Frostpunk 2 Council: Best Laws to pass first

Frostpunk 2 takes players into a frozen post-apocalyptic world where the survival of your city depends on effective governance and decision-making.

As the leader, your ability to pass laws is crucial to managing resources like Heatstamps and Prefabs, balancing power between factions, and ensuring the survival of your people.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about the Council and laws in Frostpunk 2 and which laws to prioritize early on for a successful start.

How the Council works

The Council is one of the key political systems in Frostpunk 2, representing the various factions and power groups within your city. Each faction has its own interests and agendas, and navigating their demands is essential to maintaining order.

To begin passing laws, you must first unlock the Council. This happens during Chapter 1 after you build the Council Hall in the Central District of your city. This building is the center of political power and lawmaking in your settlement.

Once the Council is unlocked, you’ll gain access to the Law Proposal feature, allowing you to introduce new laws and shape the future of your city.

How to pass laws

To propose a law, follow these steps:

1. Select the gavel icon located in the bottom left corner of the screen. This brings up the law proposal interface.
2. Choose a law category (Survival, City, Society, or Rule).
3. Pick a specific law from that category that you want to enact.
4. Propose the law by clicking “Propose.” This sends the law to the Council for a vote.

To successfully pass a law, you need a simple majority of the Council, meaning you need at least 51 votes in favor.

After each vote, the Council enters a 10-week recess, during which you cannot propose any new laws. During this time, you’ll need to focus on preparing for future proposals.

Laws in Frostpunk 2 are divided into four main categories. Each category addresses a different aspect of city management, so it’s important to understand how each affects your city and its people.

• Survival: They are designed to help your population endure the extreme cold and challenging environment. These laws often deal with essential resources, work policies, food rationing, and healthcare measures.
• City: They revolve around urban planning, infrastructure, and managing resources efficiently. These laws help you build a stable foundation for your city, focusing on housing, resource management, and transportation.
• Society: These laws shape the social and cultural fabric of your city. These laws affect education, community structure, and the interaction between different social groups. Balancing these laws is key to ensuring long-term social stability.
• Rule: They focus on your style of governance and the powers you have as a leader. These are some of the most impactful laws, as they give you direct control over the city’s political system, enforcement methods, and your relationship with factions.

How to negotiate votes

Passing laws in Frostpunk 2 is not as simple as just proposing them. The Council is made up of multiple factions, and each has its own opinions on what laws should be passed. Some factions will naturally support your proposed law, while others may oppose it.

If you’re lacking the necessary 51 votes, you can negotiate with different factions to secure their support:

1. Click “Negotiate” instead of going straight to the vote.
2. Select a faction to negotiate with. The game shows which factions are open to changing their position and which are outright opposed.
3. Fulfill their demands in exchange for their votes. This might include researching certain ideas, passing other laws they support, or building or destroying specific structures.

Failing to fulfill the promises you made to a faction can severely damage your relations with them, leading to longer-term issues in governance.

Most of these promises have a time limit, meaning the faction won’t wait forever. Always monitor the time remaining on the upper left corner of the screen, right under the objectives.

Best Laws to pass first

Certain laws can give you a significant advantage early in the game by addressing key survival needs, boosting productivity, and laying a strong foundation for long-term success.

Here are some of the best laws to prioritize early on:

Best City Laws

• Paid Essentials: Provides paid essential goods to citizens, which boosts production efficiency and generates weekly heatstamp income. This law helps address economic stability early in the game, which is critical when you’re trying to expand your city and manage resource shortages.
• Allow Productive Outsiders: Increases the percentage of active workers in your city, providing more labor and heatstamp income. More workers mean more productivity, and as your city grows, this law ensures that you can sustain expansion efforts without running into workforce shortages.

Best Survival Laws

• Heat Recycling: Reduces heat demand in housing districts, which helps save fuel during cold periods. Fuel efficiency is essential in the harsh environment of Frostpunk 2. This law helps mitigate the strain on your fuel reserves, especially during the colder seasons.
• Chemical Additives: Boosts the efficiency of food production, allowing you to stretch your food resources further. Food scarcity can be a constant threat, so by passing this law early, you can ensure your food supplies last longer, even during difficult periods.

Society Law

• Family Apprenticeship: Increases workforce efficiency by encouraging children to learn trades and take up jobs in resource gathering and manufacturing. Labor shortages are a common problem in Frostpunk 2, especially as the population grows. This law helps address that issue early by increasing productivity.

Rule Law

• Bureau of Propaganda: You are what you make everyone believe you are. With a body that solely focuses on improving everyone’s opinion of you, you improve relations and ensure your not-so-great choices have less of an impact on Trust.

Now that you have all the right laws, you might want to start working on the best Ideas to research and how to farm Materials.