Frostpunk laws and facilities guide: prerequisites, exclusions and follow-up tasks
Check why a law is unavailable, which construction, staffing or ability actions it needs, and promise deadlines. Covers representative A New Home laws and facilities in the original PC game.
Edition: Original Frostpunk PC Steam base game (app 323190), A New Home on standard Medium. Frostpunk 2, Frostpunk 1886, Endless, other scenarios and DLC-specific rules are outside scope.
Verification scope: Public sources checked on 2026-10-04, including official Patch 1.6.2 (2022-10-11) and Achievements & Localization Quality Hotfix (2025-10-20). Announced 2026 features for 1886 are excluded. In-game behavior and the distributed build number are untested.
Sources checked: 2026-10-04
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Signing, receiving an effect and fulfilling a promise are separate
This covers A New Home laws. Unlike research completion, signing starts the cooldown before another law. Additional facilities and abilities still need your own operation.
- Open the Book of Laws and check its cooldown. You cannot sign another law while time remains.
- Inspect prerequisites and the opposing exclusive law. Extra research does not remove an exclusion.
- Before signing, check materials, space and staffing for required buildings.
- Immediately afterward, read the objective count, staffing requirement and deadline.
- After construction, staffing and activation, check both objective completion and actual effect coverage.
Law cooldowns, facility ability cooldowns and construction-promise deadlines are separate clocks. An expired cooldown does not require signing another law.
Checks to complete before signing
Compare current problems with affordable costs rather than following a strongest-law ranking. Specific law names and outcomes are collapsed below.
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| Check | Where to look | If unchecked |
|---|---|---|
| Prerequisites and exclusions | Book of Laws connections and descriptions | Read which branches become unavailable before deciding. |
| Materials and space | Construction menu, roads and effect ranges | Check connections and target buildings as well as empty ground. |
| Required occupation | New facility's staffing panel | Count transferable people without stopping healthcare or research. |
| Timed promise | Objectives added after signing | Do not stack another promise without enough resources and people. |
| Ongoing costs and burdens | Ability descriptions and Hope/Discontent breakdowns | Reserve food or other activation costs. Unlocking is not unlimited free use. |
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Some fixed deadlines and effect rates differ across sources. This guide describes conditions and prioritizes the actual timer and effect display.
Answer 3 (spoilers)
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Choose work schedules and children's roles
Laws changing working hours and laws expanding the eligible workforce are different branches. Signing is irreversible, but ability use and extended shifts are separate actions.
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| Law | Prerequisite or exclusion | Follow-up action | Time or completion check | Exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emergency Shift | Available initially; prerequisite for Extended Shift | Activate Emergency Shift individually at the intended facility. | 18h until the next law; the ability gives 24h work from activation. | Signing alone does not put every facility on 24h work. Discontent and death-event risks remain. |
| Extended Shift | Requires Emergency Shift | Change needed daytime workplaces to 06:00–20:00. | 18h until the next law. Check the 14h shift display. | If accepting a rest promise, read its deadline and conditions before extending shifts again. |
| Child Labour - Safe Jobs | Mutually exclusive with Child Shelters | Assign children to eligible child slots. | Eligible workplaces and working children | Does not replace engineer-only occupations. Accident risk remains. |
| Child Labour - All Jobs | Requires Safe Jobs | Compare newly eligible workplaces with current shortages. | Child slots in compatible workplaces | Do not infer access to engineer-only medical or research slots from the law name. |
| Child Shelters | Mutually exclusive with Safe Jobs | Build Child Shelters and compare total children with capacity. | The initial building promise and the benefit of housing all children are separate. | These are daytime facilities, not a reason to reduce ordinary housing for children. |
| Medic Apprentices / Engineer Apprentices | Requires Child Shelters; mutually exclusive options | Maintain working Shelters and the assisted medical facilities or Workshops. | Workplace efficiency and working hours | Apprentice effect rates differ across sources, so no fixed value is given. |
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No exploit or guaranteed harmless number of Emergency Shifts is listed. Decide research work demands together with the staff retained for healthcare and food.
Answer 4 (spoilers)
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Connect prerequisites for severe illness, beds and prostheses
For remaining patients, distinguish treatable conditions, available beds and treatment speed. Care facilities are not the same as treatment facilities.
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| Law | Prerequisite or exclusion | Follow-up action | Time or completion check | Exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Radical Treatment | Mutually exclusive with Sustain Life | Admit gravely ill patients to a working Medical Post. | Patient list, free beds and treatment progress | Amputation risk remains; recovery without injury is not guaranteed. |
| Sustain Life | Mutually exclusive with Radical Treatment | Support gravely ill stays in Medical Posts and prepare later treatment. | Are gravely ill patients continuing to occupy beds? | This sustains life rather than curing. Do not assume indefinite survival is guaranteed. |
| Extra Rations for the Ill | Requires either law above; mutually exclusive with Overcrowding | Secure food before using a medical facility's extra-rations ability. | Available ability and cooldown | Unlocking alone does not permanently speed up every medical facility. |
| Overcrowding | Requires either law above; mutually exclusive with Extra Rations | Check capacity in working healthcare. | Can twice the ordinary beds be used, and how does Discontent change? | Care House capacity is not doubled. Fix insufficient heat separately. |
| Care House | Requires Radical Treatment or Sustain Life | Build a Care House and maintain its operating temperature. | Building promise and stays by gravely ill people or amputees | A place for care, not equipment providing Infirmary treatment |
| Prosthetics | Requires the Care House law | Research, build and staff a Factory, then order prostheses. | Manufactured prostheses, medical fitting and return to work | Signing alone does not deliver prostheses to all amputees. 45h until the next law. |
| Triage | After Extra Rations or Overcrowding | Read the ability's patient effects before using it individually. | Treatment results, deaths and Hope/Discontent changes | Involves sacrificing patients, unlike ordinary treatment-speed improvements. |
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Do not assume changing laws always solves healthcare. Minimum temperature, available staff and eligible patients must be in place first.
Answer 5 (spoilers)
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Check operation after food and entertainment laws
Recipes change rations produced from the same Raw Food rather than increasing ingredients. Review the Cookhouse recipe after signing.
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| Law | Prerequisite or exclusion | Follow-up action | Time or completion check | Exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soup | Mutually exclusive with Food Additives | Check that Soup is selected at the Cookhouse. | 2 Raw Food → 5 rations; Discontent breakdown | Fix ingredient shortages or cold shutdown separately. |
| Food Additives | Mutually exclusive with Soup | Check the Cookhouse's Sawdust Meal recipe. | 2 Raw Food → 6 rations; changes in illness | Illness risk means the medical burden matters too. |
| Fighting Arena | Available initially | Build an arena covering homes. | Building promise and covered homes; 36h until the next law | A workplace nearby does not establish coverage of homes. |
| Public House | Requires Fighting Arena | Build, staff and check that it is open. | The Open objective and working staff count | An empty building alone does not provide maximum effect. |
| Moonshine / House of Pleasure | Requires Public House | Check whether the effect addresses meal Discontent or uses additional Public House staff. | Meal or facility effects and Hope/Discontent | These laws have different effects; do not sign them as simple successive upgrades based on their names. |
| Duelling Law | Requires Fighting Arena | Read the risks and outcomes shown when signing. | Effects of duels between citizens | Death risk remains. Do not confuse the law with constructing an arena itself. |
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After choosing Soup, you cannot replace it with Food Additives. You can inspect unlocked versus standard recipes at the Cookhouse. Recipe selection and repealing a law are different.
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Check location and later laws when handling bodies
Body-handling facilities do not necessarily need the same heating as homes and healthcare.
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| Law | Prerequisite or exclusion | Follow-up action | Time or completion check | Exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cemetery | Mutually exclusive with Corpse Disposal | Build a Cemetery and connect roads. | Body-handling objective and completed construction | Ceremonial Funerals is a separate later law. |
| Corpse Disposal | Mutually exclusive with Cemetery | Build a Snow Pit outside heat zones. | Body-handling objective and storage temperature | Avoid warming it later by expanding a residential Hub. |
| Organ Transplants | Requires Corpse Disposal | Inspect medical facility efficiency. | Law-based medical modifier | Do not reinterpret this as treatment capacity growing with body count. |
| Organic Fertiliser | Requires Organ Transplants | Check the Hothouse ability and required corpses before using it. | Duration and cooldown at the target Hothouse | An auxiliary ability, not a law that starts the Hothouse. It does not cancel production-shutdown exceptions. |
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Unlocking hidden laws under special conditions is outside scope. This is not a list recommending increased deaths as an objective.
Answer 7 (spoilers)
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Use the tools needed from your chosen Purpose path
Order and Faith are mutually exclusive in A New Home. These are representative paths for learning facility operation, not recommended sequences to their endpoints.
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| Law or path | Prerequisite or exclusion | Follow-up action | Time or completion check | Exception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Order：Neighbourhood Watch | Mutually exclusive with Faith's starting law | Build and staff two Watchtowers. | Objective includes both construction and staffing. | Choose positions covering homes. |
| Morning Gathering → Foreman | Neighbourhood Watch → Morning Gathering | Activate Foreman where needed as a workplace ability. | Food cost, duration and cooldown | Meeting law prerequisites does not make an ability automatically permanent. |
| Guard Stations → Patrol | Neighbourhood Watch → Guard Stations | Upgrade or build and staff towers. Sign Patrol separately and use its ability. | Promise to staff two buildings; ability cooldown | Initial Watchtower construction alone does not unlock Patrol. |
| Propaganda Centre / Prison | After Guard Stations | Build the relevant facilities and assign required staff. | Their individual construction or operation objectives | Detention choices affect the workforce too. |
| Agitator | Requires Propaganda Centre | Build three on roads covering the intended workplaces. | Building count and workplace efficiency | Their coverage targets differ from towers affecting homes. |
| Faith：House of Prayer | Mutually exclusive with Order's starting law | Build two and cover homes. | Objective completion and available Sermon ability | Operation differs from Watchtowers that employ staff. |
| Shrines → House of Healing / Field Kitchens | House of Prayer → Shrines | Progress the Shrine objective, then build and staff the needed later facilities. | Three Shrines; specified counts and staffing for later facilities | Medical treatment and workplace heat assistance serve different purposes. |
| Evening Prayers → The Temple / Faith Keepers | House of Prayer → Evening Prayers | Check prayer abilities, Temple construction and Faith Keepers construction and staffing separately. | Ability costs and cooldowns; each construction promise | Similar law, building and ability names still require separate actions. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Later coercive laws deeply affect citizens. This table does not establish endpoint laws, ending judgments or necessary and sufficient achievement conditions. Choose laws needed for the current problem and stop when their effects suffice.
Answer 8 (spoilers)
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Check targets and staffing for facilities unlocked by laws
Buildings do not all use the same workers or area effects.
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| Facility | Required research or law | Staffing and connection | Conditions for effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medical Post | Initially buildable; medical laws change its function | Engineers, roads and at least Chilly; normally five beds | Separate ordinary early treatment from law-dependent severe-illness care. |
| Infirmary | Infirmary research and Steam Cores | Engineers, roads and at least Chilly; normally 10 beds | Treats the gravely ill; different role from a Care House |
| Care House | Care House law | No staff assignment needed; inspect roads and operating temperature. | Accommodation for the gravely ill and amputees, not a substitute for treatment |
| Child Shelter | Child Shelters law | Inspect capacity and operation rather than staffing. | Total children and later apprentice laws; ordinary housing remains separate |
| Fighting Arena | Fighting Arena law | No staff; connect roads and cover homes. | Discontent measure for people living within range |
| Public House | Public House law | Staff, connect roads and check opening. | Working staff count affects Discontent reduction. |
| Watchtower / Guard Station | Corresponding Order law | Staff required; inspect roads and workplace temperature too. | Housing coverage and abilities from additional laws |
| House of Prayer | Corresponding Faith law | No staff assignment; inspect roads and covered homes. | Housing effects and individual abilities such as Sermon |
| House of Healing | House of Healing law after Shrines | Workers, engineers and other eligible staff; roads and operating temperature | Treats severe illness without Steam Cores. Related events are not guaranteed death-free. |
| Field Kitchen | Field Kitchens law after Shrines | Provide staff and rations, with intended workplaces in range. | Adds warmth to nearby workplaces; not a replacement for residential heating |
| Factory | Factory research; prostheses also require the Prosthetics law | Provide engineers and materials, then select the product. | Signing a law alone does not advance a prosthesis production queue. |
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For area-effect buildings, check whether the target lies in range, not merely whether buildings are close. Effects do not automatically reach every facility.
Reread completion conditions when a promise remains
Before wishing to change a law choice, check for an unfinished action.
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| Symptom | Inspect first | Action to try |
|---|---|---|
| Cannot select a law | Cooldown, prerequisites and exclusions | Wait out the timer or find available tools within the chosen branch. |
| The building count is sufficient, but the objective remains. | Are buildings complete, and is staffing required? | Open each target and check roads and staff. |
| Cannot press an ability | Additional law, operating facility, resources and ability cooldown | Fill the missing requirement and distinguish it from the law cooldown. |
| A promise failed despite appearing fulfilled. | Does it require maintaining a condition, not merely starting it? | Maintain housing heat or rest conditions until completion is shown. |
| Cannot identify the cause of Discontent | Meter breakdown and unresolved living problems | Inspect cold, hunger, healthcare and shifts before covering them with another law. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Use the onscreen objective if sources give different deadlines or requirements. A law's construction promise differs from a separate request by citizens.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a law unavailable after its cooldown ends?
Check prerequisites and exclusions. An expired cooldown, unlocked branch and absence of an opposing law are separate conditions.
Does signing a law provide buildings and staff?
Some require construction, roads and staffing. Read the new objective's count and staffing condition. Laws unlocking abilities also require activating them at the facility.
Why does placing a building not fulfill a promise?
Construction must finish; a blueprint is insufficient. Check whether staffing or opening is required too, then inspect each building's shutdown reason, roads and staff.
Are law cooldowns and construction deadlines the same?
No. Check the next-law timer, ability reuse timer and promise deadline separately. Prioritize the current objective panel over fixed source values.
Must I follow laws to the endpoint?
Not every law is assumed necessary. Check facilities and abilities needed for the current shortage and read irreversible consequences before deciding. This list guarantees no particular ending or achievement.