The Apocalyptic Whiteout Tale ofFrostpunk 2is the hardest challenge the game presents for Utopia Builder. It requires you to survive a full 120 weeks of no respite under -100 to -120 degrees Celsius. You’ll be hard-pressed to quickly build a city that not only functions but functions well.
Part of planning your challenge will be choosing the correct map for your intended playstyle. Not all maps are created equally, and you’ll have to decide for yourself which map will be the best fit to take you all the way to, through, and far past the end of the world.
8Dreadnought
While the Dreadnought is one of the coolest maps aesthetically, it’s a terribly challenging place to begin for any Utopia Builder, even the lowest difficulties. Oil may be abundant on this map, but other necessary resources, like Food and Materials, are entirely absent.
You cannot beat the Apocalyptic Winter on this map without establishing a colony quickly. Your Oil Extraction districts will not be able to operate without the Materials that are absent on this map. They also require extra Materials to even run, due to their placement.
While not impossible to defeat, playing Apocalyptic Winter on this map is like trying to tie your shoes blindfolded with scissors for hands. If you’re determined, perhaps this map might call fora little Serenity Mode.
7Hanging Rock
The Hanging Rock is an extremely difficult starting map due to its less than organic resource placement due to its limited space for Housing near the generator, and the need to do extensive Frostbreaking before reaching any important resources.
Fuel and Materials are often the highest on the cliffs, requiring as many as two full Frostbreaking sessions to even reach the outskirts.
While Geothermal Springs near the rock will helpheat homes in the early game, they invite the potential for high squalor if Extraction Districts are placed here. Likewise, the entire zone in the western quarter has a negative Temperature debuff.
6Windswept Peaks
The Windswept Peaks, like the Fractured Gorge, has a large resource of Geothermal Springs as well as plentiful cliffs for shields against chill and wind without the Gorge’s prevalence of windswept fields. The generator’s central location gives room for circular Housing construction.
However, the Stable Cliffs beside the generator increase housing at the loss of heating. This is an absolute drawback for the Apocalyptic Winter being so close to the generator. Likewise, Fuel and Materials will always be on two opposite ends of the map, making heating for these districts challenging.
5Crater
The Crater is the samestarting map you’ll find in story mode. It has everything you could wish for in balance with each resource evenly branching off in straight, easy-to-manage lines.
The crater area gives extra heating bonuses for districts within, and there appear to be no real negative areas except a lone cliff on the far edge of the map.
While there are no Oil or Steam deposits on this map, it has two Deep Deposits for Materials and one for Coal. Although we recommend picking up a colony to expand your heating abilities, this map will give you one of the strongest starts toward your hoarding goals.
4The Pit
The Pit, a late Utopia Builder addition, has everything a city needs to survive right from the get-go. With Oil available from the onset, and Steam and Coil there to assist, this map is a great candidate for the Apocalyptic Winter just based on fuel alone. With ample Food and Materials also abundant enough to get you started on the right foot, there is little negative to say about the map initially.
However, the Oil and Prefabs are locked under a high Disease area, and the map has a huge downfall in its lack of space for housing, as the area is incredibly cramped due to the rocky cliff face beside the generator - which also requires additional Materials this map cannot keep up with alone.
This is the sort of map where letting people die or sending them off to a colony can relieve more headaches than they cause. If the area around the generator were a bit wider, it certainly would have overtaken our next ranking.
3Fractured Gorge
Fractured Gorge is an excellent choice, thanks to the abundance of Geothermal Springs on its map. It’s always guaranteed to have two or three of these springs, so you’ll have a valuable endless fuel resource that can keep going even during the Winter.
Without any Oil to help the generator keep up with heating, you really have to invest hard into Steam orsearch for a colonyto assist.
Other resources are typically abundant on this map as well, making it well-balanced for an attempt of any difficulty. Its only drawback is a need for a colony to really get ahead of the Whiteout due to its shallow deposits and singular Deep Deposit locations.
2Horizon
This open and flat landscape is a bland duck compared to the other, more exciting maps. However, it has some really valuable traits that make it an unlikely contender for the top spot.
With access to all three fuel types and Deep Deposits for all resources except Oil, Horizon is strangely equipped to gather lots of resources very quickly. The open area around the Generator is a huge benefit as well, giving you the freedom to shape your city to optimize heating.
Although flat and open-aired, the only negative area on this map is around the Oil deposit, which gives an increased Disease chance. Something could be said about space in late-game running a bit low thanks to the map’s size, but it rarely becomes an issue. Horizon is simply put: a solid map (though woefully unexciting).
1Broken Shore
The Broken Shore is a map plentiful in resources that are very consistent across multiple map generations. Coal and Oil are both available from the start. While the Oil being placed in an area with a high Materials requirement would normally be a concern, Broken Shore’s overabundance of Materials makes it negligible.
The greatest concern is Housing placement; as your population grows, you will eventually start being forced to place Housing near Extraction districts without a lot of prior planning. This puts heating optimization and squalor at risk. However, with good planning, this map stands at the top with far more going for it than against.
