two opposing factions (the Stalwarts and Pilgrims).
Choosing to defeat the frost has significant gameplay implications for the rest of the game, with the Pilgrims assuming that you're pushing the Stalwarts' agenda of progress forward while shunning their worldview of adaptation to the frost. Following this decision, the valley of contempt will only widen between the Stalwarts and the Pilgrims, and you can expect to witness several interesting political standoffs between the two factions.
From this point onward in Chapter 2, the Stalwarts will rally in the city, gathering public support for you as the city's destined leader, while the Pilgrims pressure you to research and implement their ideas for the city's development. You will now begin to feel a boiling political pot in society and may have to walk a fine line if keeping everyone content is your goal.
To gain a deeper understanding of the consequences of choosing to defeat the frost over embracing it, consider reading our detailed guide on this important decision.
After choosing to defeat the frost, why not take a moment to ponder what embracing it could have meant for your city’s future?
Frostpunk 2: Beginner Tips & Tricks
Survive Frostpunk 2's frozen wasteland with these essential tips. Master the Frostland and expand your city with confidence.
Defeat The Frost - List Of Tasks
With the choice of defeating the frost, the second chapter in Frostpunk 2 will present you with a list of tasks geared toward the primary objective of reaching a heat surplus in the city. You'll need to research an idea for your generator and construct it to activate surplus injection.
How To Construct Oil Pumps In Central District
Building Oil Pumps is as simple as building a Research Institute. Here are the steps involved in building one on your generator:
- Click "N" to pull up the "Buildings" construction panel, then navigate to the "Central" tab.
- Select the "Oil Pumps" and build them onto your generator.
Building Oil Pumps restricts the generator to using only oil as its source of fuel. You can no longer use coal or steam to power the generator.
How To Research & Construct Surplus Injectors
Surplus Injectors are an upgrade for the generator, allowing it to burn surplus fuel and generate more heat. The decision to defeat the frost now requires you to generate enough heat to survive the impending Whiteout. Failing to meet the heat demand will prove catastrophic for the people of New London.
To build the Surplus Injector, first research the idea under the "Heating" section in the Idea Tree, then find it under the Buildings panel by pressing "N," and build it over the generator. Constructing a Surplus Injector requires the following resources to build:
- Workforce: 200
- Heatstamps: 300
- Prefabs: 150
- Cores: 4
While most resources can be found within the city, Cores can only be found through Expeditions. You may have to launch several Expeditions before you can have 4 Cores to build a Surplus Injector, and 1 additional Core if you wish to complete the optional objective of building the Deep Melting Drill.
Some of these valuable Cores can be found in the most treacherous territories in the Frostlands, and gathering them safely will require an upgrade to the Logistics District with the Scouts' or Survivalists' Headquarters.
If your Frostland Team isn't equipped enough to explore certain territories in the Frostlands, those territories will be tagged as "Dangerous" and "Deadly."
If you don't adhere to this warning and still send out the Frostland Teams into these territories, don't be surprised if they end up injured or killed.
Frostpunk 2: How to Get Prefabs
Frostpunk 2 lets you use Prefabs to construct new buildings and expand your city. Here’s how you can get more Prefabs.
How To Access Dangerous & Deadly Territories In Expeditions
To explore the dangerous and deadly territories of the Frostlands, you must outfit the Logistics District with the following upgrades:
- Scouts' Headquarters: Researching and building the Scouts' Headquarters slightly decreases the exploration time of expeditions and reduces the threat level of territories.
- Survivalists' Headquarters: The Survivalists' Headquarters is a better upgrade than the Scouts' Headquarters for its ability to further reduce the exploration time of Expeditions. However, it is not better than the Scouts' Headquarters in lowering territory threat levels.
The sooner you upgrade your Logistics Districts with one of these Headquarters, the sooner you can explore the farthest territories of the Frostlands.
In addition to upgrading the Logistics District with the Scouts' or Survivalists' Headquarters, you can also research and build either the Vanguard Logistics Bay or Automated Logistics Bay to increase the Frostland Team size. A bigger Frostland Team will allow you to launch multiple Expeditions.
Optional Objective: How To Build & Use The Deep Melting Drill
The Deep Melting Drill automatically becomes available for researching and building after choosing the "We Will Defeat The Frost" story arc in Chapter 2. You can build the Deep Melting Drill on Material or Fertile Soil tiles that have a distinct infinity symbol alongside them.
The Deep Melting Drill acts as an upgrade to an Extraction District or Food District and provides unlimited access to resources from that District. The cost of building a Deep Melting Drill is as follows:
- Workforce: 300
- Heatstamps: 80
- Prefabs: 40
- Cores: 1
It's highly recommended to make use of the Deep Melting Drill to stockpile Materials and Food for the frosty days.
Frostpunk 2: How to Decrease Hunger
This guide details a vareity of methods that players can use to increase their Food output and decrease their Hunger in Frostpunk 2.
How To Pump Enough Oil To Reach Surplus
The Surplus Injectors enable the generator to burn the surplus fuel and generate additional heat, enabling the city to survive the impending Whiteout. If you successfully manage to achieve this objective, nobody in New London will have to die from the cold — provided everybody has food and shelter.
You have to make several key decisions to pump enough oil to meet the surplus threshold. First, ensure that the city meets the needs of its population, and manage popluation growth. If the "Allow All Outsiders" law is in force, thousands of people will migrate to New London, seeking refuge from the Whiteout. If your plan is to welcome the refugees, aim to build at least 100+ houses in advance. Also, consider stockpiling enough food by building multiple Food Stockpiles — and even exploiting the Fertile Soil patches with the Deep Melting Dril l.
While a growing population does increase Heatstamp production and workforce count, it also presents challenges in meeting their needs. On the contrary, a stagnant population can hinder expansion efforts due to a limited workforce.
For now, you can pass the "No Outsiders" or "Allow Only Productive Outsiders" law to avoid unexpected population surges right before the Whiteout. You can change this law to "Accept All Outsiders" later.
Finally, once you have oil pumping from the Old Dreadnought, you must use the Resource Transfer panel to send this oil to New London.
Here are all the necessary steps you should consider taking to meet the oil surplus demand:
- Use All Three Oil Reserves: At the Old Dreadnought, you have the option of accessing three oil reserves. However, one of these reserves also serves as a graveyard for the Wanderers. While you can move the bodies and access the oil, if you want to placate the Wanderers by the end of Chapter 2, you might want to hold off until you've delivered their requested oil. On the Citizen difficulty, the Wanderers demand 30,000 oil. Once their needs are met, you won't have to worry about them anymore, and the third oil reserve can be accessed without any problems.
- Research & Build Skyways: Skyways can be researched under the Frostland section in the Idea Tree, and they can be built in the Frostland, much like Trails. Skyways increase resource transfer capacities and reduce transportation time. Connecting the Old Dreadnought and New London via Skyways will ensure both quick and increased resource transfer between both locations. The smoother the Old Dreadnought colony functions, the more uninterrupted will be the oil supply to New London.
- Research & Build Hydraulic Or Fracturing Pumpjacks: Research these upgrades under the Heating section of the Idea Tree to improve the Extraction Districts' capacity to pump oil. Hydraulic Pumpjacks produce 80 additional oil but slightly increase disease, while Fracturing Pumpjacks produce 100 oil, but squalor is slightly increased. Upgrading the Extraction Districts with six pumpjacks will increase oil production by up to 500 oil.
- Research & Build Automated Freight Docks: Found under the Frostland section in the Idea Tree, Automated Freight Docks increase the capacity of resource transfer on Skyways. This upgrades the Skyways to perform at their best, and they make sure that you're not bottlenecked by resource transfer issues.
Frostpunk 2: Synergy Bonuses & District Placement Explained
How players construct districts in Frostpunk 2 can greatly impact their efficiency and requirements. Here's exactly how the synergy system works.
How To Survive The Whiteout In Chapter 2
The Whiteout at the end of Chapter 2 lasts for 30 weeks. Calculating the exact amount of oil you need to have in surplus will depend on the total heat demand in your city. Nevertheless, a good number to shoot for is 50% of the total supply.
Activating the Surplus Injectors allows you to see how much surplus fuel the generator is burning. If you find that the surplus is below the 50% threshold, you can install additional pumpjacks in the Extraction Districts to increase oil output.
Always test fuel surplus in colder weather, as heat demand is reduced in warmer seasons.
Frostpunk 2
- Released
- September 20, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Drug Reference, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
- Publisher(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Franchise
- Frostpunk
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Strategy, Survival, City Builder
