Out of all the resources in Frostpunk 2, Materials are the one that always seems to be in short supply. It’s little surprise though, as they’re used in the creation of most every other Resource from Food to Fuel and Goods. But how do you get Materials fast, and how do you reduce the constant demand?
How to Get Materials Fast in Frostpunk 2
In general, there are two ways to get a plethora of Materials fast in Frostpunk 2.
The first is to extract as many Materials as possible from the area around New London or your respective city. These are denoted by cube icons, and they can be harvested via Extraction Districts. You can also harvest more if you build the Extraction Districts over multiple Material harvesting points, and through the expansion or development of the District via Buildings.
Once you have your District in order, you can drive up the amount of Materials you harvest even more with Emergency Shifts. This action increases the output of the District it’s applied to. In exchange, workers suffer more injuries and deaths.
The second way to get Materials fast is to harvest them from deposits out in the Frostlands. Denoted by the same Cube icon, these points can be extracted via a dedicated team of Frostlanders. This team is permanently removed from your pool of available explorers for expeditions, but you get massive amounts of resources from each deposit in exchange for the sacrifice.
Not only that, but you can direct the Materials to whichever colony you wish. This allows you to Stockpile the resource in mass quantities, and prepare for any shortages that arise in the future.
How to Reduce Materials Demand in Frostpunk 2
Once you have a steady stream of Materials coming in, you can then focus on ways to reduce the demand for them. In general, it’s best to make the demand for resources equal to or less than your current output. There are a few ways to do this, and we’ve listed them down below.
Reduce Output From Other Districts
Every District drives up the demand for certain resources, and the majority require Materials to function. As such, you can drive down the demand for your precious cubes if you reduce the output of any of the other Districts in your city.
To do this, simply click on the District of your choice. When you do, a menu opens that shows you how much of a certain resource it’s making, as denoted by the slider near the bottom. 100 percent is its maximum output, with increments of 20 percent available if you want to reduce how much it puts out.
When you move the slider to the lower increments, the Materials needed to run the District go down in exchange for making less Food, providing less shelter, and so forth. Use this to your advantage, as it’s the quickest and easiest way to drive down demand.
Find Harvesting Points for Other Resources in the Frostlands
There are harvesting points for every resource in the game out in the Frostlands, and you can bring them back to your city without any need for a Materials investment. This makes them a godsend in the late game, especially as your initial store of cubic bits becomes depleted.
As stated above though, this comes at the cost of available expedition members you can use at any given time. Keep this in mind, and make sure you maximize the number of Frostlanders you can make use of via Logistics Districts and the buildings tied to them.
Increase Production Efficiency via Evolvers
The Evolvers Faction can be a pain to deal with at times, but they’re integral to any city that wants to cut down on Material consumption.
This is thanks to their Community Actions, Train Workers, and Enhance Workers. Both increase the Production Efficiency of every District in the game, which leads to higher yields of every resource from all of your existing structures.
To that end, you need to make sure you keep up the Evolvers’ Trust. You can do this by granting them favors like Funding or a choice of what gets voted on in the Council. Any choice made that leads the city toward the Adaptation Cornerstone also makes them happy, but be ready to catch some flack from every other Faction for favoritism.
Finally, you need to make choices that align with their goals for the city. Choose to Embrace the Frost when the option becomes available, and move to Settle Winterhome instead of salvaging it like the Faithkeepers want you to.
So long as you do this, you can use the Evolvers’ Community Actions to ensure your workforce gets the absolute most out of every Material they extract.
Get Rid of Unneeded Districts
While not recommended if you’re barely getting by, it is possible to reduce Materials demand through the demolition of Districts.
This is done by pressing the house icon with an X over it after clicking on any District. The structure is then torn down, and you get a handful of the resources that went into making it alongside a reduction in your overall Materials demand.
It’s a useful tool, but also one that can bite you later when your population increases. Make sure you take this into account, and don’t act too hastily if you can help it.
Research and Build Maintenance Hubs to Reduce Materials Usage
Maintenance Hubs are one of the most effective ways to decrease your Materials drain, as they decrease the Materials demand of any Districts in their area of effect. Any District the effect is applied to returns 40 Materials to your available pool, and the bonus can be applied to several districts at once.
We highly recommend that you build at least one next to any other District you create, as this can leave you flush with Materials on a regular basis.
Hopefully this all helps you get Materials fast and reduce demand in Frostpunk 2. For more on the game, we have guides on how to get Goods and Heatstamps fast.
Published: Sep 19, 2024 10:57 am