How to clear ice and plan areas on a hexagonal map?

The hexagonal map and the mining districts radically changed the approach to the construction and development of the city Frostpunk 2. And when you add in the fact that the map is covered in ice, which must first be cleared with ice picks, then planning becomes much more difficult. In this guide, we will tell you how to effectively plan the development of areas on a hexagonal map and minimize ice clearing errors.

As noted in our guide for beginners, the game map of the city is divided into large hexagons (hexagons), which are covered with a thick layer of ice. How long does the ice ax hassle last? For the whole party. Almost the entire map, with the exception of a small area around the city center, is covered in ice.

This is an intentional complication, making it one of the most important skills in Frostpunk 2 to deploy and use ice pick crews effectively. The better you organize this work, the faster you’ll make room for new areas and reach the tidbits of the resource map. To speed up the ice clearing process, we recommend using several units at the same time, be it in different places or on parallel routes.

The process is the same for clearing ice, building districts, and upgrading them: you manually select spaces to clear or build on. Ice picks can clear up to 8 squares at a time, districts take up 6 squares, and upgrading a district requires another 3 squares. Magazines occupy one bay, but they cannot be placed too close to each other; at least one empty space is needed between them.

Another major limitation in the operation of ice axes is that they have nowhere to start clearing. Ice ax machines must “grab” the already cleared area and from there move further into the ice hills. This is due to the fact that vehicles are not able to overcome impassable ice areas on their own – they must first clear a path to go deeper into the map.

But it’s impossible… There’s just no planning mechanism, we’re building right away. One mistake and you have to start over, because the game doesn’t give you the option to cancel the clearing/building if you miss and assign the wrong square. You can only pause it. Advice: first save the game, scroll through the different layout options, do not pay attention to the city, and if you decide, load the save and do everything you can to complete it.

Before you start cleaning up, it is important to thoroughly examine the area. Let’s look at this with an example:

Advice: Imagine the shape of the area to be cleaned as a geometric figure. In this case we have a shape similar to a triangle, and we will repeat it…

We need to break three “sleeves” with ice axes… To do this, we first break from the last square of the accessible zone to the far corner and draw one of the “edges” of the figure:

Then we repeat the step, outlining the contours of the Earth, the second “edge” along the edge of the map:

We close the triangle by connecting the third corner to the starting point:

Within such a large area, which we consider as an example, there is usually a large amount of resources left behind. Decide whether you want to evacuate the center immediately or leave it for later. Either option is acceptable depending on your strategy.

When planning districts, everything is more troublesome – do not forget that sooner or later you may have to improve the district, and this means adding new fields. And also build a storage center (warehouse). Sometimes it is better not to expand and to build an additional neighborhood without a plan for possible expansion. Also, don’t place an entire district on just one resource space.

The fact is that the most efficient location of mining areas is expensive. More space is needed and planning is needed for growth, meaning that the area will function optimally after improvement. At the beginning of the game you simply don’t have that many heat spots, and maybe even modules.

Therefore, first of all conquer a field with endless resources and try to occupy more fields with resources, the better. Try to avoid empty spaces within the district. If an area consists of six squares, one empty square is acceptable, but two means a loss of efficiency.

There are no universal solutions here, but we will provide several options for the development of large areas, which we took as an example.

Improving a neighborhood is an expensive business, more expensive than building a new neighborhood. Improvement is made by adding adjacent squares (usually three) according to the “snake” principle. This increases the productivity of the area without increasing the number of workers required.

But how do you plan an area with the prospect of improving it? The rule is the same: try to build a district so that its expansion covers at least 2 resource spaces, and 1 space is empty. Expanding for one field is rarely justified and can result in wasted resources.

Additionally, you need to have at least one free space in mind between two districts (or better yet, between three districts) to build a storage center there.

When planning an area for future improvement, try to leave at least two adjacent resource spaces and one empty space for expansion. It is also important to leave at least one free space between areas for the construction of a storage center. Storage centers reduce the number of employees in surrounding areas. For example, a well-located center could reduce the workload from 900 to 810 people in three areas, freeing up to 270 workers for other tasks (100 of whom would be deployed in the storage center itself).

What optimal options for urban development did you manage to find? Write in the comments!