Putting food on the table and heat in homes isn’t your only job as the Steward of New London in Frostpunk 2. When you run a whole city that harbors people from all backgrounds and beliefs, they are bound to clash at some either with the system or against one another.
As a society, it will have hopes, loyalties, and frustrations that can either lead to upheaval or unity. In this guide, we are going explore the two social forces that will hone your relationship-building skills – Rallies and Riots. We will look at what drives this event, whether there are any benefits, and how one can put a stop to it if things go south.
What are Rallies and Riots?
Being a leader, you have to maintain a relationship with the factions and communities that reside in New London. You will either have a positive relationship, a neutral one, or you will have a bad rep among the people belonging to those factions. Rallies and Riots are basically the results of either of those scenarios.
- Riots: Protests or Riots are effects of having a negative relationship with any one of the factions after a certain level of Fervor.
- Rallies: People of New London’s Faction will hold a rally to show their support for you if you maintain a positive relationship with the group.
The concept of both, Rallies and Riots, is quite similar to the real world. Rallies show support while Riots or Protests show discontentment. Niether of them can be left unchecked. You have to maintain a certain level of control if you want a peaceful city. That is why we have to explore both sides of the story in depth.
What Benefit Do Rallies Give?
Rallies are a sign of support from a certain faction. They are also a good way to further cement the bond with that group. You can support a rally and ask for certain benefits from the faction. These benefits include:
- Recruit more workforce from that faction
- Ask them to contribute Heatstamps
- Other faction-dependent benefits.
While the Rallies might point out that things are going your way as one says, “excess of anything is bad”. You have to remember that there isn’t just one faction in New London and if you show too much support, the other groups might start to feel jealous and your standing in those factions might take a hit.
You have to judge when the rally has run its course and when you should wrap things up. Watch the HUD that indicates Fervor and your relationship with factions at the bottom of your screen.
- The Red Marks above the faction indicate Fervor. The higher the marks, the higher the chances of Rallies or Riots.
- The Meter Below the faction icon indicates your relationship type.
- Red = Bad
- White = Neutral
- Golden = Good
If Fervor is high and your relationship is bad with some faction, you best believe that a Riot is coming. If the relationship is good, you can expect a rally soon.
If you want to play the long game, you should maintain good relationship with at least two factions and shouldn’t have any bad relationships.
What Happens if a Faction Riots?
You can’t always keep everyone happy and you can’t also let everyone just push you around. There will be times when a certain faction will be unhappy because you favored another one and that’s when they will decide to Riot.
If you have a bad relationship with a faction, you can click on the faction’s icon and you will see if the faction is preparing for a Riot or not. Now you have two options. You can either take steps to improve your relationship so the riot stops even before it begins.
In case you are not able to do that, you can just look at the faction’s demands after the riot has started and then take steps to fulfill the demands in order to diffuse the situation.
Riots are not the starting point of the situation. Things start with a peaceful protest but if the demands are not met within a certain timeframe, the situation will escalate and the once peaceful protest will turn into a full-fledged violent riot.
If the riot continues, here is what the outcome will be:
- Injuries will cause a reduction in the workforce which will lead to reduced productivity.
- Food and other stockpiles will start to run low and tension will start to rise and so will the diseases.
- Riots will cause damage to the districts and once enough damage has been caused, you will have to shut down the district.
- You might lose the trust of the citizens and possibly other factions which might lead to a second riot.
- If you can’t bring the riots to a halt, you might be stripped of your title as the leader and sentenced to death by exile in the frostland.
How to Stop Faction Riots?
Once a riot has broken out, your immediate plan of action should be to listen to the demands. Most of the time, they are either demanding you to pass a law that will benefit them and their agenda in the future or they might have a problem with a law that you recently passed.
In that case, you can call a Counsel meeting and present the law the faction wants you to pass or you can also promise them that you will do that to temporarily calm things down. You have to remember your promise or else they won’t trust your word the next time around.
If you maintain a good relationship with one of the two opposing factions, and if the other faction riots, you can ask the faction you are on good terms with to stop the riot for you.
Another way is by investing in the projects that are currently being carried out by the faction. This is arguably the best way to build a rep and you should do that from time to time even if there is no riot. The Protestors will also put forward some ideas that you can research that will help the situation.
Until now, we have presented peaceful solutions. There are other ways to bring angry protestors under control. These include:
- You can research and install Guard Towers in Housing districts to catch anyone trying to incite violence.
- You can build prisons to put anyone causing trouble away for a long time.
- There are certain laws that you can present in the Council that will help you stop riots dead in its tracks the next time it happen.
In a game like Frostpunk 2, where hope is fragile and any imbalance in the system can cause everything to collapse, one must learn to maintain balance. Rallies and Riots are reminders of the city’s hope and fears. Place every step carefully as it might strengthen or weaken a bond. If you are able to build a good relationship, maintain it and you won’t have to face many problems.