Frostpunk 2 Breach of Trust Guide: Tips, Aurora & Tremors

New Edinburgh hands you starving, discontented citizens, trembling ground and a volcano heading for eruption. If you treat it like a relaxed Utopia Builder run, you probably won't keep your seat. This guide to Frostpunk 2 Breach of Trust covers how the scenario works, how to survive the first weeks, and how to handle Aurora whether you trade with it or invade it. It also lists the balance changes that made the scenario easier to survive.

What the Expansion Is

Breach of Trust is the second DLC for Frostpunk 2, after Fractured Utopias. It launched on June 23, 2026, for PC and consoles. On Steam it normally costs $12.99, and you need the base game to play it.

You play as the First Citizen of New Edinburgh. The city draws geothermal power from a nearby volcano, and reckless use of that energy has destabilized it. The Old Captain has been deposed and the ground is shaking. A periodic Vote of Trust measures your approval and can remove you from office. Once volcanic ash covers the sky, the only refuge is Aurora, New Edinburgh's former colony on a frozen lake. Aurora has spare food but little energy.

The expansion adds:

• A story campaign set in New Edinburgh and Aurora, with a branching middle act
• Five new Communities and Factions. Four-fingers, Brokers and Founders appear in the first chapter.
• Two new hazards: Tremors and Volcano Night
• An Independent Colony system, so you can trade with Aurora, extort it, or conquer it
• Two new scenario maps, five new buildings and hubs (including the Emergency Hub), and new laws

Most of the scenario's mechanics, units and buildings stay inside the scenario and don't carry over to the base game or skirmishes. Every player did get a free update at launch: a simplified Volcano Night for Utopia Builder, the Aurora map (Twilight Waters) in Utopia Builder, and the Fishing Hub, which only works on Aurora.

You can buy the expansion on its Frostpunk 2: Breach of Trust Steam page.

Your First Weeks in New Edinburgh

Workforce and food are the two shortages to fix first.

Image: Steam / 11 bit studios

Reduce your Steam Extraction Districts. These districts use a lot of workers, and steam is plentiful early on. Deconstructing some of them has three benefits:

• It frees workers.
• It delays tremors.
• It refunds a large amount of Prefabs and Heatstamps, which helps your early economy.

You don't have to choose all or nothing. You can switch fully to coal or keep a few steam districts running. On lower difficulties, keep the southernmost Steam Extraction District and deconstruct the rest. If you plan to negotiate with Aurora, keeping some steam makes it easier to stockpile coal for trade.

Fix food with Community Actions first. Each starting community has Community Actions that help with the opening food shortage, so use them right away.

Explore the Frostland early. Your starting Warm Logistics District gives you 20 Frostland Teams. That's enough to reach medium-difficulty territories from the start. You'll take some injuries, but food is limited yet available in the surrounding territories.

Be careful with "restrict food rations." This city ability can rescue a bad situation, but the hunger it causes is often enough to starve a few people. To avoid deaths, pair it with the Founders community ability or build food hoarding inspectorates in your housing districts.

Surviving Tremors

Tremors replace the base game's whiteouts as the main recurring disaster. A bigger fuel stockpile won't help. Each tremor damages districts and infrastructure and kills citizens who aren't covered by shelters. Repairs are expensive, so keep your foundries and factories producing materials between tremors.

Image: Steam / 11 bit studios

• Cover every district with shelters, not only housing. Emergency shelter coverage protects workers wherever they are. Plan the city around shelter coverage from the beginning.
• Check districts that still lose people. If a fully covered district still has deaths, it is probably damaged, broken or turned off. Fix that before building more shelters.
• Treat steam as a tremor dial. Running fewer Steam Extraction Districts delays the next tremor.

Dealing With Aurora: Trade, Extortion or War

Aurora cut off New Edinburgh's food supply, and you have to get that food back somehow. Defiance and Strength decide whether your approach works. Narrative events and your own choices can raise or lower both.

Image: Steam / 11 bit studios

Negotiating

Trade Negotiations are proper treaties. Expect weeks of offers, counter-offers and veiled threats before a deal goes through. Coal is the main thing you have to offer, which is why a steam-backed economy helps if you choose this path. Peaceful coexistence also has costs: higher expenses and a second city to manage. Extortion is possible, but it can backfire.

Going to War

War tests your infrastructure more than your stockpiles. You recruit Platoons in Barracks, and Weapon Factories produce Heavy Weaponry as a new resource. Battles resolve on a battle screen instead of playing out in real time.

• Build several Barracks. Recruiting Platoons is slow, and a single Barracks will stall your army.
• Secure materials early. Research the Foundry and claim the eastern iron deposits to speed up military production.
• Take Aurora's outposts first. The food outpost is the most valuable target. It is the only dedicated food outpost on the map, and capturing it lowers Aurora's Strength. Capturing or razing the other outposts weakens Aurora further before the siege.
• Attack with at least 50 Platoons. Larger forces lose fewer battles and take fewer casualties.
• Decide on Heavy Weaponry before the siege. It makes the siege easier, but the Resistance starts at a higher level afterward. Build at least one Weapon Factory either way, because you'll need weapons to fight the Resistance later.

Act II: Resistance and the Generator Hull

Managing the Resistance

The Resistance becomes active only after you start sending food from Aurora to New Edinburgh. Use the time before that to strengthen Aurora:

• Insulate its districts.
• Keep an active Housing District with a Hospital running.
• Use Treatment research and Triage so illness doesn't spiral.
• Keep Insurgent numbers low. Large groups can attack several districts at the same time.

Relocating the Generator Hull

Relocating the Generator Hull requires 30 Frostland Teams. An expanded Warm Logistics District on Overtime can produce them.

Timing matters. Dismantling the Hull while heat output is high can injure or kill workers. If warmer weather is coming, wait for it before dismantling. If you can't wait, insulate your districts and keep heat production below 250.

What Hotfix 1.6.1 Changed

Hotfix 1.6.1 eased the difficulty and fixed crashes. If you bounced off the scenario at launch, it plays noticeably more gently now. The main changes:

Change	Before	After
Starting prefabs in New Edinburgh	30	130
Enforce Military Zone weapon cost	75	50
Force Takeover weapon cost	200	120

The hotfix also:

• Added more coal outposts to the Frostland and made a few nearby territories easier to explore.
• Raised New Edinburgh's starting stocks of materials and goods.
• Increased food stockpiles in all Frostland dilemmas. Accepting the "Altering the Deal" message now grants an extra 50k Food.
• Lowered the tremor rate on Steward and Officer difficulty and made the weather timeline much less demanding on Citizen and Officer.
• Removed a case where Act 2 weather could drop to -40 for 100 weeks.
• Delayed the Resistance's first appearance in Aurora.
• Made conquering Aurora auto-explore the territories with Auroran outposts, so you can seize them faster.
• Added a Skip Battle button.
• Fixed a bug on the Conquer Aurora path where you could lose despite winning the Vote of Trust.

FAQ

Can I use Breach of Trust content in Utopia Builder?

Mostly no. The barracks, heavy weapons and other scenario mechanics are only available in the New Edinburgh campaign. The free launch update did add the Twilight Waters map, a simplified Volcano Night challenge and the Fishing Hub (usable on Aurora) to Utopia Builder for every player.

Should I keep or remove all Steam Extraction Districts?

Neither choice is wrong. Removing all of them moves you fully onto coal. Keeping one or two, such as the southernmost district on lower difficulties, makes it easier to stockpile coal if you negotiate with Aurora.

Why are my people dying during tremors?

Usually some districts lack shelter coverage. Every district needs coverage, not just housing. If coverage is complete and people still die, check whether the district is damaged, broken or switched off.

What comes after Breach of Trust?

The Surge, the third and final story-driven expansion, launches December 14, 2026, on PC and consoles. It is set in a valley in the frozen remains of the USA. After it releases, the Deluxe Edition will include all released content.