How to reduce Disease in Frostpunk 2

Left to run rampant, Disease can lead to absent workers and even the death of citizens, reducing the productivity of Extraction, Logistics, Food, and Industrial Districts. As these are vital to keeping your stock of resources sufficiently high to ward off the cold, you’ll need to keep a close eye on and manage Disease to survive. Disease also heightens Tension, which can lead to lower Trust and even rioting by certain factions. 

Fortunately, there are ways to mitigate the spread of Disease and keep it within reasonable levels. We’ll walk you through how to reduce Disease.

How to lower Disease in Frostpunk 2

To reduce Disease, you’ll need to meet the Heat and Shelter demand to ward off Cold problems, ensure you meet Food demand in your city, and keep Squalor low to ensure workers don’t get sick. Additionally, you can also cure Disease by researching and building Hospitals in Housing Districts.

Heat and Shelter

Make sure you have enough Housing Districts to shelter your whole population. It’s worth overdoing this by always having a few extra vacant spots in case you get an influx of people or your population grows. You can also expand a Housing District by clicking on it and tapping the four-arrow button at the bottom of the window.

Furthermore, some Idea Tree technologies help increase the capacity of your Housing Districts. Housing Block, found under the City tab, allows you to build blocks within districts to increase their Shelter capacity by 20, which is much cheaper in terms of Heat Demand and Workforce requirement than building a new district.

Meeting Heat Demand also factors into Disease. Ensure you meet the Heat Demand of your city by having a robust fuel production setup, whether that’s coal, steam, oil, or a mix of all three. You can check your Heat Demand along with any surplus you might be producing by hovering over the flame icon at the top of the screen. Along with Shelter, satisfied Heat Demand will reduce or eradicate any Cold problems, lowering Disease.

Food Demand

If your citizens are hungry, Disease will gradually increase. Set up enough Food Districts to meet demand, which you can check by hovering over the leaf icon at the top of the screen. Favour deposits with Deep Fertile Soil with a Deep Melting Drill to ensure a steady supply and long term source of food. Idea Tree upgrades like the Drum Hothouse also significantly improve Food output from Food Districts.

Keep Squalor low

Squalor is a measure of the filth and pollution in your city produced by different production districts depending on which Idea Tree technologies you unlock and the buildings you choose to construct. Squalor will gradually increase Disease if left unchecked and compound if Shelter, Food, and Heat demands aren’t met.

Squalor is reduced by installing air filtration buildings, meeting Material demand for the upkeep of your city, and opting for technologies with a low Squalor footprint. For a deep dive into all this, check out our dedicated guide to reducing Squalor.

Building Hospitals

Some level of Disease is unavoidable during extreme cold spells and a Whiteouts. To manage this, you’ll want to unlock the Hospital technology in the Idea Tree, found under the Society tab. This will allow you to construct Hospitals in Housing Districts that will cure Sick Absentees stricken by Disease.

Depending on the size of your city, one Hospital may be enough to cure all absentees, but don’t hesitate to invest in a second and even a third if needs aren’t met.

Unlocking Hospitals also gives you access to Treatment, Pharmaceuticals, and Panaceum Factory to further reduce Disease. As with all techs, you have a choice between factions, which will affect the efficiency of these buildings. Always opt for those that reduce Disease the most if possible.