Displaying Economic Overlays in Frostpunk 2: A Complete Guide

As you expand your city with multiple districts in Frostpunk 2, managing everything can become challenging. You’ll find yourself constantly checking on the needs of your city and inspecting each district individually to troubleshoot problems and identify solutions. A valuable tool for discovering these issues is the economic overlays, which many new players tend to overlook. Economic overlays provide a summary of each category by highlighting all affected buildings, making it much easier to assess the status of your city. Here’s how to enable economic overlays in Frostpunk 2.

How to Display Economic Overlays in Frostpunk 2

Heat and Fuels Overlay Frostpunk 2 — Screenshot by **Prima Games**

Economic overlays help you interpret the status of your city effectively. There are six primary overlays available, as listed below, along with the corresponding button to access each:

Heat and Fuels – Press 4
Materials – Press 5
Food – Press 6
Workforce – Press 7
District Proximity Effects – Press 8
Base Economy – Press Alt

The heat and fuels overlay indicates the heating requirements of each district, helping you identify areas that need additional heating infrastructure. Since it’s important to build districts close together for better heat efficiency, this overlay will highlight any inefficiencies. As you research new heating sources through the Idea Tree, you’ll also see those options reflected in this overlay once they’re implemented in the districts.

The materials overlay displays the production and consumption rates across districts. If you notice a shortage of materials, this overlay will help you identify the districts that are depleting your resources and allow you to adjust their production rates accordingly.

Food Economic Overlay Frostpunk 2 — Screenshot by **Prima Games**

The food overlay illustrates the supply and demand for food across Food Districts and Housing Districts. Balancing these is crucial, and it’s wise to maintain a considerable stockpile for emergencies. This overlay is essential for managing food consumption; if you’re facing a food shortage, consider researching new food ideas or enacting laws that decrease the population’s food intake.

The workforce overlay reveals the available workforce in your city and highlights the districts consuming this workforce. If you find yourself short on workers, this overlay is useful for determining whether you truly lack workforce or if it’s simply a matter of waiting for your population to increase due to rapid expansion.

The district proximity effects overlay displays the advantages of placing certain districts close to one another. For example, situating Housing Districts near other Housing Districts and Food Districts can yield heat bonuses, while positioning them next to Industrial Districts increases Squalor and raises crime rates. Additionally, placing Housing Districts next to Extraction Districts may lead to higher disease rates. This overlay provides a clear view of all these effects with a single button press.

The base economy overlay offers a quick snapshot of your overall income from Heatstamps, which you acquire through a growing population and increased goods supply.

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