gameFrostpunkguide
Tips & Tricks
Survival strategies and efficiency.
Tips and tricks for Frostpunk.
- Build 2-3 Workshops: One Workshop's research rate is far too slow; each extra manned Workshop speeds it up significantly. (Running 4 also unlocks an achievement.)
- Research an extra Scout team and their Speed early: Scouts are almost your only source of new people and Steam Cores; two faster teams is the bare minimum.
- Don't build only tents/bunkhouses in the first ring around the generator: People fall ill; reserve space in the first heat ring for a Medical Post.
- Understand Gathering Posts and Resource Depots: A Gathering Post collects all piles in its radius (no assigning workers to piles) and can be heated. Resource Depots stop surplus production being discarded and don't need heating.
- Coal Thumpers need gathering: Thumpers create a growing pile in front of them, not straight to storage; it must be worked by workers/Automatons. Build Gathering Posts around them.
- Micromanage — Disable and Dismantle: Dismantle a Sawmill out of wood; if you have a week of rations, disable Cookhouses to free workers.
- Automatons don't care about cold: Use them at wall-side mines instead of Steam Hubs so you don't have to heat those workplaces. With good coal, Steam Hubs cut Automaton downtime by refueling them.
- Build Outposts early or not at all: In the main scenario they don't work during the Storm — get them early for the income or ignore them entirely.
- Pick one coal method and focus: Thumpers/Mines/Kilns all work; switching mid-game is usually a waste of time.
- Overdrive/Steam Level juggle: With Overdrive Couplings, Overdrive raises heat by 2 levels; lower Steam Level by 2 while it's on. When stress is dangerous, first raise Steam Level, let it heat, then disable Overdrive.
- Houses are powerful: Houses + House Insulation give big passive heat to living areas, cutting Generator requirements even in extreme cold.
- Strong early laws: Child Labor (15 workers instantly), Sustain Life, Double Rations, Fighting Arena (cheap discontent reduction), Faster Gathering. Extended Shift is more sustainable than Emergency Shift — it adds 4 work hours to a building with no cooldown.