Published , by Sam Chandler
Published , by Sam Chandler
A big workforce in Frostpunk 2 makes it possible to build districts, maintain resource acquisition, and even explore the icy frontier. However, problems start to arise if your population gets sick or injured, and suddenly you can’t build anything new because of a lack of workers. At this point, you’ll need to do a couple of things: take care of your current workers and get more workforce into your cities.
To increase your workforce, you must increase your population in Frostpunk 2. The reason for this is that your workforce is a percentage of your population, and this value cannot be manually adjusted. Sometimes passing a law will increase this percentage, such as allowing unskilled workers to perform tasks or even laws that approve child labor. There are a few other ways to get more workforce:
Another way to improve your workforce numbers is to actually help treat the sick or injured workers. To do this, build a hospital in a housing district (by first expanding the district). This will help those out of commission workers convalesce. Take a look at our guide on how to get Prefabs if you're running low.
The reason your workers are getting sick and injured could be due to poor equipment, a lack of training, or squalor. Try cleaning up the streets by addressing where districts are built. For the actual equipment and training, pass laws that allow for better machinery or the training of workers to be capable of handling the work.
You can also transfer workers to a new city in the same way as transferring resources. This is especially useful if a new location is particularly dangerous and you just need bodies to solve the problem. At the top-right of the screen, click the icon of the city that needs workers and then choose the Send People button. The workers will be subtracted from one location and be sent to the next, so they will take a few weeks to reach their destination. It will also mean one city will have a reduced population while they are away, but you can always send them back.
Finally, you can artificially increase your workforce by reducing the number of people working in a specific district. For example, if your food district is operating at 100 percent, try dropping it down to 60 percent to free up some workers. This is useful if you have a good surplus of a particular resource and don’t need to commit as many workers to maintain it.
A healthy workforce is your backbone in Frostpunk 2. Without people, you cannot build districts, without districts you can’t keep people happy, and with unhappy people you’re going to struggle to survive. Take a look at our Frostpunk 2 page for more help surviving the frozen world.