History YMMV / Frostpunk

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Refugees'' is full of this. Are the refugees a case of desperate commoners being left by the elites until their ship was taken over as a punishment for their negligence, or a rash group of workers who decided to take over an entire ship unjustifiably and their recklessness being the major source of problems upon their arrival at the generator? Are the Lords a group of entitled people who never knew their situation and their callousness being the result of their ship being taken over, or a group of passengers who were not pleased with their ship being stolen and had to endure hardship in their travels by foot that is not recognized by the refugees? Lastly, [[spoiler: is Lord Craven a villain or WellIntentionedExtremist?]]

*** Upon finishing the Generator, the initial heat zone cannot have structures built within it unlike normal Generators even if it was built flawlessly. You need to quickly research higher heat levels and build Steam Hubs to extend its warmth to your freezing town. Hope you don't have an storm at 1-2 days away...

** As scenarios go, ''On The Edge'' is this, as not only does the city not have a generator, it cannot produce Food or Wood (once all the trees have been cut down) or ''pass laws'' independently.
** Of the four base game scenarios, ''The Fall of Winterhome'' is easily the most difficult. You have to deal with extremely low hope and high discontent right from the start and need to clean up the city's completely broken infrastructure. It's very easy to get a GameOver early on if you don't make the right decisions immediately and once things do calm down and you seem to get the city back on track, the discovery that [[spoiler: the generator is broken beyond fixing and its subsequent breakdowns]] can cause things to spiral out of control ''fast''.

** On research for heating, many players will ignore the upgrades for generator range and instead grab the Steam Hub upgrades, as every increase in generator heat range increases coal consumption by an amount which is enough for 2 steam hubs. More importantly, steam hubs have one research which reduces their coal usage by 33% while the generator only has two researches that only gives a a total reduction of 20%. Also, players will not actually use the steam hub range increase itself, as it only gives a range extension of 50% when the increased consumption is enough to run a second steam hub.
** Among the first laws many players will sign will be those which lead to extended shift hours; that extra 4 hours of labour is invaluable at the start of any scenario.

** Child Labour + Faith laws + ''Overcrowding''. With this combination, you can treat up to 20 patients with one facility manned by 10 children. The work isn't considered dangerous (and so, the children won't be hurt in accidents), and the treatment speed is at least on par with Medical Posts (which require Engineers). Throw in a Shrine, and the city's medical woes become a minor irritant.
** After using abilities such as ''Foreman'' or ''Emergency Shift'', dismantle the facility and rebuild it. This removes the cooldown(s), and the abilities can be used again.

** Treating the gravely ill with experimental but damaging treatments, overcrowding hospitals, and singling out the recoverable sicks at the price of killing others, so that resources can be spent on more manageable goals.
** In ''A New Home'', New London can be placed under strict laws in response to growing unrest from [[spoiler: the news of Winterhome's demise]]. The measures ranged from propaganda to brutalizing the populace into obedience that would eventually replace Hope with Obedience, representing the populace's submission to cruel and harsh rule in place of an optimistic future. Of course, the end of the Faith path isn't that benign as it involves manipulating people into guilting and lashing themselves, along with occasional executions. In addition, [[TheHorseshoeEffect Devotion would replace Hope, too]].

* ThatOneSidequest: Among the people' promises, providing a high enough heat level for housing is considered the hardest to do for all the wrong reasons. This is because this request would only trigger at temperatures below normal and to prevent cheesing with a flick of the Overdrive, the required heat level has to be maintained for a few days with ''no interruptions''. More often than not, there is usually a temperature drop during said days and that often causes you to fail. General advice for players is to ignore these requests.

** Unlike Steam Hubs, Heaters do not have set durations and must be manually operated each day. This means that they can waste precious coal during non-work hours for those who are not paying attention. They are also fixed to the highest available level, meaning that you cannot turn down their coal usage at warmer temperatures.

** Unlike Steam Hubs, Heaters do not have set durations and must be manually operated each day. This means that they can waste precious coal during non-work hours for those who are not paying attention.

** Unless you are not going for a deathless run or already have dead people under your watch, there are various events that will trigger an unavoidable death event like the first House of Healing in the Faith path and the Propaganda Center in the Order path. Said deaths ''[[https://www.reddit.com/r/Frostpunk/comments/18vwx1c/does_this_prevent_the_saviour_achievement_from/ actually counts]]'' so you can kiss your deathless run goodbye unless you do some fiddling with the mechanics or resort to dismantling and rebuilding the place at a certain time.

** Another law which non-Serenity players will pick is ''Overcrowding'' [[note]]Allows healthcare centres to house and treat twice the number of patients at the cost of discontent when the extra capacity is used.[[/note]] This law frees up labour, especially Engineers who are the only ones who can operate Medical Posts.

*** Heck, even without this the ''Two Shifts'' Law is incredibly powerful, as turning a 10-hour shift into 24-hour shift for double the manpower (which itself can be lowered with Shift Work Coordination) does wonders for accelerating research, which in turn increases the productivity of your city exponentially.

** Unless you are not going for a deathless run or already have dead people under your watch, the first House of Healing in the Faith path and the Propaganda Center in the Order path will trigger an unavoidable death event. Said deaths ''[[https://www.reddit.com/r/Frostpunk/comments/18vwx1c/does_this_prevent_the_saviour_achievement_from/ actually counts]]'' so you can kiss your deathless run goodbye unless you do some fiddling with the mechanics or resort to dismantling and rebuilding the place at a certain time.

* ThatOneSidequest: Among the people' promises, providing a high enough heat level for housing is considered the hardest to do for all the wrong reasons. This is because this request would only trigger at temperatures below normal and to prevent cheesing, the heat level has to be maintained for a few days. More often than not, there is usually a temperature drop during said days and that often causes you to fail. General advice for newbies is to ignore these requests.

** Another law which non-Serenity players will pick is ''Overcrowding'' [[note]]allows healthcare centres to house and treat twice the number of patients at the cost of discontent when the extra capacity is used.[[/note]] This law frees up labour, especially Engineers who are the only ones who can operate Medical Posts.

*** Players are likely to choose Order over Faith, as the Foreman law is crucial [[spoiler:in boosting steel production for the cabins on board the Dreadnought, and helps a lot in speeding up generator repairs]].
** In the "Builders" scenario of Endless mode, most players advocate ignoring the construction of the generator during the first portion of the game, instead focusing on research and strengthening the city's economy. A generator under construction is useless while construction of the generator can be sped up later.

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: ''Frostpunk'' can be a crushingly bleak game with severe consequences for bad management of resources and crises, as well as tough moral choices you need to make that can decide between life and death. Nevertheless, there is one moment in ''The Last Autumn'' [=DLC=] that can elicit a chuckle. Your workers take the presence of owls for a bad omen, so when one perches on top of the Generator construction site you have a choice of either shooing it away (raising discontent) or leaving it be for a couple hours until it goes away on its own. A little later, a whole flock of owls shows up and terrifies the workers, leading your PlayerCharacter to simply exclaim: "''[[PrecisionFStrike Fucking owls.]]''"

* MemeticMutation: Whenever a new trailer for new content is released, expect to see some form of "Hope rises. Discontent falls." treating the addition of new stuff like a completed quest in the comments section.

* ItsShortSoItSucks:
** A common criticism of the game. Despite its high quality, it ultimately contains a fairly small amount of content: ''A New Home'' can be easily finished in just a few hours, as is the case with the other scenarios, and the difference in playstyle between the Faith and Order playthroughs is seen as too minor to justify many repeat games.
** Rectified with the addition of Endless Mode, which allows players to play a WideOpenSandbox version of the game.

* {{Narm}}: Getting the "grieving woman holding her dead husband's hand in the snow pits" event even when nobody's buried there.

* DifficultySpike: The main scenario, ''A New Home'' is generally fairly calm until news of the fall of Winterhome arrives and nearly pushes your people across the DespairEventHorizon. This causes your citizens and try to leave back for London while inciting riots and thefts, as well as marks the start of where you have to make some of the game's tougher moral decisions.

* DifficultySpike:
** The Rifts map in Endless Mode is a great deal more difficult than the other maps, as it shoehorns the generator in the middle of an island surrounded by chasms, which can only be crossed via a bridge. Bridges cost a ''lot'' of wood and steel, so it's pretty much essential to rush towards a source of iron for a Steelworks facility, as well as getting to the coal and wood deposits lest resources run out.
** As scenarios go, ''On The Edge'' is this, as not only does the city not have a generator, it cannot produce Food or Wood (once all the trees have been cut down) or ''pass laws'' independently.

* ThatOneLevel: ''The Rifts'' map in Endless Mode cuts the main generator off from various islands with resources on them. The only way to access these islands is by building bridges, which cost a ''lot'' of Wood and Steel. Better examine the map thoroughly lest you get stuck without any resources!

* GoodBadBugs: Signing the Corpse Disposal law, followed by the Organ Transplant Law gives your medical facilities a boost in efficiency. The text implies you're using the organs and tissues of the dead to help heal the sick, but the bonus unexplainably applies even if there are no corpses. This means that it's perfectly viable (if not 'the best choice') to pick these laws on a deathless run, as your medical facilities will be more efficient regardless.

* GoodBadBugs: Signing the Corpse Disposal law, followed by the Organ Transplant Law gives your medical facilities a boost in efficiency. The text implies you're using the organs and tissues of the dead to help heal the sick, but the vonus unexplainably applies even if there are no corpses. This means that it's perfectly viable (if not *the best choice*)to pick these laws on a deathless run, as your medical facilities will be more efficient regardless.

* GoodBadBugs: Signing the Corpse Disposal law, followed by the Organ Transplant Law gives your medical facilities. The text implies you're using the organs and tissues of the dead to help heal the sick, but the vonus unexplainably applies even if there are no corpses. This means that it's perfectly viable (if not *the best choice*)to pick these laws on a deathless run, as your medical facilities will be more efficient regardless.

** On research for heating, players will always ignore the upgrades for generator range and instead grab the Steam Hub upgrades. Every increase in generator heat range increases coal consumption by an amount which is enough for 2 steam hubs. More importantly, steam hubs have one research which reduces their coal usage by 33% while the generator only has a total coal usage reduction of 20% after researching two technologies. Also, players will not actually use the steam hub range increase as the increased coal consumption is enough to fuel another steam hub, but the range extension is only 50%.
** Among the first laws any player will sign will be those which lead to extended shift hours; that extra 4 hours of labour is invaluable at the start of any scenario.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ''The Refugees'' is full of this. Are the refugees a case of desperate commoners being left by the elites until their ship was taken over as a punishment for their negligence or a rash group of workers who decided to take over an entire ship unjustifiably and their recklessness being the major source of problems upon their arrival at the generator? Are the Lords a group of entitled people who never knew their situation and their callousness being the result of their ship being taken over or a group of passengers who were not pleased with their ship being stolen and had to endure hardship in their travels by foot that is not recognized by the refugees? Lastly, [[spoiler: is Lord Craven a villain or WellIntentionedExtremist?]]

** Rushing to find Tesla City and setting up an Outpost there ASAP. This nets you a free Steam Core every day, which if you get it early enough can result in an ''army'' of Automatons and a city full of fully-upgraded production structures (Coal Mines, Wall Drills and Hothouses, as well as extra Infirmaries if you need them). None of the other outposts (which only provide resources you can already generate yourself) even come close to its value.

* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: On research for heating, players will always ignore the upgrades for generator range and instead grab the Steam Hub upgrades. Every increase in generator heat range increases coal consumption by an amount which is enough for 2 steam hubs. More importantly, steam hubs have one research which reduces their coal usage by 33% while the generator only has a total coal usage reduction of 20% after researching two technologies. Also, players will not actually use the steam hub range increase as the increased coal consumption is enough to fuel another steam hub, but the range extension is only 50%.

* FridgeBrilliance:
** The Book of Laws' Soup law has the discontent penalty while Moonshine negated it. While it may be a strange game mechanic, it made sense as the survivors spiked the tasteless soup with alcohol to make it more palatable.
** It may seem odd for a 19th-century society to abhor child labor. However, compulsory schooling (though until 12 years of age) was adopted in 1870 (16 years before the start of the game), and many movements against child labor had been ongoing (though aiming at working conditions and age). Many of them have also been [[AllForNothing social activists and reformers who had to see their hard-earned goals ended in the cold harsh world]], or the survivors were [[RichesToRags members of wealthier strata who had to see their children put to work like their impoverished comrades]].
** At first, you might be forgiven for wondering why the snow quickly evaporates with a fizzle and releasing vapor as it goes. Steam is not a likely culprit because of the temperatures involved make it impossible to evaporate but consider that the snow is not completely water based. The sublimation point of Carbon Dioxide is -78.5C (-109.2F) on a planet where reaching that point is normal and regular on the ground to say nothing of in the atmosphere. That's right, it's not just snowing, it's snowing sublimated Carbon Dioxide and rising above that temperature melts it back to a gaseous state which is released into the air.
*** However, given that Carbon Dioxide is heavier than air, if that much of it had frozen and landed in the crater as snow only to quickly sublimate again, the entire city would be asphyxiated.
** Upon completing the Last Autumn scenario with a perfect generator (no flaws, plus additional research), the ending screen will declare New Liverpool's survival chance as merely average. While this might simply indicate how dire the Frost is, you must consider that a Generator, without any upgrades, only provides 1 heat level in a small area. That might be enough for the first days in the regular scenarios, but as the temperature drops, your city will freeze unless you research new generator upgrades. The Generator can provide the heating necessary for surviving the Frost, but you must have the initiative and knowledge to fully utilize it's potential.
** Automatons can work on workplaces day and night, only pausing a few times to refuel themselves, but they're unaffected by efficiency-boosting effects such as shrines or agitators. Considering they're automated machines, and therefore indifferent to faith or motivational speeches, this makes sense. Foremen, however, do affect Automatons. This may seem weird at first, but it is possible that the assigned Foreman, instead of merely ordering the automaton around, makes sure it integrates into the workplace quickly and efficiently (if you zoom in buildings manned by automatons, you'll see that they physically connect themselves to the machinery). Given that Automatons were present even before the Frost, it is not hard to imagine that Foremen could have experience with coordinating their usage in workplaces.
* FridgeHorror: All children are able to do the work as the adults. That means they must be big enough and mature enough for these jobs. ''What happened to the younger children?''
** ''The Last Autumn'' has people moving up and down worker classes and almost complete gender equality. At best, this means that the Old World before the Frost was much more egalitarian than our real world counterpart; at worst, it means that skilled labor was in such a short supply that the rigid [[StayInTheKitchen gender roles]] of the 19th were abandoned as new hands were desperately needed for the work.
* GameBreaker: Child Labour + Faith laws + ''Overcrowding''. With this combination, you can treat up to 20 patients with one facility manned by 10 children. The work isn't considered dangerous (and so, the children won't be hurt in accidents), and the treatment speed is at least on par with Medical Posts (which require Engineers). Throw in a Shrine, and the city's medical woes become a minor irritant.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: A common criticism of the game. Despite its high quality, it ultimately contains a fairly small amount of content: ''A New Home'' can be easily finished in just a few hours, as is the case with the other scenarios, and the difference in playstyle between the Faith and Order playthroughs is seen as too minor to justify many repeat games.

* ThatOneLevel: The Rifts map in Endless Mode cuts the main generator off from various islands with resources on them. The only way to access these islands is by building bridges, which cost a ''lot'' of Wood and Steel. Better examine the map thoroughly lest you get stuck without any resources!