Embrace or Overcome the Frost in Frostpunk 2? An In-Depth Outcomes Analysis

One of the crucial decisions players face in the Frostpunk 2 story mode is whether to Embrace or Defeat the Frost. Each choice leads to vastly different outcomes for New London’s future and restricts certain research paths and options.

To assist you in making an informed choice, we have explored both options and are here to discuss their implications.

Frostpunk 2: Embrace or Defeat Frost – Explained

View of Chapter 1 Page in Frostpunk 2 — Image Credit: 11 Bit Studios via Twinfinite

In essence, the decision to Embrace or Defeat Frost in Frostpunk 2 mirrors the choice between Order or Faith from the previous installment.

Both choices eventually lead to the same long-term goal, but they diverge in significant ways. Specifically, they affect your city-building strategies and resource management, as well as the fuel sources available to sustain your population.

Below, we delve deeper into the effects of each choice.

What Happens When You Embrace the Frost?

View of Steward Choosing to Embrace the Frost in Frostpunk 2

Opting to Embrace the Frost places you on a narrative path where New London adapts to the cold and expands across the Frostland.

Frostlanders, Evolvers, and Pilgrims support this decision, advocating for laws that advance their interests. Notably, they implement new practices and technologies that modify your buildings and population to mitigate the harsh cold. While these changes may increase Tension among citizens, they also decrease New London’s Resource drain, facilitating easier resource accumulation.

This choice enables you to establish new colonies throughout the Frostland. Unlike the initial settlement at the Old Dreadnaught, these colonies operate autonomously after you invest a set number of Resources and Cores, providing a continuous and unlimited supply of Food, Materials, Goods, and Fuel. It also alleviates the pressure on New London’s population, as citizens can be allocated to manage these colonies.

One notable location is Winterhome, a site of a previous colony that was abandoned due to toxic gas emissions that nearly devastated its inhabitants. By choosing to Embrace the Frost, you make the settlement at Winterhome more feasible, allowing you to address the toxic gas vents and provide a new home for citizens to gather additional resources.

Furthermore, this choice influences the fuel source for your Generator. Initially, you only have access to Coal and Oil, but this choice can pave the way for the use of Steam power, significantly curtailing the consumption of available fuel sources and ensuring your city can maintain warmth for its inhabitants.

What Happens When You Defeat the Frost?

Steward Deciding Whether to Embrace or Defeat Frost in Frostpunk 2 — Image Credit: 11 Bit Studios via Twinfinite

In contrast to the previous option, choosing to Defeat the Frost simplifies the process of heating your corner of the world by firmly relying on your existing Generator and city.

This approach is favored by the Faithkeepers, New Londoners, and Stalwarts, who promote laws that enhance the maintenance and development of New London. These laws can range from establishing an automated workforce to incentivizing increased worker efficiency, all geared toward maximizing the extraction of resources from the surrounding area.

However, this strategy applies to the Frostland as well. While colonization may not be possible, you can deplete every resource-rich area, bringing those materials back to New London for future use. Any Cores found can be utilized to improve your Generator’s efficiency in burning Oil and Coal.

This is particularly relevant since those are the only fuel sources available in this scenario. Steam power is rejected, and you are encouraged to Scavenge Winterhome rather than establish a colony there. While this negates the need to spend resources on colonization, it reduces your options for relocating your population, with only the harvestable Cores available.

On the upside, this choice allows you to upgrade your Generator to its maximum tier more easily. Consequently, maintaining heat in New London becomes straightforward with minimal fuel consumption, enabling you to dedicate your efforts to enhancing the city’s overall quality.

Which Choice is Best? Explained

After experiencing both scenarios, it appears that Embracing the Frost is the more favorable option in Frostpunk 2.

Even though it’s challenging to reach the highest Generator upgrade without making considerable sacrifices, this narrative path offers several advantages. The ability to establish Colonies providing infinite resources is invaluable, and it allows for better management of your population to reduce resource strain.

Moreover, Winterhome becomes an essential colony with abundant resources ripe for extraction. Even without destroying it, there are Cores readily available for your use, and its Steam veins can become a nonstop energy source to fuel your expanding empire.

Additionally, Steam serves as an incredibly effective Fuel source, transforming your approach to Heating and Fuel management. Once unlocked, we faced no further concerns regarding Fuel, maintaining a stockpile that consistently remained at maximum capacity. This outweighed the downsides of lacking an efficient Generator, leaving our gameplay experience in an optimal state up until the credits rolled.

Keep this in mind, and reserve the choice to Defeat the Frost for those seeking a tougher challenge.

That sums up our insights on whether to embrace or defeat the Frost in Frostpunk 2.

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