Frostrain 2 News

[p]Demo updates continue today! If you have thoughts on any changes, please share them freely. We carefully read every single comment—thank you![/p][p][/p][p]This balance update brings a mild upheaval for trains. Since this is a demo, we’re taking an aggressive approach to updates to gauge “what works best.” Specifically, we’re redistributing synergy effects that were overly concentrated at high levels toward lower levels, so we can observe how it feels to split investment across multiple synergies rather than over-committing to just one. Please leave feedback here in the comments, on the Discussions page, or via email at [email protected]. Thank you![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Trains[/h2][p][/p][h3]Education[/h3]

• [p](3) Education: Bonus Happiness becomes 5× → Always produces bonus Happiness.[/p]
• [p](4) Education: Always produces bonus Happiness → Bonus Happiness becomes 5×.[/p]

[h3]Culture[/h3]

• [p](2) Culture: +1 → +2[/p]
• [p](3) Culture: +3 → +5[/p]
• [p](4) Culture: +7 → +10[/p]
• [p](5) Culture: +12 → +14[/p]
• [p](6) Culture: +21 → +22[/p]
• [p](7) Culture: +36 → +32[/p]

[h3]Food[/h3]

• [p](2) Food: Gain 1 passenger. → Gain 2 passengers.[/p]
• [p](3) Food: Gain 3 passengers. → Gain 4 passengers.[/p]
• [p](4) Food: Gain 7 passengers. → Gain 8 passengers.[/p]

[h3]Media[/h3][p]The Press synergy still shows high win rates, and structurally it doesn’t feel particularly “fun,” so we’re considering a rework. For now… we’ll proceed like this:[/p]

• [p](2) Press: +8 → +5[/p]
• [p](3) Press: +16 → +12[/p]
• [p](4) Press: +36 → +26[/p]
• [p](5) Press: +88 → +56[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Artifacts[/h2][p][/p][h3]Tropical Globe[/h3]

• [p]Happiness +81/cycle → Happiness +100/cycle[/p]

[h3]Elitism[/h3]

• [p]Your base passenger count is halved. Train Happiness output +80% → Your base passenger count is halved. Train Happiness output +70%.[/p]

[h3]Hot Wallet[/h3]

• [p]Happiness −60~+90 → Happiness −50~+100[/p]

[h3]Birth Certificate[/h3]

• [p]Gain 3 passengers → Gain 4 passengers.[/p]

[h3]Rose[/h3]

• [p]Happiness +9/cycle → Happiness +11/cycle[/p]

[h3]Missing Nut[/h3]

• [p]Movement speed +4% → Movement speed +3%[/p]

[h3]Jury-Rigged Engine[/h3]

• [p]Movement speed +6%, Happiness −9/cycle → Movement speed +4%, Happiness −11/cycle[/p]

[h3]Turtle[/h3]

• [p]Happiness +14/cycle, Movement speed −6% → Happiness +16/cycle, Movement speed −4%[/p]

[h3]Engine Failure[/h3]

• [p]Movement speed −5% → Movement speed −4%[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Events[/h2][p][/p][h3]Swarming Rats[/h3]

• [p]Chicken without Wings: Gain 2 passengers, Happiness −11/cycle → Gain 2 passengers, Happiness −24/cycle[/p]

[h3]Preparation for the Future[/h3]

• [p]Choice 2 “For now, keep watching”: now also Receive 1 Artifact Drone Supply.[/p]

[h3]Relief Policy[/h3]

• [p]Power Diversion: Movement speed −7% → Movement speed −6%[/p]
• [p]Harnessing Unstable Energy: Happiness −14~−44/cycle → Happiness −16~−66/cycle[/p]

[h3]Rat Remedy[/h3]

• [p]Choice 1 “New rat poison, you say?”: EXP +1 → EXP +2[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]As part of visibility improvements, card designs have been updated: slightly longer aspect, thinner borders, and wider background areas.[/p]
• [p]As part of visibility improvements, the brightness of the train-space alert UI has been adjusted.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed an issue where the “×2” text for Backlash displayed in green in tooltips.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the number “1” was not highlighted in green on Philosopher’s Stone.[/p]

[p]This update is mostly focused on balance adjustments (we’ve heard all the complaints about Train Power, trust us…) along with a few bug fixes. Let’s take a look![/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Knights of the Red Frost[/h2][p]The Knights of the Red Frost synergy, despite being a 6-slot synergy, had a critical weakness — its peak performance relied heavily on just two high-tier cars (T3 and T4). Because of this, many players would only take those cars instead of building the full synergy. To address this, we’re slightly raising the upper potential of the lower-tier cars.[/p]

• [p](2) Knights of the Red Frost: Begin training. (Max training efficiency: 100% → 200%)[/p]
• [p](4) Knights of the Red Frost: Training limit increased from 300% → 500%[/p]

[h2]Children of the Engine[/h2][p]The Children of the Engine synergy is designed to help players acquire a large number of artifacts. Once the full game includes more artifacts, the balance will naturally adjust, but for now, the limitation is clear. We’ve adjusted the probability and will continue observing how it develops.[/p]

• [p](4) Children of the Engine: Increased chance of higher-quality rewards (probabilities adjusted for better rewards)[/p]

[h2]Power[/h2][p]As in the first game, Power still delivers extremely strong performance. Speed is, of course, vital for a train — but this was a bit too much.[/p]

• [p](4) Power: Speed increases by 3% per cycle, up to 45% → 3% per cycle, up to 40%[/p]
• [p](5) Power: Speed increases by 7% per cycle, up to 75% → 6% per cycle, up to 60%[/p]

[h2]Food[/h2][p]The Food synergy increases passenger capacity. In the Choi Soon-ja campaign, its use is somewhat limited — but as they say, overwhelming numbers can be a strategy of their own.[/p]

• [p](3) Food: Gain 2 more passengers → Gain 3 more passengers[/p]
• [p](4) Food: Gain 5 more passengers → Gain 7 more passengers[/p]
• [p](5) Food: Gain 12 more passengers → Gain 16 more passengers[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]When receiving Drone Supply, you can now skip the animation with an additional click.[/p]
• [p]The tense background music of the Contaminated Areas will now only play during the later stages of the game. In the early stages, you’ll be able to enjoy a cozier and more relaxed atmosphere.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed an offset issue with the Control Facility.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where bubbles were visible on the world map.[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing tooltip text for Coast, Underwater, and Deep Water entry events.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where selling a duplicated item via the Copy Machine did not properly update the item pool.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]We are currently investigating an issue where cards in the inventory cannot be dragged in Linux environments.[/p]

[p]Everyone’s gone home. I’m the only one left in the darkend office. And yet… I remain here, still working on the update. Because… all of you are waiting for it![/p][p][/p][p]The Steam Next Fest is just around the corner! Before the festival begins, we’re releasing the Final_REAL_Last_Build! This update includes balance adjustments and a few quality-of-life improvements.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Trains[/h2][h3]Guild of Explorers[/h3][p]Despite having relatively easy synergy conditions, the Explorer’s League has proven to be excessively powerful.[/p]

• [p]The number of Exploration Logs obtained when acquiring artifacts has been reduced from 3/6/9 → 2/4/8.[/p]
• [p]The number of Exploration Logs gained upon arriving at a landmark has been reduced from 10 → 8.[/p]

[h3]Academy[/h3][p]Perhaps due to the previous title, the Academy remains one of the most popular choices, yet its actual performance hasn’t lived up to that reputation. We’ve made adjustments to ensure it remains a stable powerhouse through the late game if you can survive the midgame.[/p]

• [p]The Happiness produced by Ivory Tower has been increased as follows:[/p]
  • [p]Level 2: +17 → +19[/p]
  • [p]Level 3: +29 → +32[/p]
  • [p]Level 4: +53 → +64[/p]
  • [p]Level 5: +72 → +96[/p]

[h3]Education[/h3][p]Education was originally designed as a transitional synergy — something to bridge the early and midgame. However, its current performance falls short of expectations, so we’re giving it a boost.[/p]

• [p]The additional Happiness from the Education synergy now matches the amount of Happiness that train produces per cycle. (This means it now produces about 20–30% more Happiness than before.)[/p]

[h3]Security[/h3][p]The Security synergy currently lacks supporting artifacts (those will come in the full version!), which has limited its effectiveness. We’ve strengthened it to improve its overall performance.[/p]

• [p]The Central Intelligence Bureau from the 4-synergy bonus: Happiness +42 → +64[/p]
• [p]The National Security Agency from the 6-synergy bonus: Happiness +156 → +256[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Artifacts[/h2][h3]Sadism[/h3]

• [p]Now starts with Happiness +2 instead of +1.[/p]

[h3]Tropical Globe[/h3]

• [p]Happiness +65/cycle → Happiness +81/cycle[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Events[/h2][h3]Forgotten Station[/h3]

• [p]Option 1 reward increased from Resistance loss ×1 → Resistance loss ×2.[/p]

[h3]Relief Policy[/h3]

• [p]The Power Diversion artifact effect improved from -8% movement speed → -7% movement speed.[/p]
• [p]Im Seok-dae’s passenger execution option now executes 3 passengers instead of 2 (nerf).[/p]

[p][/p][h2]Exploration[/h2]

• [p]The number of Contaminated Zones in early to mid-game areas has been reduced.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][p]Tutorial text regarding passengers has been clarified:[/p]

• [p]“Passengers enter the carriage each cycle and generate Happiness equal to the number of passengers who entered” →*“Passengers enter the carriage each cycle, and Happiness is generated once for each passenger.”*[/p]
• [p]Decision and shop buttons in the tutorial are now highlighted.[/p]
• [p]A new event will now trigger when entering a new terrain type for the first time.[/p]
  • [p]Forest, Mountain, Abandoned City, Coast, Undersea, Deep Water[/p]
  • [p]And environmental effects like Contaminated Zone and Blizzard.[/p]
• [p]Entering the Decision or Shop screens now automatically pauses the game.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed an issue where upgradable cards inside the inventory were occasionally not highlighted properly.[/p]

[p]Next Fest is just around the corner! In this update, we’ve added new languages, fixed minor bugs, and improved various quality-of-life features. Shall we take a look?[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]The recent adjustment to the Shadow Merchants’ Guild appears to have been successful. However, if you take an extreme number of product restocks early on, the restock count stacks up too much in the late game, so we’re adjusting this.[/p]
  • [p]The initial value for Shadow Merchants’ Guild product restocks is being increased, and the coefficient that scales with time is being decreased. With this change, around the 30-day mark, earlier costs will be a bit higher than before, while later costs will be a bit cheaper.[/p]
• [p]The coefficient for passenger dissatisfaction that increases over time has been adjusted. We’ve tuned it so the pacing can feel more “dramatic.” Hopefully this makes the game more fun—please keep the feedback coming![/p]
• [p]Contaminated Areas in the early sections have been weakened and will appear less frequently, so more Conductors can wander the world for longer.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]The display has been updated so you can now see the maximum passenger capacity when passengers enter.[/p]
• [p]New languages have been added![/p]
  • [p]Japanese[/p]
  • [p]Greek[/p]
  • [p]German (beta)[/p]
  • [p]Simplified Chinese (beta)[/p]
• [p]When train space is insufficient, a clearer message now prompts you to free up space.[/p]
• [p]You can now move the camera with WASD or the arrow keys.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr]

• [p]Fixed a bug where passengers could sometimes board the Engine due to the Compulsory Child Labor artifact (Timmy…?).[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the Longest Train Record artifact could sometimes load with an incorrect value.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where train tooltips would sometimes fail to appear.[/p]

[p]Hello to all the conductors around the world enjoying the Frostrain 2 demo![/p][p]As mentioned previously, Frostrain 2 is still in its demo phase and far from polished. We’ll continue adjusting balance and improving any uncomfortable parts. Looks like we’ll be meeting quite often this week![/p][p]This patch includes the following changes:[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Balance Adjustments[/h2]

• [p]\[6] Central Supply Bureau synergy effect: Cycle reduction changed from 6 seconds → 5 seconds.[/p][p]→ The Bureau was excelling both in versatility and sheer power — too much for the others to handle. We’re slightly reducing its effect to observe how things settle.[/p]
• [p]\[5] Entertainment synergy effect: 77% chance to produce 10× Happiness → rolled back to 77% chance to produce 7× Happiness.[/p][p]→ The average Happiness output of Cryptography Room, Geoinformation Office, Training Center, and Entertainment Management Division increased by 30%.[/p][p]→ Our intent to slightly buff Entertainment synergy made it far too strong! We’re keeping the “77–7” concept but toning it down. This change also helps the somewhat underperforming Academy while softening the impact of the Central Supply Bureau’s nerf.[/p]
• [p]\[3–5] Media synergy effects: adjusted as follows[/p]
  • [p]3 Media: +20 → +16[/p]
  • [p]4 Media: +50 → +36[/p]
  • [p]5 Media: +128 → +88[/p][p]→ Despite requiring relatively few trains, Media synergy maintained an extremely high win rate — especially with Conductor Choi Sun-ja’s traits. Since the demo currently only allows her as the playable conductor, we’re scaling down its power to improve overall balance.[/p]
• [p]Shadow Traders Association trains gain a new ability:[/p][p]“Each time you restock shop items, produce +1% more Happiness.”[/p][p](Tier-4 Cartel trains gain +2% instead.)[/p]
• [p]Shadow Traders Association shop item appearance rates adjusted by level.[/p][p]→ The faction excels at repeated rerolls to build up early and midgame, but lacked late-game incentive. We hope this change will make their ‘shopping’ payoff more satisfying.[/p]
• [p]Artifact – Power Cycle Amplifier: maximum cap reduced to +416.[/p][p]→ Far too many of you have pierced the heavens with this one... We admit, that’s on us.[/p]
• [p]To ensure more balanced choices in the Poverty Relief Policy event, the following adjustments have been made:[/p]
  • [p]Power Diversion artifact effect: Movement Speed −12% → −8%[/p]
  • [p]Im Seok-dae – Passenger Execution option has been adjusted and expanded as follows:[/p]
    • [p]Passenger Execution: 3 → 2[/p]
    • [p]Rebellion gained: 2 → 1[/p]
    • [p]Population Density lost[/p]
  • [p]Im Seok-dae – Accept Poor Car option now grants an additional effect:[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Gameplay Changes[/h2]

• [p]Train colors slightly adjusted.[/p][p]→ Our last change for visibility ended up being too harsh; we’ve fine-tuned saturation and tone.[/p]
• [p]Maximum upgrade tiers are now visually indicated on cards.[/p][p]→ The dimmed gem icons represent the train’s upgrade cap.[/p]
• [p]Synergy tooltips now list which trains belong to that synergy.[/p]
• [p]Event “Unsettled Atmosphere” now features heartbeats and tunnel-vision effects when triggered.[/p]
• [p]Artifact “Repulsion” tooltip now correctly displays both initial and current values.[/p]
• [p]Inventory synergy tooltip delay increased from 0.2 s → 1.2 s.[/p][p]→ Prevents tooltips from obstructing the screen when hovering over the inventory.[/p]
• [p]Story events now display a story badge, clearly distinguishing mandatory story events from optional random ones.[/p]
• [p]Happiness production by trains is now visually more noticeable.[/p]
• [p]Drone supply option spacing adjusted for improved readability when options expand or shrink.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]

• [p]Fixed: “Unsettled Atmosphere” event heartbeat sound not playing properly after saving/loading.[/p]
• [p]Fixed: Tier-4 Cartel train’s pivot being slightly misaligned.[/p]
• [p]A problem where certain trains (Field Kitchen, Wheel House, GeoGraphic Information Office, Cartel) appeared unusually rarely has been fixed.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]Ongoing Work[/h2][p]Apologies — the following fixes are still in progress:[/p]

• [p]Rare issue where some trains fail to display tooltips.[/p]
• [p]A tutorial overhaul is underway. It’ll take some time, but expect a much friendlier and clearer experience soon![/p]

[p]We’re also preparing an update before the October Steam Next Fest (Oct 13) to add five additional language supports:[/p]

• [p]Japanese[/p]
• [p]Greek[/p]
• [p]German[/p]
• [p]Simplified Chinese[/p]

[p][/p][p]Thank you for riding with us![/p]