Most video games don’t include law-making as an exciting game mechanic, but inFrostpunk 2, you’ll have to manage the needs of the Council to grow your city. The Council Hall is one of thenew systems inFrostpunk 2, where many of the actions you can undertake as a Steward depend on the Council’s support. The Council Hall is full of different factions whose support you’ll have to play in a game of political chess.
Most Laws inFrostpunk 2are based around one of the three categories;Survival, City, and Society. Survival helps fight back against the deadly blizzard threatening the lives of your great city. City improves and grows the borders of your city, helping it run smoothly. Society focuses on the lives of your citizens. Some laws must be researched, while a few laws fall into the special rule category. However, it is the survival, city, and society laws that greatly influence your city’s progress.
10Ceremonial Funerals & Harvesting Funerals - Society
Base Law - Funerals
Eventually, your citizens die, and you need to decide how to handle their bodies. There are two strategies for funeral arrangements, both of which have their merits but should be chosen quickly.Ceremonial Funeralsare aligned with the Tradition Cornerstone and allow your citizens to have traditional funerals. This Lawreduces Trust Loss after death, which is very useful when you’re expecting a lot of incoming death.
Most Laws inFrostpunk 2have a Base Law, such as Funerals, and two or three variations attached to a specific Cornerstone or approach to laws. Cornerstones includeEquality vs. merit,Adaptation vs. progress, andReason versus tradition. If you’re still confused as to how Laws work,GamingBolton YouTube discusses them in their video on the differences betweenFrostpunkandFrostpunk 2.
For a more pragmatic approach,Harvesting Funeralsuse the organs of the dead to help the living, as based on the Reason Cornerstone. You canslightly increase Research Speed(which helps unlock new laws) whileslightly decreasing disease, leading to fewer deaths. The best funeral Law depends on your favored Cornerstone and how many people are dying. If you’re doing well with survival, harvesting funerals may be the better law, and you may switch to Ceremonies in hard times.
9Weather-Adjust Shifts - Survival
Base Law - Worker Shifts
When it comes to Worker Shifts, you can either focus onMachine Centric Shifts, which base shifts on machine operation, orWeather-Adjust Shifts, which change shifts based on weather patterns. Weather-Adjust Shifts offer more benefits than Machine Centric Shifts, which increase Squalor. With Weather-Adjust Shifts, you candecrease Disease and Heat Demand(outside of Housing). You willslightly decrease Production Efficiency, but there are better ways to improve on that rather than make your people suffer.
Weather-Adjust Shifts
As you can see, Machine Centric Shifts reduce workforce requirements, butthe increase in Squalor is hard to fight against. Considering Squalor is one of the most significant hazards inFrostpunk 2, it isn’t worth applying this Law unless you have enough resources to fight against this increase. Stick with Weather-Adjust Shifts and fight off deadly Heat Demand.
8Family Apprenticeships - Society
Base Law - Childhood
You’ll have to deal with your children at some point, and the better of the two options for managing the city’s young is through a Law onFamily Apprenticeships. With this Law, children learn the trades of their relatives,increasing the percentage of Active Workers. With death rates high and survival consisting of a permanent tightrope walk across an icy abyss, having a bigger workforce is essential.
Family Apprenticeships are one of many Laws that canmake you feel evil inFrostpunk 2, but it is a far better solution for your city than Mandatory School. With Mandatory School, while you increase research speed,you’ll gain less Heatstamp upkeep per capita. Considering Heatstamps are your main source of income inFrostpunk 2, you don’t want to reduce your Heatstamps.
7Experimental Treatment - City
Base Law - Unregulated Treatment
There are two Laws devoted to the treatment of Disease inFrostpunk 2;Conservative Treatment and Experimental Treatment. Conservative Treatment offers a slow, steady, and well-researched approach to medicine, making sure everything is safe before giving it to patients. Experimental Treatment, however, unlocks something very interesting.
To unlock Unregulated Treatment Laws, you’ll need to research them after progressing through more of the story inFrostpunk 2.
With Experimental Treatment, doctors can test their new ideas as soon as they please. This results in amarginal increase in Research Speedand amarginal decrease in Disease. While this isn’t as big a decrease as Conservative Treatment, you unlock a special ability at your hospitals called’Conduct Medical Trial.' With this, you’ll get a larger decrease in Disease at the cost of a few deaths.
6Pathfinder Scouts - Survival
Base Law - Scout Training
Amajor mechanic inFrostpunk 2is exploring the Frostlands beyond your city with scouts. you’re able to improve the effectiveness of your scouts by researching Scout Training Laws. Out of the two options available for scouts, a Law allowingPathfinder Scoutsis by far the smarter move for your city.
With Pathfinder Scouts,Territory Threat Level is decreased. This means it is safer for your scouts to be out in the Frostlands on exploration. The other Law, Mechanised Scouts, would decrease exploration time. While this can be useful if you want to send out a lot of explorations, you’ll be so focused on your city during exploration that this decreased time won’t make much difference.
5Allow Productive Outsiders - City
Base Law - Outsiders
When choosing how to handle outsiders, it is best to enact a Law allowingProductive Outsidersrather than allowing everyone inside your city. With this Law, you’ll havea steady growth of Population and Active Workers, while also earning more Heatstamps. This is a best-of-both-worlds approach to outsiders.
Admit No Outsiders
The interesting thing about the three different Outsiders Laws inFrostpunk 2is that they can each be useful at different points in the history of your city. If your Population is too high to maintain, you can enactAdmit No Outsidersand lower the growth while you tend to your existing citizens. Meanwhile, if you need a significant boost to Population, have the Council Hall vote toAccept All Outsiders.
4Durable Goods - Survival
Base Law - Goods
Your citizens need goods to stay alive, and it’s up to you to decide what sort of goods your citizens have access to. The Goods Base Law has two variations. You can either decide onMass-Produced Goods, which are quickly produced, orDurable Goods, designed to last awhile. Of the two, Durable Goods is the better Law.
Durable Goods is one of the most important Laws to enact first inFrostpunk 2.
With Durable Goods, you’ll haveless Goods Demand per capita. The fewer goods you have to produce for your people, the easier for you, although you’ll get more Tension. While Mass-Produced Goods would result in more Production Efficiency, it makes goods more expensive to make. As such, go with Durable Goods.
3Unproductive Do Maintenance - City
Base Law - Maintenance Duty
When it comes to disliked work, what is better: to share the load or put it onto others as punishment? When comparing the two Laws available for who performs maintenance on your city’s many machines, it is better to declare that theUnproductive Do Maintenancewhen they do not meet their quotas. This Law provides better benefits than saying thatAll Do Maintenance.
Unproductive Do Maintenance may be an oddly worded Law, but it is excellent. It provides not just a slightdecrease in Materials Demandbut a slightincrease in Production Efficiencyas well. While you’ll have less Materials Demand if All Do Maintenance, you get more perks with this Law.
2Paid Essentials - City
Base Law - Bare Necessities
It’s hard to get the bare necessities inFrostpunk 2, and it’s up to you as the Steward to decide the best way to deal with them. There are two main options for this; you can either implementPaid Essentials, forcing people to pay for their bare necessities or declare them free with theFree EssentialsLaw. The Bare Necessities Laws are the sort you’ll want to move back and forth between as needed, but start with Paid Essentials.
With Paid Essentials, you’ll get a slightincrease in Production Efficiency and Heatstamps Income. Meanwhile, Free Essentialsboosts Trustfrom your citizens. Starting with Paid Essentials can help you establish a strong city early on. Later, if you want to win more trust from the people, you may switch to Free Essentials.
1Heat Recycling - Survival
Base Law - Waste Heat Conversion
If you’re one of the lucky souls to get day one access toFrostpunk 2via XBox, one of the first Laws you should enact upon gracing the floors of the Council Hall isHeat Recycling. Considering the deadly nature of the cold, managing excess heat is vital to proper resource management and conversion. Heat Recycling far surpasses its partner Law,Heat Overclocking.
Heat Recycling
Heat Recycling allows you to conserve more of your heat bylowering Heat Demand. Only a few Laws do this. Pairing this Law with Weather-Adjust Shifts allows forlowered Heat Demand throughout your entire city. With so many Laws Increasing Production Efficiency, it isn’t worth sacrificing the incredible bonus from Heat Recycling by enacting Heat Overclocking. Heat Recycling is by far one of the best Laws inFrostpunk 2.
