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Frostpunk 2 Wanderers
Screenshot: PC Invasion

Frostpunk 2 Chapter 1 guide: How to find a permanent source of fuel and transfer oil

Coal is running out, but there are other ways to keep the generator running.

Frostpunk 2’s story mode is designed to teach you the ropes of running a society in a frozen post-apocalypse, but it doesn’t hold your hand the entire way. The first chapter of Frostpunk 2 requires you to find a permanent source of fuel outside the City since coal reserves are running dry, but where exactly are you supposed to look?

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Discovering a permanent fuel source is not an easy task in Frostpunk 2, and it’ll take dozens of weeks of preparation before you can even think about scouting the Frostland surrounding New London. After you’ve got a solid footing in the City’s politics and have multiple districts set up to meet everyone’s needs, however, you can start searching for a replacement for coal.

Where to find a permanent source of fuel outside the City in Frostpunk 2

In order to find a permanent source of fuel outside the City in Frostpunk 2, you first need to gain access to the Frostland by building a Logistics District on top of an Old Waystation located at the boundary of the City’s playable area. In chapter one, there are two Old Waystations. One is located to the southeast of the City’s core, while the other can be found along the icy coast to the north.

Frostpunk 2 Frostland
Screenshot: PC Invasion

Your target in the Frostland is the Desolate Coast region west of the City. There, you can find an Old Dreadnought (which you may recognize from the prologue chapter) that contains oil that can sustain New London for significantly longer than coal. This is the permanent source of fuel that you need to find to complete this chapter and continue Frostpunk 2’s story.

Two Logistics Districts are required to increase the size of your scouting team enough to reach the oil deposit at the Old Dreadnought, so make sure to frostbreak your way to both Old Waystations and build the necessary upgrades. You also need to scout the Frozen Bay region next to the City in order to connect the Old Dreadnought colony back to New London as well, so plan accordingly.

Should you remove the Oil Tomb bodies?

Frostpunk 2 Oil Tombs
Screenshot: PC Invasion

When you discover the Old Dreadnought, the Oil Tombs choice will appear. You can either remove the bodies or respect the dead. It’s a tough world out there, so we recommend removing the bodies to extract the most possible oil. It doesn’t have any lasting consequences, so don’t feel too bad about it.

With the bodies out of the way, you can set up the Old Dreadnought colony as you please. It’s just like the prologue chapter of Frostpunk 2, so frostbreak your way to the oil deposits and establish Extraction Districts to harvest fuel. There are plenty of other resource deposits in this region, too, so don’t hesitate to build more districts and acquire even more goods for New London. Just remember to keep your time constraints in mind.

How to connect the Old Dreadnought to New London

After setting up an oil harvesting colony at the Old Dreadnought, all that’s left to do is connect it with a solid trail to New London. To do this, zoom out to the Frostland map. Then, click the trail icon in the bottom left corner of the screen.

Trails are multi-legged paths that have varying resource requirements based on their length and complexity, so try to make this one as short as you can. You can also only build trails in regions that you’ve already scouted, so make sure you’ve explored the other areas surrounding New London so you can create a complete road all the way from the Old Dreadnought back to the City.

You don’t need to create a dedicated trail specifically from the Old Dreadnought to New London if you already have outposts set up, by the way. If you already have existing trails and supply lines established, just connect the Old Dreadnough to those and the oil will flow all the same. As long as a trail connects from one pin on the map to another, you’re all set. To increase the flow of goods, you can research Skyways, which are essentially just upgraded trails.

How to transfer 75 Oil output to New London

With supply lines established, you can now start transferring that precious Oil to New London to complete the Black Gold quest. To transfer Oil and other resources between colonies in Frostpunk 2, click a colony’s icon in the top right corner of the screen and then select resource transfer.

Frostpunk 2 Resource Transfer
Screenshot: PC Invasion

This will open a menu with sliders that let you dictate how much of a colony’s resources get shipped out elsewhere. There are plenty of Oil deposits at the Old Dreadnought colony, but if you find yourself short of 75 total Oil output, you can always just enforce emergency shifts at your Extraction Districts. A little forced labor never hurt anyone.

As long as you have a supply line sending a minimum of 75 Oil output to New London from the Old Dreadnought colony, the Black Gold quest will be marked as complete and you can move onto the second chapter of Frostpunk 2! You can always move the Oil output back down in the second chapter if you need to, by the way.

Things continue seamlessly as you move from chapter to chapter in Frostpunk 2, though, so don’t neglect your citizens in a rush to complete your objectives. If you let your people go hungry while prioritizing Oil extraction at the Old Dreadnought colony, you’re going to have a bunch of hungry (and angry) people on your hands at the start of chapter two. If you have a few weeks left at the end of a chapter, take some time to upgrade your districts and make sure things are up to snuff before moving on.

Thankfully, things get significantly more manageable in Frostpunk 2’s second chapter since more technology becomes available and you can find way more resource deposits to keep the generator running. Whether you choose to embrace or defeat the frost, the future of New London is heating up.


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Author
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Diego Perez
Currently serving as a Senior Staff Writer at PC Invasion, Diego Perez has been writing about video games since 2018, specializing in live service games like Destiny and Final Fantasy XIV. His work is featured at publications like Game Rant and Attack of the Fanboy (where he served as Associate Editor), but PC Invasion is home to his best work. When he's planning content or writing guides, he's yelling about Ape Escape or grinding Lost Sectors in Destiny. Plus, he has a Bachelor of Science in Telecommunication Media Studies for Texas A&M University.