Frostpunk 2 Wiki and Guides
Do you have what it takes to survive?

Idea Tree

From Frostpunk 2 Wiki and Guides
Survival tab of the Idea Tree

We need new ideas to move forward.
~ Ingame description

The Idea Tree is the interface for carrying out research in Frostpunk 2. It can only be accessed while at least one Research Institute building (constructed in Housing Districts) is active.

There are six sections to the Idea Tree in Frostpunk 2: Heating, Resources, Frostland, City, Society, and Hubs. The first five are tied to opposing pairs of ideologies in the Zeitgeist system, with only Hubs being entirely neutral. In turn, each section is broken down into concepts or societal issues (colloquially "technologies"). These can unlock Building Icon.png Buildings or UIT Icon Council.png Laws, or directly enhance existing structures or systems.

Each group in UIT Icon District Central.png The City tends to have different ideas about how to proceed with a concept: almost every concept has two or more options for research, and supporting one group's proposal will shift the Zeitgeist towards their ideology. Multiple options for each technology can be researched (except for the Generator Upgrades). Most technologies can be researched by any Community or Faction of the same ideology, but some technologies can only be researched by Factions and will be unavailable as long as no Faction with a matching ideology exists.

To begin researching something, the player must generally pay a UIT Icon Resource Heatstamps.png Heatstamps fee. This starts at 50 UIT Icon Resource Heatstamps.png Heatstamps, though more complex technologies can increase that to 100 UIT Icon Resource Heatstamps.png Heatstamps or more, and sometimes it is completely free, particularly when the outcome is a Council law.

When a research project is completed, relations will increase with the group that conducted the research. Newly-unlocked Building Icon.png Buildings can be constructed immediately, and UIT Icon Council.png Laws will be automatically proposed for a vote at the next Council session. More advanced research concepts related to the completed topic may also become available on the Idea Tree.

Research Speed[edit | edit source]

Research takes a variable amount of time and can be sped up by constructing additional Research Institute.png Research Institutes and Teaching Hospital.png Teaching Hospitals or passing certain Laws, such as Mandatory School. Basic research time depends on the game difficulty. For example tier 1 research takes up 8/12/13/17 weeks for Citizen/Officer/Steward/Captain Difficulty with one Research Institute.

Base research time for each difficulty
Research Tier Heatstamps Citizen Officer Steward Captain
1 50 10 12 13 17
2 100 18
3 200 27

Heating[edit | edit source]

Heating Research focus on unlocking UIT Icon Resource Heat.png Heat related Ideas. They will help to lower the Heat consumption, increase Heat production or improve your Generator.

Resources[edit | edit source]

Resources Research are focused on production of various UIT Icon Resources.png Resources in the City, and the use of Workforce.

Frostland[edit | edit source]

Frostland Research is focused on Frostland.png Frostland exploration and improving its effectiveness. It unlocks additional buildings for the Logistics District Icon.png Logistics District, Trails, and Laws that enhance expeditions.

City[edit | edit source]

City Research focuses on City maintenance and Housing District Icon.png Housing District effectiveness.

Society[edit | edit source]

Society Research focuses on population well-being and growth, healthcare, family structure, and crime prevention.

Hubs[edit | edit source]

Hubs Research provides access to a variety of additional support hub buildings that assist with logistics, security, maintenance, and emergency response across the city.


Beta Research Trees[edit | edit source]

During the beta there were only 3 research trees and they were completely repurposed for the game release.

Survival[edit | edit source]

The Survival tab concerns itself primarily with amassing resources and exploration of the Frostland.png Frostland. The two opposing Zeitgeist ideologies in this section are Adaptation and Progress.

Buildings unlocked here tend to enhance their district's capacity to produce resources such as coal, goods, materials, and food. It also contains the Logistics Bay for upgrading scouting (note that this is a building, and only upgrades the Logistics District). Heat is a third topic, covering the Heat Recycling idea and a Generator topic that cannot be researched in the Beta.

Economy[edit | edit source]

The Economy tab concerns itself primarily with addressing economic issues such as Shelter.png Shelter/housing, wages and UIT Icon Resource Heatstamps.png Heatstamps, and infrastructure maintenance. The two opposing Zeitgeist ideologies in this section are Equality and Merit.

Only the Housing Block is available in this tab from the start. Once researched, and once Factions have begun proposing their own solutions to a number of economic problems, the fog will clear and reveal many more options to research that involve boosting productivity, Heatstamp production, and addressing worker issues.

Society[edit | edit source]

The Society tab concerns itself primarily with the tending to social issues such as Crime.png Crime, Disease.png Disease, order, and family. The two opposing Zeitgeist ideologies in this section are Reason and Tradition.

Hospitals and Watchtowers are immediately unlocked to address problems in the city. Youth is visible but cannot be researched by any starting community, only by the Technocrats and the Icebloods.

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