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Frostpunk 2sets up the player as New London’s Steward, the untested successor of the Captain from the first game. The city’s struggling infrastructure quickly challenges the player to come up with solutions. Moreover, the competing desires of the city’s factions increase the pressure.
Having factions that disagree too deeply can cause great difficulty in keeping the peace, and factions that aren’t pleased often enough can even trigger a game over. Thus, players must plan which factions they nurture in their city carefully. Here we dive into what triggers each faction to splinter from the main group, what their goals are, how to keep them happy, and even some of the best faction combinations to cultivate.
Factions In Frostpunk 2 Explained
Factions inFrostpunk 2serve as the main method by which players see how the populace reacts to their decisions, similar to the hope and discontent mechanics inFrostpunk. Factions that view the Steward favorably can provide unique bonuses, and are more likely to vote for the player’s proposed laws (as long as it doesn’t directly contradict their worldview) in the Council. However, factions that distrust the Steward can riot, sabotage districts, and even hold a vote of no confidence against the Steward - triggering a game over. As a result, it is tactically desirable to plan out which factions will match the player’s goals the most at the start of the playthrough.
Keeping a Faction Happy
To keep the approval of a Faction up, the player should sign laws, research topics, and make decisions that align with the Faction’s core values. These values fall into three categories, with six possible traits.
Not every faction will have convictions in every category, but most have values in at least one. Players can see which values a given action aligns with by tracking the belief icons tagged on the action. To see which icons correspond to which beliefs, hover over the values bars on the bottom left-hand side of the screen.
A quick fix for increasing a Faction’s approvalis toFund Projectsfor them,make a promise (only works when the promise is kept), orgrant them the ability to propose the next law (works even if it does not pass). However, these measures are usually temporary unless repeated, as factions have a passive degradation of approval when the city isn’t being run according to their worldview.
Spawning Factions
There are two groups of factions in the base game - those that appear during the campaign, and those that appear during Utopia Mode. Each has its own spawn conditions, some of which directly contradict each other. Typically, factions appear in one of the following methods:
It is nearly impossible to avoid spawning factions with opposing ideas by design, as this conflict is a major portion of Frostpunk 2’s challenge.
Every Faction In Frostpunk 2’s Campaign
There are nine known factions inFrostpunk 2’sCampaign. Players will only see a maximum of seven at a time, as some spawn as a result of binary decisions, but this is still many competing groups in a single playthrough. It is strategically helpful to plan out which factions would most benefit the players' goals, and trigger their spawn. To determine which factions are most desirable in a given playthrough, players should be aware of where each faction sits on the 6 core beliefs, and what their unique faction abilities are.
Default Faction from Chapter 1 onward
Deradicalize- reduce the fervor and size of either the Evolvers or Pilgrims faction (depending on which is currently active)
Deradicalize- reduce the fervor and size of either the Stalwart or Faithkeeper faction (depending on which is currently active)
Choosing Faith in the Mysterious Symbol Dialogue (Prologue)
Prayers & Baptisms- Increase Trust & reduce Tension at the cost of growing the faction’s size
Choosing Order in the Mysterious Symbol Dialogue (Prologue)
Deploy Guards- Increase the available number of Guard Squadrons, lowering Crime temporarily
Pilgrims
Appear at the end of Chapter 1 with Stalwarts faction active
Deploy Guides- increase Frostland Exploration Speed & building ofSkyways or Trails
Evolvers
Appear at the end of Chapter 1 with Faithkeepers faction active
Train Workers-increase workplace efficiencyat the cost of possible injury
Default Faction from Prologue onward
Favors Survival at all costs
Tighten Belts- reduce food scarity in return for slightly increased hunger
Settle a Colony (such as the Dreadnought)
No core beliefs
No ability
Build a Prison and round up Protesters
Favors Captain’s Rule Laws
Enlist Guards- prisoners serve as guards, increasing available guard squadrons (until their sentence is over)to decrease Crimetemporarily
Every Faction In Frostpunk 2’s Utopia Mode
The other way to play Frostpunk 2 on release is its Utopia Mode, the open sandbox version of the game. In this scenario, players select an ambition, a difficulty, and an array of starting factions - two known quantities and a random faction. It is advised to choose factions whose goals align with your selected ambition.
Faction Goals & Preferences
There are six factions that can spawn at the start of the run in Utopia Mode, as well as several that can splinter off later. As a rule, starting factions always have the Deradicalize ability for their splinter faction, while splinter factions provide resource bonuses.
Available from starting choices
Deradicalize - Reduce the size and Fervor of the Icebloods Faction
Deradicalize - Reduce the size and fervor of the Technocrat Faction
Icebloods
Splinters from the Foragers (spawns faster when avoiding laws with preferred traits)
Hunting Trip - Greatlyincreases Food Incometemporarily
Technocrats
Splinters from the Machinists (spawns faster when avoiding laws with preferred traits)
