Frostrain 2 News

[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]

[p]Hello, Conductors of Frostrain2 all around the world![/p][p]My greetings are late—apologies for that. It’s already the second day since the demo version was released to you. If I may offer an excuse as to why I’m only making this announcement now… well, I simply forgot. Since I’ve always posted only on the Frostrain1 store page, I completely overlooked the obvious fact that I could (and should) also post announcements on the Frostrain2 store page.[/p][p]With that realization, I’m hastily writing this announcement in the hope that you’ll forgive me with a generous heart. From now on, I’ll make sure to post announcements on time![/p][p]The demo version is still unpolished, and we’re continuously updating it. Since we want to present you with the most complete version possible before Steam Next Fest begins, updates may be very frequent. If you have any feedback about the game, please feel free to leave a comment here, write in the community, or email us at [email protected]! We’ll read everything carefully and make adjustments accordingly. (Feedback like “the game is too difficult” or “this synergy feels too strong/weak” is also very welcome!)[/p][p]Because this is a demo, you may see many experimental changes. This patch contains the following updates. Version 0.6.2 reflects last Thursday’s update, while version 0.6.3 includes the new changes released today.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]0.6.2[/h3]

• [p]When playing as Choi Soon Ja, the mandatory number of Shanty Carriages has been reduced from 2 to 1. Accordingly, you will no longer receive a Shanty Carriage in the “Deepening Faith” event.[/p]
• [p]The effect of the Overcrowding artifact has been changed from “Happiness -7/cycle, Speed -6%” to “If the number of passengers exceeds 12, lose -2% Speed per excess passenger.”[/p]
• [p]The outcome of one choice in the Heavenly Cookies event has been changed from “50% - gain Rebellion” to “50% - gain Rebellion, +1 EXP.”[/p]
• [p]The effect of Harnessing Unstable Energy has been changed from “Happiness -23/cycle” to “Happiness -14~-44/cycle. This value fluctuates daily.”[/p]

[h3]0.6.3[/h3]

• [p]A new artifact, Longest Train Record Book, has been added.[/p]
• [p]The Faith gain rate of the Children of Engine train cars has been reduced, but the chance of receiving better gifts has been increased.[/p]
  • [p]This adjustment aims to reduce the late-game issue where infinite gifts stalled progress, while still keeping the expected value of rewards high so the fun of the gifts isn’t diminished.[/p]
• [p]Now, everyone can use the shop.[/p]
  • [p]However, items cannot be rerolled, and the shop refresh cycle has been increased from 8 → 10.[/p]
• [p]The Shadow Traders Association synergy has been reworked.[/p]
  • [p]The goal is to allow everyone access to the shop (to stabilize the early game), while enhancing the Shadow Traders’ unique fun of rerolling.[/p]
    • [p](2) Shop opens → You can now pay Happiness to reroll shop items. The Happiness cost increases with each attempt and resets when the shop refreshes.[/p]
    • [p](4) Better goods are displayed → Better goods are displayed in greater numbers.[/p]
    • [p](6) More goods are displayed → Better goods are displayed, reroll costs are reduced, and the shop refresh cycle is shortened by 4. (Total synergy: 6)[/p]
• [p]The Entertainment synergy has been buffed.[/p]
  • [p](3) 33% chance to gain 3x Happiness, 6% chance to lose 6x Happiness → 33% chance to gain 5x Happiness, 6% chance to lose 6x Happiness.[/p]
  • [p](5) 77% chance to gain 7x Happiness, 13% chance to lose 13x Happiness → 77% chance to gain 10x Happiness, 13% chance to lose 13x Happiness.[/p]
• [p]More advanced and rare outposts now appear on the map.[/p]
• [p]Accordingly, the amount of Exploration Logs gained from the Guild of Explorers synergy has been slightly reduced. Since overall outpost rarity has increased, performance should remain roughly the same.[/p]
• [p]The Happiness output of Academy special train cars has increased by about 20% on average.[/p]
  • [p]The Academy is loved for its safe and stable playstyle. However, while stable, its actual performance was not particularly strong. This adjustment keeps the Academy’s identity intact, but makes it strong enough to shine if combined with tools to quickly secure special train cars.[/p]
• [p]The bonus Happiness from the Education synergy has been increased by about 10% on average.[/p]
• [p]Event frequency has been increased by about 15%, making them appear more often.[/p]
• [p]Late-game difficulty has been adjusted. These changes won’t drastically affect overall difficulty, but are intended to let more players reach the end.[/p]
  • [p]Contamination Zone Stage 2 Happiness loss: -16/sec → -14/sec[/p]
  • [p]Contamination Zone Stage 3 Happiness loss: -36/sec → -32/sec[/p]
  • [p]Contamination Zone Stage 4 Happiness loss: -106/sec → -81/sec[/p]
  • [p]Public Opinion Turns artifact Happiness loss: -6/sec → -18/sec[/p]
  • [p]Armed Mobs artifact Happiness loss factor: -2
  • passengers → -3
  • passengers[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]0.6.2[/h3]

• [p]The remaining time for Drone Supply is now displayed radially on the button.[/p]
• [p]Hovering the cursor over Train Speed in the bottom-left info panel now shows a tooltip with details.[/p]
• [p]Camera movement along the Y-axis has become more dynamic.[/p]
• [p]The camera can now zoom out further.[/p]

[h3]0.6.3[/h3]

• [p]Added a mouse cursor for better visibility.[/p]
• [p]Train colors have been made more distinct for better visibility.[/p]
• [p]Outposts are now displayed above snowstorm and contamination effects for visibility.[/p]
• [p]Hovering over Passengers in the bottom-left info panel now shows tooltips with detailed information.[/p]
• [p]Hovering over Happiness at the top of the screen now shows tooltips with Happiness gained per second.[/p]
• [p]The synergy info panel on the left side now shows how many synergies are active.[/p]
• [p]Removed hover delays in the Decision tab—information is displayed instantly.[/p]
• [p]Fully upgraded train cars are no longer highlighted during Drone Supply.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issues where environmental effects were not displayed correctly in some areas (e.g., seabed, deep sea).[/p]
• [p]Added autosave. The game now autosaves when receiving Drone Supply, when an event occurs, and when arriving at specific outposts.[/p]
• [p]The Armed Mobs artifact now displays its values externally.[/p]
• [p]Certain terms have been changed from Train → Train carriage.[/p]

[p][/p][hr][/hr][h3]0.6.2[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a bug where Happiness could no longer be gained and the game could not progress.[/p]
• [p]Fixed stuttering when rapidly zooming in/out.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where BGM would sometimes not play.[/p]

[h3]0.6.3[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a bug where Security train cars could duplicate.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where Choi Soon Ja’s voice was unaffected by volume settings in the character select screen.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug where tooltips sometimes did not appear for certain train cars.[/p]

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

• [p]Fixing the issue where an trains appear without tooltips being displayed.[/p]
• [p]We plan to improve the tutorial. It may take some time… but it will return as a much friendlier tutorial than it is now![/p]