🌡️ OVERVIEW: What Is Frostpunk?
Frostpunk is a post-apocalyptic survival strategy game where you manage the last city on Earth during a new ice age. Your job is to keep your citizens alive, warm, and fed—while making brutal moral and political decisions along the way.

Genre: City-builder / Survival / Strategy

Theme: Frozen dystopia, hard moral choices

Goal: Survive extreme cold while managing resources and hope

🛠️ CORE GAMEPLAY MECHANICS
🔥 1. The Generator (Heart of the City)
Your city is built around a central generator.

Keep it fueled with coal or people will freeze and die.

You can upgrade it to improve range, heat level, and efficiency.

Tips:

Keep the generator running at all times, especially at night.

Don’t overuse overdrive; it causes stress and can explode.

🪵 2. Resources: What You Need to Gather
Resource Use
Coal Powers the generator & heaters
Wood Used for buildings & research
Steel Used for advanced buildings/upgrades
Food Keep citizens from starving
Steam Cores Build high-tier structures (rare!)

Tips:

Start with wood & coal crates.

Prioritize building a Workshop for tech upgrades.

👷 3. Workforce Management
You have workers, engineers, and children.

Assign people to jobs: gathering, medical posts, cooking, etc.

You can pass laws to allow child labor or extended shifts—but at a moral cost.

Tips:

Engineers are best used in medical posts and workshops.

Build more medical posts when sickness rises.

🧬 4. Research & Technology Tree
Use Workshops to unlock vital upgrades:

Heating – improve generator, heaters

Exploration – build a beacon, send scouts

Industry – build faster, unlock coal thumpers, hothouses

Resources – more efficient gathering

Housing – upgrade tents to bunkhouses, etc.

Tips:

Always have a workshop researching.

Beacon is critical early game to explore the world map.

🏚️ 5. Housing & Warmth
Build tents, then bunkhouses, then houses as tech improves.

Use steam hubs and heaters to warm distant areas.

People get sick in cold buildings—track temperature zones with the heat map (press the thermometer icon).

Tips:

Upgrade cold homes before the next temperature drop.

Build homes close to the generator if possible.

📜 6. Laws, Hope, and Discontent
You can sign laws to control your population and manage morality.

Hope: Must be kept high to avoid rebellion.

Discontent: High discontent leads to strikes or revolts.

Law Paths:

Adaptation: child labor, soup rations, emergency shifts

Purpose (Faith or Order): choose between religion or police state control systems

Tips:

Don't go crazy signing laws—space them out.

Use laws like Cemetery, Public House, or Care House to reduce discontent.

🌍 7. The Frostland: World Exploration
After building a beacon, you can send scouts to explore the frozen wastes.

Scouts find resources, survivors, and lore.

Some expeditions are time-sensitive.

Tips:

Build a second scout team if possible.

Always keep at least one scout active—resources are key to survival.

❄️ 8. Weather and Difficulty Spikes
The temperature will keep dropping at scripted intervals.

Watch the weather timeline at the top of the screen to prepare before cold waves.

Later events include storms, refugee waves, and moral dilemmas.

Tips:

Upgrade generator heat range and insulation before big freezes.

Have extra coal reserves and medical capacity ready before temperature drops.

💡 PRO TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PLAYERS
Build smart, not wide – Keep buildings close to heat sources.

Pause often – Use pause to plan building and manage crises.

Rush beacon – The faster you scout, the more resources and people you can get.

Soup over food rations – Less food per meal, more meals overall.

Triage carefully – A moral law that can save lives or destroy hope.

Stockpile coal before storms – A cold city is a dead city.

Balance laws – Don’t make too many harsh choices early unless you must.

🎯 Recommended Opening Strategy
Day 1–3:

Assign workers to coal and wood crates.

Build 1-2 gathering posts near coal piles.

Construct tents for everyone.

Sign laws like Emergency Shift or Soup.

Day 4–6:

Build the Workshop, then Beacon.

Start sending scouts.

Research heaters and build cookhouse + medical post.

Day 7+

Get better housing before the first temperature drop.

Expand resource collection with coal thumpers and steelworks.

Choose your Order or Faith path for long-term control.

📘 Game Modes
A New Home – Main story campaign (start here).

Endless Mode – Free-form survival challenge.

Scenarios – Unique challenges like The Arks or Refugees.

🧊 Final Thoughts
Frostpunk is all about tough choices and adaptation. You’ll fail sometimes, and that’s okay. Learning when to be ruthless and when to show compassion is the heart of the game.

Keep the generator running, keep people fed and warm, and never ignore the storm.