Frostpunk 2 took a very daring move as it moved beyond its predecessor – giving its audience not just the same formula from the first game with more bells and whistles attached, but upping the scale and scope of the setting to give a more expansive experience. In moving from survival to nation-state-style politics, Frostpunk 2 has placed itself more in line with the industrialization focus and factional intrigue of grand strategy titles like Victoria 3.
Factions are a major part of balancing the needs of the people in Frostpunk 2, with each one providing a benefit for allying with them and viewing New London in a different paradigm altogether. However, during the early game, some factions provide bonuses or are simply equipped with better utilities to serve the player as they gain their footing in this cold and unforgiving world. Note that
4 The Faithkeepers (Story Mode)
Trust Is Essential In Early Game Production Booms
During the prologue chapter ofFrostpunk 2, which serves as a means of familiarizing them with the gameplay before thechallenges of Chapter 1, players are given a choice to decide whether the City from the end of the first game relied on Faith or Order to keep the peace. This incredibly interesting binary decision, further altered by the player’s decisions in the first game to be either relentless but economical or benevolent but inefficient, is what set the tone for such a fascinating city-builder game. It was not as simple as “be the big evil bad ruler or the kind and sweet ruler who smells of daffodils”, it was about what humanity needs most to survive, structure, or faith in a higher purpose. Such lofty philosophical and narrative moments do boil down to a single choice in the prologue, however, and that choice determines the one faction players will find at the start of story mode.
If New London relied on Faith to survive, then the city’s initial faction would be the Faithkeepers. Unlike the Stalwarts, who appear when the ruling Order is philosophy, the Faithkeepers call Evening Prayers that increase trust. Trust is vital to keep up the population’s disposition toward the Steward in the early game, especially when building up a robust resource stockpile. This often means pushing workers with extended shifts, taxes, and disease-causing buildings to ensure they can survive the first oncoming storm.
3 The Proteans (Utopia Builder Mode)
Early Game Disease Can Be Crippling Without Proteans
Building up Proteans from their disparate interest groups makes for a rational, technologically focused group of survivalists who provide excellent early game utility. As mentioned briefly above, disease is a perpetually present factor during Frostpunk 2, and can dismantle early game settlements very easily. Disease comes from the bitter cold, so warmth must be the first priority to ensuring a stable and well-functioning city. Beyond this, disease often comes from early game survival buildings that can enhance resource production – at a cost.
The Hothouses in Frostpunk 2 provide residential districts with the Excessive Fertilization ability that produces a greater level of food at the cost of increasing disease. The untreated sawmill in industrial districts similarly produces great material output, at the cost of disease uptake. Proteans’ passive ability to reduce disease while they are happy will greatly come in handy in this dark setting where disease is often the price one has to pay for maximum efficiency. Diseased patients can immediately be put back to work with another Protean ability, furthering their reputation as pragmatic medical masters in the wastes.
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2 The Evolvers (Story Mode)
Efficiency Focused Technocrats
When selecting which of the two legacy factions from the first title will appear in New London, that being the Stalwarts or Faithkeepers, players are also locking in which faction comes to oppose them at the end of the first chapter. In this instance, choosing the Faithkeepers as the starting faction might not be because players want a religious New London, but because it guarantees the appearance down the line of the level-headed Evolvers, who place Adaptation, Merit, and Reason above all as their core tenets.
The fascinating order vs faith paradigm pioneered in the first game gets another great spotlight in Frostpunk 2’s story mode, as the Evolvers and their opposition to the Faithkeepers are mechanically balanced with a passive ability that increases worker efficiency globally when they are happy. Heading into Chapter 2 means preparing for worse conditions, more challenges, and more population, so securing an alliance with a faction built around workforce optimization, especially in tandem with some more ruthless labor laws, leads to an incredibly productive New London.
1 The Technocrats (Utopia Builder Mode)
Abilities Focus On Key Areas Of Research And Materials
The Technocrats balance equality among the masses with rigid, unfailing rationality. They are constant advocates for a “needs of the many” style of leadership that also cares deeply about mandatory schooling and continual progress of technology to ensure living life beyond survival and into thriving enlightenment. As players start reaching out for rarer materials such as cores, having a good foundation of the basics is an incredible boon in the early game, and the technocrats understand this both mechanically and narratively.
Technocrats have a passive ability that allows for the expediting of research, a colossal boon early on when technological advancements can quite literally spell the difference between the life and death of a colony. Moreover, increased material production means that players won’t have to worry about their population living in squalor – and the drawbacks that come along with this. They can put their workforce to the task of extraction or food production, and hopefully get a nice surplus nest egg before the next disaster strikes.