In Frostpunk 2, you not only need to manage a city with thousands of residents, but you also have to see what’s beyond the horizon. The Frostlands, the inhospitable wilderness that has seen countless people succumb to cold, hunger, and disease, offer a wealth of opportunities for those brave enough to face its dangers. Our guide discusses how to get more expedition teams to explore and colonize the Frostlands in Frostpunk 2.
We’ll start with the basics of establishing the Logistics District, followed by what you can expect from various territories that surround your settlement. We’ll then move on to advanced mechanics, such as getting additional Frostland teams, building outposts, creating paths and skyways, and managing more colonies.
How to build a Logistics District
If you want to explore the Frostlands in Frostpunk 2, you’re going to need a Logistics District. This requires 40 heatstamps, 200 prefabs, and 400 workforce to be built. Additionally, you need 400 workforce, 20 heat, and 25 materials for its upkeep.
Here’s the kicker: Logistics Districts can only be built on top of Old Waystations, which are usually at the far edges of the settlement’s territory. That means you have to Frostbreak all the way to these corners before you can start constructing the facility. It’s also worth noting that the campaign usually has three Old Waystations in the area, while some sandbox mode maps only have two.
Resources and events
Once a Logistics District is up and running, you should be able to check out adjacent regions. Here’s what you need to know.
- Exploring a territory requires Frostland Teams to be sent on an expedition. This can range from as few as 10 teams to as high as 25.
- Territories have a threat level. Ideally, you should only focus on those that are safe enough to explore. Venturing into more dangerous areas can lead to injuries or deaths.
- You can expect to find all sorts of resources from regions, including food, materials, goods, and fuel sources like oil, steam, and coal. Some of these can be turned into outposts or colonies, too.
- Be on the lookout for cores, a valuable resource that’s required for several high-tech building improvements and generator upgrades.
- There are several event chains that you can experience. Here are some examples:
- If you spot the Shipwreck Camp, you can ask to receive Sawmills or take it by force. Conversely, you can aid the new leadership to turn the place into a makeshift outpost or bring all of the people back to your city.
- In the Steam Valley region, you may encounter the Hot Springs settlement. If you help out the citizens by repairing their heating systems, the leaders will be pleased and the settlement should turn into an outpost. When active, this greatly lowers the spread of disease in your city.
Frostland techs and teams
There are some options if you need more Frostland teams in Frostpunk 2.
- Build additional Logistics Districts on the other Old Waystations. Each Logistics District grants +15 Frostland teams.
- Expand the Logistics Districts to gain +5 teams.
- Activate the Emergency Shifts function to add +5 teams.
There are also several techs in the Frostland tab that you can research. We suggest the following.
- Scouts’ Headquarters: Survivalists’ Headquarters — Decreases exploration time and territory threat level.
- Scout Training: Pathfinder Scouts — Further decreases territory threat level.
- Skyways — Allows you to construct skyways instead of trails.
- Outpost Operation: Extraction Strongholds or Frontier Footholds — The former improves production efficiency in your outposts. The latter, meanwhile, decreases the number of teams needed to maintain outposts.
Lastly, you might encounter radicalized factions that believe in the Adaptation tenet. They tend to have the Deploy Guides ability if you have favorable relations or better. This drastically reduces scout exploration time.
Paths, skyways, and outposts
Once you’ve found far-flung settlements in the Frostlands, you can decide to transport resources to your city. Here are some notable tidbits.
- Resource stockpiles, small settlements, and even fishing spots need to be connected to your city. This is done via trails or skyways. The idea is to click on the available territory to create markers eventually leading back to the city’s outskirts. Each path has a base team requirement, but the cost in heatstamps and prefabs increases the more markers you place down.
- Trails — Available by default; requires 10 Frostland teams; costs 25 heatstamps and 5 prefabs per route segment.
- Skyways — Needs to be researched as a tech; requires 10 Frostland teams; costs 50 heatstamps and 20 prefabs per route segment; can ship more units of any resource.
- Stockpiles and outposts require a base number of Frostland teams to continue to function. However, their effects can be toggled off if you need your teams to undertake other activities.
- Most resources in the wilderness, while plentiful, are still finite. As such, you need to have stockpiles ready in your city so they don’t go to waste.
Managing your colonies
Lastly, we have to talk about Frostland colonies in Frostpunk 2. Unlike wilderness resources or small settlements, the areas of potential colonies are akin to that of your city. This means you’ll see multiple resources, including those with near-unlimited quantities and deep deposits. However, to make them function, you need to transport your own citizens as manpower and resources to start with construction.
Colonization therefore leads to a process that’s similar to what you did with your city.
- Find a fuel source to power up the generator.
- Construct Housing Districts for shelter.
- Construct Extraction Districts and Food Districts for resources.
Once the colony is stable enough, you can transport surplus resources back to your city. For instance, the oil deposits in the Old Dreadnought are expected to last thousands of weeks, so bringing them over to New London means that you no longer need to worry about lacking fuel for the city’s generator.
That does it for our guide on how to manage teams and colonies in the Frostlands in Frostpunk 2. For other related mechanics, we suggest taking a look at our best laws guide and best techs guide.
