by theygamesFrostpunk 2 pits you against a harsh winter and even harsher vibes in a frozen post-apocalypse where your city always seems to be running low on something important. The game begins with plentiful resource nodes surrounding your settlement, but the good times only last so long.
Harvesting resources in Frostpunk 2 is the backbone of the entire gameplay loop, and you can’t grow your city or develop new technologies without them. It’s a delicate balancing act since you can’t just harvest everything all at once, though, so knowing how to farm the most important materials to add to your stockpile is incredibly important.
All Frostpunk 2 resources and currencies
These are all the major resources that you can collect in Frostpunk 2.
- Scraps
- Prefabs
- Shelter
- Materials
- Heatstamps
- Heat
- Cores
- Workforce
- Food
- Coal
- Oil
- Goods
- Frostland Teams
- Population
There are many types of resources nodes that you can harvest throughout your colonies and the Frostland, but everything falls into one of the above categories. Frozen Forests and Iron Veins both give Materials when harvested, for example.
How to get every Frostpunk 2 resource
Finding steady sources of every resource is crucial to survival in Frostpunk 2. These are the best ways to obtain everything you need to survive the cold.
| Resource | How to Obtain |
|---|---|
| Coal | Place Extraction Districts on Coal Veins. |
| Cores | Explore the frostland and use Frostland Teams to retrive them. |
| Food | Place Food Districts on Fertile Soil. |
| Frostland Teams | Build Logistics Districts on Old Waypoints, expand them, and add new buildings to them. |
| Goods | Build Industrial Districts and set their output to Goods instead of Prefabs. |
| Heat | Upgrade your Generator to use more Fuel. Activate Overdrive on your Generator for bigger boosts. |
| Heatstamps | Automatically collected weekly based on population size. Passing certain laws or meeting Goods demand increases weekly collections. |
| Materials | Place Extraction Districts on Frozen Forests or Iron Veins. |
| Oil | Place Extraction Districts on Oil Deposits. |
| Population | Automatically increases over time. Increases faster if your city is warm and has ample resources. |
| Prefabs | Build Industrial Districts and set their output to Prefabs instead of Goods. Can also be retrieved by Frostland Teams. |
| Scraps | Same as Heatstamps but only used in certain scenarios. |
| Shelter | Build Housing Districts. |
| Workforce | Increases automatically with population size. Decreases when people get sick or injured. |
As a general rule of thumb, increasing the size of districts and adding special buildings to them will increase their output. If you want to maximize your Material gains, for example, then build a Sawmill in an Extraction District that is harvesting a Frozen Forest.
Also, placing districts in the right spots can make your city more Heat efficient. Housing Districts placed in areas sheltered from wind, for example, will require less Heat to function. Placing some districts side by side can reduce Heat consumption as well. Tiles with these bonuses will be highlighted in blue when constructing new districts. Pay attention to any tradeoffs for these tiles, though, as they can sometimes increase Squalor or Disease.
Best ways to farm resources in Frostpunk 2
Even if you have a resource node with a district set up to extract its riches, the well always run dry. Nothing is permanent in Frostpunk 2, so knowing how to farm the most important materials and resources can be the difference between life and death in the bitter cold.
How to farm Coal and Oil in Frostpunk 2
While Coal deposits are plentiful and a decent supply of Oil can be found if you look hard enough, the absolute best way to farm Coal and Oil in Frostpunk 2 is to build a Deep Melting Drill on a deep resource deposit. Unlike standard shallow deposits, deep resource deposits are basically infinite. To put things in perspective, a typical Frozen Forest node has roughly 72 thousand Materials that you can harvest from it. A deep Frozen Forest deposit has 100 million Materials.
You unlock Deep Melting Drills by researching Melting Deep Deposits on the Heating page of the Idea Tree. This is a main objective at the start of chapter two of Frostpunk 2’s storyline, but you can also unlock it in the sandbox Utopia mode as well. Once researched, you can construct Deep Melting Drills in any Extraction District with an empty building slot.
Of course, nearly endless supplies come with a cost. Deep Mining Drills are expensive to maintain and significantly increase Squalor in your city. The reward of a steady stream of Coal or Oil is more than worth the trouble, though.
How to farm Prefabs in Frostpunk 2
Prefabs are incredibly important in Frostpunk 2 and it’s easy to run out unless you make a deliberate effort to stock up, so we recommend starting Prefab production as early as possible. Prefabs are constructed automatically every week in Industrial Districts. You can also find them in the frostland, but it’s not a good idea to rely on random chance. You need a Prefab setup in your city.
Unfortunately, there’s no way to fast track Prefab production in Frostpunk 2. You just need to build as many Industrial Districts as you need. Prefab production can scale up with your city as you progress through the Idea Tree, however, so be sure to prioritize research like Prefabs Factories on the Resources page if you need more. As always, there are multiple options to choose from that will have different costs and consequences.
How to farm Materials in Frostpunk 2
Farming Materials in Frostpunk 2 works the same way as farming Coal and Oil. Just research Melting Deep Deposits on the Heating page of the Idea Tree and then build a Deep Melting Drill on an deep Iron Vein or Frozen Forest. Deep resource deposits are virtually unlimited, so you’ll always have a steady supply of Materials.
Once you’ve got a Deep Melting Drill set up in an Extraction District, focus on expanding that district and and adding additional buildings to it in order to maximize its output. You can’t rely on shallow nodes forever, so don’t invest in those too heavily.
How to farm Cores in Frostpunk 2
Cores are ridiculously important in Frostpunk 2 and you’re never going to have enough for everything you need. You can only find cores by exploring the frostland. You cannot manufacture them yourself.
As such, the best way to farm Cores for important upgrades in Frostpunk 2 is to maximize the efficiency of your Frostland Teams. Build and upgrade Logistics Districts whenever possible and pass laws to divert resources to exploration so you can enjoy reduced scouting times and more. Prioritize exploration research as well so your Frostland Teams can get the most out of each location they discover.
How to farm Heatstamps in Frostpunk 2
Heatstamps are used for basically everything in Frostpunk 2, and rapid expansion is an easy way to run out. It’s critical to establish a solid source of Heatstamp income early in the game unless you want to hit a monetary roadblock down the line.
Heatstamps are collected automatically from your population every week. The larger your population, the more Heatstamps you will collect. You’ll get even more Heatstamps if you meet your city’s Goods demands, so make sure to build Industrial Districts and produce enough Goods to keep your pockets lined.
Certain laws and buildings can increase or decrease your Heatstamp income as well, so pay attention to descriptions when upgrading. Enacting the Paid Essentials law will increase your Heatstamp income per capita, for example. On the other hand, enacting Service Exemptions law will decrease it. You can’t just squeeze Heatstamps out of your population and not expect Trust to fall, though, so try to keep things balanced.