How To Build a Research Institute in Frostpunk 2

Whether you are playing the campaign or trying to build a Utopia, building a Research Institute is the first objective you need to complete in Frostpunk 2. This structure will allow you to access the Idea Tree, where you can unlock new skills and buildings.

Where To Place Research Institute in Frostpunk 2

The Research Institute is one of several buildings you will automatically unlock at the start of the game. This structure allows you to open the Idea Tree, where you can unlock useful technologies to help your city survive. To do this, you must have a specific amount of resources:

• 400 Workforce
• 100 Heatstamps
• 50 Prefabs

Note that, unlike Districts, you cannot just place a Research Institute right on the ground. Instead, you need to build a Housing district first. After that’s done, you need to expand the area once so you can build this extra structure. To expand a District, you can follow these steps:

• Click the District you want to expand.
• Select the four arrows icon on the bottom.
• Pay 50 Heatstamps and 50 Prefabs.
• Select the three extra tiles where you want to expand.

It will take some time for the District to expand, but once that’s done, you can place the Research Institute inside it. After you have built this structure, you can enter the Idea Tree by pressing the branch icon on the bottom right. To unlock new abilities, you need to spend some Heatstamps and wait for some time to pass.

Although you only need one Research Institute to unlock the Idea Tree, you can build more of this structure. The main benefit is that it will reduce the amount of research time required to understand a new idea. The downside is that an expanded Housing District can only host one extra building. So you will need to decide whether that research time buff is worth not building other useful structures like Hospitals or Filtration Towers.

Frostpunk 2 is available to play now.