How do you earn more Heatstamps in Frostpunk 2? You’re running a bustling city. You’ve got workers falling ill, problem children running rampant in the streets, and you’re running out of resources. Before everyone dies, you need to fix all these issues — and more.
Heatstamps are possibly the most crucial aspect of this harrowing city-building game. From researching new buildings to breaking the ice around your Frostpunk 2 settlement, almost everything requires Heatstamps. You might be gifted a few to get you going, but you soon run out following your first few tasks.
How to earn Frostpunk 2 Heatstamps
There are multiple ways to earn Heatstamps in Frostpunk 2, with the first and most basic being household income, so increasing your population increases your income. Meeting the demand for goods also helps bring in money, as does passing specific laws.
As with everything in Frostpunk 2, it’s not as simple as doing everything listed below to rake in the dough. Every action has a reaction, and you need to carefully weight up the pros and cons of following through on any of these methods of earning income.
Here are all the ways you can earn Frostpunk 2 Heatstamps:
- Population income
- Goods income
- Request funds
- Laws
- Research projects
Population income
As standard, you have an automatic Heatstamp income based on how many residents you have in your settlement at any time. Don’t get hasty building housing districts and inviting everyone to move in, though. More residents mean more mouths to feed and greater demand for goods and heat. Be sure to balance your population with output.
Goods income
Your basic Heatstamps per Capita income is affected by your city’s ability to meet the demand for goods. The current requirement can be viewed at the top of your screen, with a red marker indicating you are not meeting the demand. Build or expand an Industrial District to manufacture more goods.
Request funds
If one or more of your city’s Factions are in your favor, then you can request funds from them when you’re running really low. To ask for funds, your relationship with the Faction must be favorable, demonstrated by a golden bar beneath their icon. Any of these Factions can be asked to part with their money for the good of the nation, but the larger percentage of the population they cover, the more Heatstamps they can offer.
Laws
A few specific laws directly and indirectly increase your Heatstamps income, and we’ve listed them below. It’s worth remembering that there are other policies that negatively impact income given their cost, such as Mandatory Schooling.
Survival: Goods
Between the two Goods policies, you can’t go far wrong. One increases Goods Production Efficiency, while the other decreases demand. Either way, you’re more likely to meet your Goods requirements, and therefore increase your Heatstamps Income per Capita. Your choice will most likely be between which Factions you want to keep happy.
Economy: Basic Necessities
One of the best early game methods for increasing your Heatstamps income is the Basic Necessities law. Of the two options: Paid Essentials and Free Essentials, naturally the former is the best choice for greater income, while resource production efficiency is also improved. Free Essentials isn’t completely useless, though, as it improves Trust. That said, we recommend enforcing Paid Essentials as one of the very first laws you pass. If you ever struggle for Trust later in the game, you can repeal the law, passing Free Essentials instead.
Economy: Outsiders
This one’s a bit trickier. The Outsiders ruling lets you choose between letting all outsiders enter your territory or the most productive, cruelly leaving family members trapped on the outside of your land. Only letting productive outsiders in improves your overall Heatstamps income, but also forces emotional changes in the story and upsets some Factions. Accepting all Outsiders doesn’t directly affect income, but does so indirectly by increasing Population Growth.
Economy: Community Service
Community Service policies give you the chance to decide how your people help out, and whether they should give their time to expedition support, resource extraction, or simply wherever it’s needed at the time.
Passing the Service Exemptions policy increases your Heatstamps Income per Capita, since residents must purchase exemption from work. If increasing your Heatstamp income is a priority, this can be a good policy to pass as it doesn’t have any downsides.
Research projects
Like laws, some research projects also impact income. They effectively work in the same way, with a series of options to choose from, either pleasing or displeasing certain Factions. However, they usually relate to buildings which need to be placed in your city once researched in order for them to take effect.
Economy: Housing Distribution
By allocating shelter one way or another, you can either increase shelter availability or Heatstamps income. Merit-based Housing leaves some people unhoused, but boosts your income per capita. The alternative houses everyone with Mandatory Crowding, forcing better-off families to take in those less fortunate.
Economy: Alcohol
After a while, your citizens will want the distribution of alcohol to be addressed — after all, there’s not much else to keep you warm when the whiteout rolls through. You have to decide between privatizing the production of alcohol, which increases availability and overall Trust. However, by implementing City-run alcohol shops, Heatstamps per Capita income is boosted again. Choose wisely.
Now you know how to get more Frostpunk 2 Heatstamps, you might be a small step closer to maintaining a somewhat functioning city. There’s so much more to it, though, and to get those laws passed, you need to have a running Frostpunk 2 Council, while additional Frostpunk 2 Frostland teams can help to bring in more coal and other vital resources.