Frostrain: Ultimate Guide

In this guide, we explained what you need to start Frostrain and all the mechanics and synergy details you need to know to complete the game.

Complete Frostrain Guide

This guide provides a complete overview of the game, and aims to answer any questions that may appear during your runs. It includes tips for how to win as well as detailing exactly how all trains, synergies, and mechanics work.

Basic Game Mechanics

Conductors

There are three conductors in the game you can play as. At the start of the game, you only have Mr. Lim unlocked. Unlock more through beating the game.

Mr. Lim

• Starts with a Dept of Labor car.
• Drone Supply contains 3 car choices.

Mrs. Choi

Unlocked after enough wins.

• Has 2 additional slots for train cars.
• Drone Supply contains 2 car choices.

Ms. Joe

Unlocked after enough wins.

• Daily Happiness loss is fast-forwarded five days.
• Drone Supply contains 4 car choices.

Map

The map is made out of nodes connected by different paths. The paths sometimes have different effects affecting it (can be found by hovering the path).

Note: Even though the node you seem to be leaving at the start of the game, your “starting node”, has no question mark, it can in fact be visited, and grants a Drone Supply and Exp.

Nodes

Whenever you enter a new node, you receive one Drone Supply and gain 1 Exp.

Nodes can be large, which signals that they give a certain tier reward in their Drone Supply.

Some nodes are landmarks, which might trigger events, as well as providing you with a Drone Supply and Exp.

Landmarks

• The Frozen Expedition
  “All that remained for those who left the train was a frozen wasteland, but their supplies will help the rest of us.”
• Head for the city. (Tier 2 Train Car)
• Observatory
  “A massive observatory abandoned in the wasteland. You are likely to find valuable information about the area.”
  The option you select at this landmark sets your next node to either the northern one or the eastern one (leading south). Any path you’ve made prior to this is reset.
• Head north. (1.5x speed up, City)
• Head south. (an area of concentration of small towns, Deep Sea)
• The Fallen Goddess
  “The passengers stare at the giant statue in awe. The last ship to leave the island headed to an iron gate across the sea.”
• We will find the answer. (Inspired: +15 Happiness (for 180 seconds), random Train Car)
• Underwater City
  “New coordinates are discovered in a ruined lab in a devastated underwater city. The coordinates of the Iron Gate, wherer the evacuees were supposed to go, were found.”
• Proceed to the next destination. (Inspired: +7 Happiness (for 180 seconds), random Train Car)
• Iron Gate
  “The toxins are getting stronger and the temperature is rising rapidly. Facing the new danger, the passengers gather their willpower.”
• Open the Iron Gate. (Tier 4 Train Car)
• Contaminated Lab
  “Shortly after discovering the truth of the Promised Land, the researchers seem to have perished.”
• Proceed to the target destination. (Happiness 300, Tier 4 Train Car)
• The Promised Land
  “The effects of the conamination have faded. And the signs of life are beginning to appear.”
• It’s time. Slow down. (Get ready for the stop.)

Paths

The longer a path between nodes is, the longer it takes to travel, naturally.

Some paths have special effects which are shown when hovered. There are:

• River: Gain double Exp
• Ruin: Train speed increased by 50%
• Pollution 1: -7 Happiness per second
• Pollution 2: -35 Happiness per second
• Pollution 3: -100 Happiness per second

Storm

The arrives from the west and travels eastward. While in the storm, your happiness decrease rapidly. The longer the game goes on, the more happiness you lose per second.
The storm starts by decreasing your happiness at a rate of 5 per second, and at the maximum decreases your happiness at a rate of 100 per second.

Happines & The Train

Your happiness is depleted each day as well as through certain paths and the storm. When it reaches zero, you are greeted by your angry passengers – they give you a single day to fix it. If your happiness reaches zero again after that, you lose the game.

Days

Days are 30 seconds long, and at the start of each day you lose happiness.
The first day you lose 1 happiness. This is then increased by the amount of days that have already passed, and carried over to the next day. This means the first days you lose 1, 1, 2, 4, 7 then 11 happiness, and so on. This goes on for a month, and after that the happiness loss increases more rapidly and randomly, until day 45 when it hits -4444 happiness per day, where it stays until day 49 where it becomes -6666 forever.

Levels

You need Exp equal to your current level to advance to the next level.
Whenever you gain a level, you gain another slot for your train cars, and 2 more passengers.

Cycles

Each cycle, all of your passengers occupy a train car. Train Cars can normally only hold up to 3 passengers. There they trigger the effect of the train car.
Cycles are approximately 10 seconds long.

Drone Supply

Drone Supplies are granted whenever you visit a new node. You get a choice of 2-4 (depending on your conductor) train cars to obtain.

Storage & Trash

You have a train car storage that can store up to 8 Train Cars. If you ever get more than 8, the game pauses (but you can still open Drone Supplies) until you only have 8 Train Cars in your storage.

If you have unwanted Train Cars, you can recycle them in the trash. After you’ve recycled a certain amount of points, you get a new Drone Supply.

* Height 5 cars are only possible for Academy, and when you reach height 5 cars, all cars of the same type recycles for 0, no matter their height.

Your first Drone Supply requires you to recycle 10 points worth of train cars. After this, each next Drone Supply costs 5 more points.

Stacking

By moving two train cars of the same height together, they stack, up to height 4 (Height 5 for Academy cars). This improves their effects, but reduces their recycle value.

Train Tasks

Clicking the small bubbles below the train cars provide you with 1 Happiness per bubble. If this is useful, ever, it is usually during the very beginning of the game.

Faction Synergies

Academy

Effects:

• All Academy cars can be stacked to height 5.
• Synergy (2): Every 4 cycles, you obtain a random Academy car.
• Synergy (4): Every cycle, you obtain a random Academy car.

Mechanics:

• Once an Academy car reaches height 5, you will no longer obtain that Academy car through your Academy synergy. All those cars from now on will recycle for 0.
• Once the four tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 cars have been stacked to height 5, you will instead obtain the tier 4 car Ivory Tower (only obtainable this method). Your Academy synergy will continue to give you Ivory Tower even after you have stacked it to height 5.

Tips & Other:

• The Academy synergy can over time provide any amount of recycle value, as long as you don’t upgrade all your Academy cars to 5 and start producing Ivory Tower.
• Once you get Ivory Tower to level 2, you can replace the Printing House with it and still maintain Synergy (4) and get a higher Happiness output, since Printing House at height 5 only gives +14 Happiness, and Ivory Tower gives +15 at height 2.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Printing House (Media)
• Tier 2
• Library (Culture)
• Cryptography Lab (Entertainment)
• Tier 3
• Train Design Room (Train Power)
• Tier 4
• Ivory Tower* (Neutral)

* Unobtainable without Academy synergy

Central Supply Bureau

Effects:

• Synergy (3): Each cycle becomes 2 seconds shorter.
• Synergy (6): Each cycle becomes 7 seconds shorter.

Mechanics:

• The cycle is 10 seconds long normally, so the synergies shorten the cycle by 20% and 70% respectfully. This can be seen as increasing your total productivity by 25% (no synergy -> Synergy 3) or 233% (no synergy -> Synergy 6). Going from Synergy 3 to Synergy 6 increases productivity by 167%.
• The tier 4 car Executive Branch only shortens the cycle time if you have at least Synergy 3.

Tips & Other:

• Shortening the cycle works well with almost all factions and traits that doesn’t trigger on anything other than cycles. This means you don’t get the full potential when using it together with Media or the Guild of Explorers, both of which trigger on exploring new nodes.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Dept of Entertainment (Entertainment)
• Dept of Security (Security)
• Tier 2
• Dept of Labor (Education)
• Dept of Press (Media)
• Dept of Engine Control (Train Power)
• Tier 3
• n/a
• Tier 4
• Executive Branch (Large)

Children of Engine

Effects:

• Synergy (2): Whenever a passenger enters a Children of Engine car alone, gain 1 Zeal.
• Synergy (4): Whenever a passenger enters a Children of Engine car, it gains 1 Zeal.

Mechanics:

• Zeal does not do anything on its own, but it’s used by the tier 4 Children of Engine car Propaganda Station to produce Happiness.

Tips & Other:

• Children of Engine has potentially infinite scaling.
• It’s best with having lots of cars, so it works well with Mrs. Choi as well as together with Security.
• Consider not stacking these cars, and instead spreading them out, to gain Zeal quicker.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Meditation Room (Culture)
• Tier 2
• Penance Room (Entertainment)
• Tier 3
• Inquisition Room (Security)
• Tier 4
• Propaganda Station (Media)

Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood

Effects:

• All Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood cars decrease happiness by 1 for each car in front of it.
• Synergy (4): No longer loses happiness based on cars in front. Triggers twice each cycle.
• Synergy (7): Triggers ten times each cycle.

Mechanics:

• The downside does not count The Engine, which might seem like a car in front of all others.

Tips & Other:

• This might sound okay at Synergy (4), and really strong at Synergy (7), but for a 7-car combo it’s not as good as you might think. You can still definitely win with it.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Tavern (Culture)
• Job School (Education)
• Gambling House (Entertainment)
• Tier 2
• Communication Center (Communication)
• Sheriff’s Office (Security)
• Manpower Generator (Train Power)
• Tier 3
• Orphanage (Media)
• Tier 4
• n/a

Guild of Explorers

Effects:

• Synergy (3): Gain Happiness based on how many nodes you’ve visited with this.

Mechanics:

• The amount of nodes visited is reset (when?)

Tips & Other:

• Available Cars:
• Tier 1
• Wheelhouse (Train Power)
• Tier 2
• Archive (Culture)
• Tier 3
• Geographic Information Office (Entertainment)
• Tier 4
• n/a

Red Frost Templar

Effects:

• Synergy (3): You start training. You gain Training from cars that has it, and every 5 cycles, all your training is converted to happiness.
• Synergy (4): You gain 70% more training.
• Synergy (5): You keep 80% of your training, and train each cycle.

Mechanics:

• Tips & Other:
• Despite what some might believe, this does not go infinite – but it can scale up to 500% of the amount of training you produce each cycle.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Blacksmith (Culture)
• Tier 2
• Training School (Education)
• Tier 3
• Control Room (Train Power)
• Drill Ground (Large)
• Tier 4
• Command Center (Security)

First Class

Effects:

• Your First Class cars can only hold a single passenger.
• Synergy (1): Increase the Happiness you gain each cycle for each car behind this.

Mechanics:

• NOTE: The Synergy is nothing other than what is already said on the car itself.

Tips & Other:

• The Front Room does scale infinitely, but really slowly. It’s a good pick if you have nothing else, and can help you focus your passengers on your better cars.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• n/a
• Tier 4
• Front Room (Communication)

Trait Synergies

Communication

Effects:

• Synergy (2): You get +4 Happiness for all cars between your Communication cars.

Mechanics:

• In my testing, it did not help to have more of the same communication car on your train.

Tips & Other:

• This is a very minor effect, but if you have Communication Center and Front Room, obviously place the Front Room at the front and the Communication Center at the very back.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• n/a
• Tier 2
• Communication Center (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)
• Tier 3
• n/a
• Tier 4
• Front Room (First Class)

Culture

Effects:

• Synergy (2): All passengers in Culture cars get +1 Happiness.
• Synergy (3): All passengers in Culture cars get +3 Happiness.
• Synergy (4): All passengers in Culture cars get +7 Happiness.
• Synergy (5): All passengers in Culture cars get +13 Happiness.

Tips & Other:

• This gives a slight boost to the early game if you run it, but it’s not sustainable late game.
• High chance of finding early, since it’s 3 tier 1 cars and 2 tier 2 cars.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Meditation Room (Children of Engine)
• Tavern (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)
• Blacksmith (Red Frost Templar)
• Tier 2
• Library (Academy)
• Archive (Guild of Explorers)
• Tier 3
• n/a
• Tier 4
• n/a

Education

Effects:

• All Education cars give a bonus if they are filled with passengers each cycle.
• Synergy (2): The bonus is doubled.
• Synergy (3): Each passenger activates the bonus.

Tips & Other:

• The less cars you have, the more this triggers.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Job School (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)
• Tier 2
• Dept of Labor (Central Supply Bureau)
• Training School (Red Frost Templar)
• Tier 3
• n/a
• Tier 4
• n/a

Entertainment

Effects:

• Synergy (3): Has a 33% chance to give x3 Happiness.
• Synergy (5): Has a 77% chance to give x7 Happiness.

Tips & Other:

• Synergy (3) provides, on average, a 66% happiness increase for all your Entertainment cars.
• Synergy (5) provides, on average, a 462% happiness increase for all your Entertainment cars.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Dept of Entertainment (Central Supply Bureau)
• Gambling House (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)
• Tier 2
• Cryptography Lab (Academy)
• Penance Room (Children of Engine)
• Tier 3
• Geographic Information Office (Guild of Explorers)
• Tier 4
• n/a

Large

Effects:

• Large cars take up two slots on your train.
• Synergy (1): You get +50% Happiness from Large cars.

Mechanics:

• The Large does not really have a Synergy – it only means it produces 50% more happiness than what it says.

Tips & Other:

• These take two car slots but only counts as one type of car for synergies – this means that the Central Supply Bureau at Synergy (6) needs 7 car slots, and that the Red Frost Templars at Synergy (5) needs 6 car slots.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• n/a
• Tier 2
• n/a
• Tier 3
• Drill Ground (Red Frost Templar)
• Tier 4
• Executive Branch (Central Supply Bureau)

Media

Effects:

• Synergy (2): When you visit a new node you gain +10 Happiness per car in your train.
• Synergy (3): When you visit a new node you gain +80 Happiness per car in your train.
• Synergy (4): When you visit a new node you gain +320 Happiness per car in your train.

Mechanics:

• The Synergy counts stacked cars as their height – a car of height 4 triggers the happiness gain 4 times when you visit a new node.

Tips & Other:

• This is really bad early game, but quite decent late game – especially with Academy, where you already have lots of cars.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Printing House (Academy)
• Tier 2
• Dept of Press (Central Supply Bureau)
• Tier 3
• Orphanage (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)
• Tier 4
• Propaganda Station (Children of Engine)

Security

Effects:

• Synergy (2): The Information Interception Division car is added to your train. It has +10 Happiness.
• Synergy (4): The Central Intelligence Agency car is added to your train. It has +50 Happiness.

Mechanics:

• If you have Synergy (4), you only get the better of the two cars.
• The cars do not count towards your maximum number of car slots.

Tips & Other:

• Works well together early with Children of Engine.
• Adds more cars for the Front Room to trigger off.
• If you do not have anything that would benefit from these, they might be a net loss – if your average car provides more than +10 / +50 happiness per cycle.

Available Cars:

• Tier 1
• Dept of Security (Central Supply Bureau)
• Tier 2
• Sheriff’s Office (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)
• Tier 3
• Inquisition Room (Children of Engine)
• Tier 4
• Command Center (Red Frost Templar)

Train Power

Effects:

• Synergy (2): You start improving your engine using your Improvement.
• Synergy (3): You gain 300% Improvement.
• Synergy (3): You gain 600% Improvement.

Mechanics:

• Improving your engine makes your train go faster.
• There are 9 levels of engine improvement. After the last one, you gain +100 Happiness every time you reach 1000 Improvement.
• The Improvement requirements are as follows:

Tips & Other

• Do not underestimate speed! It allows you to level up and find more Drone Supplies before reaching the end game.
• After you’ve reached you’re desired speed, you can sell unwanted train power cars – for example, get rid of the Wheelhouse and Manpower Generator unless you need them for another Synergy

Available Cars:

Tier 1

• Wheelhouse (Guild of Explorers)

Tier 2

• Dept of Engine Control (Central Supply Bureau) Manpower Generator (Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood)

Tier 3

• Control Room (Red Frost Templar) Train Design Room (Academy)

Tier 4

• n/a

List of Train Cars

Sorted by Faction and Tier.

Values separated by a slash ( / ) notes specific values between the different train car levels.

Academy

Academy cars can be upgraded to level 5.

Printing House ⋆

• Media
• Happiness +3/+4/+6/+9/+14

Library ⋆⋆

• Culture
• Happiness +4/+6/+9/+18/+36

Cryptography Lab ⋆⋆

• Entertainment
• Happiness +1-4/+2-6/+5-9/+14-20/+26-34

Train Design Room ⋆⋆

• Train Power
• Happiness +7/+10/+20/+40/+80

• Improvement +3/+6/+12/+36/+54

Ivory Tower ⋆⋆⋆⋆

• Neutral
• Happiness +7/+15/+30/+60/+180
• Ivory Tower can only be obtained through Academy synergy (2 or 4) when you have obtained level 5 in all other Academy train cars.

Central Supply Bureau

Dept of Entertainment ⋆

• Entertainment
• Happiness +0-3/+1-5/+3-8/+6-12

Dept of Security ⋆

• Security
• Happiness +3/+5/+7/+10

Dept of Labor ⋆⋆

• Education
• Happiness +2/+3/+4/+6
• If full, +3/+5/+7/+10

Dept of Press ⋆⋆

• Media
• Happiness +4/+6/+9/+18

Dept of Engine Control ⋆⋆

• Train Power
• Happiness +5/+7/+10/+20
• Improvement +2/+4/+8/+24

Executive Branch ⋆⋆⋆⋆

• Large
• Happiness +8/+12/+24/+48
• Shorter cycle: 0.25/0.5/1/2 seconds
• Cycle only shortens with active Synergy.
• Productivity increase Synergy 2: 3,2% / 6,7% / 14,3% / 33,3%
• Productivity increase Synergy 4: 9,1% / 20% / 50% / 200%

Children of Engine

Meditation Room ⋆

• Culture
• Happiness +3/+4/+6/+9

Penance Room ⋆⋆

• Entertainment
• Happiness +2-5/+4-8/+6-10/+15-21

Inquisition Room ⋆⋆⋆

• Security
• Happiness +8/+12/+24/+48

Propaganda Station ⋆⋆⋆⋆

• Media
• If (exactly 1/1 or 3/any/any) passenger:
• Happiness +Zeal times 3/3/3/33

Fuel and Hammer Brotherhood

Tavern ⋆

• Culture
• Happiness +2/+3/+4/+6

Job School ⋆

• Education
• Happiness +1/+2/+3/+4
• If full, +1/+3/+4/+6

Gambling House ⋆

• Entertainment
• Happiness +0-3/+1-4/+2-6/+3-8

Communication Center ⋆⋆

• Communication
• Happiness +2/+3/+4/+8

Sheriff’s Office ⋆⋆

• Security
• Happiness +3/+4/+6/+12

Manpower Generator ⋆⋆

• Train Power
• Happiness +2/+3/+4/+8
• Improvement +2/+4/+8/+24

Orphanage ⋆⋆⋆

• Media
• Happiness +5/+7/+14/+28

Guild of Explorers

Wheelhouse ⋆

• Train Power
• Happiness +2/+3/+4/+6
• Improvement +1/+2/+4/+8

Archive ⋆⋆

• Culture
• Happiness +4/+6/+9/+18

Geographic Information Office ⋆⋆⋆

• Entertainment
• Happiness +4-10/+7-13/+15-25/+30-50

Red Frost Templar

Blacksmith ⋆

• Culture
• Happiness +3/+4/+6/+9
• Training +1/+2/+3/+4

Training School ⋆⋆

• Education
• Happiness +3/+4/+6/+12
• If full, +5/+7/+10/+20
• Training +1/+2/+3/+6

Control Room ⋆⋆⋆

• Train Power
• Happiness +7/+10/+20/+40
• Improvement +4/+8/+24/+72
• Training +3/+4/+8/+16

Drill Ground ⋆⋆⋆

• Large
• Happiness +14/+21/+42/+84
• Training +5/+8/+16/+32

Command Center ⋆⋆⋆⋆

• Security
• Happiness +10/+15/+30/+60
• Training increase 10%/30%/100%/500%

First Class

Front Room ⋆⋆⋆⋆

• Communication
• Each cycle:
• Increase X by 2/2/2/5 for every 7/6/4/1 cars behind this
• Happiness +X

None

Information Interception Division ⋆⋆

• Neutral
• Happiness +10
• This car does not take up a slot of your train cars.
• This car is added directly to your train with Security synergy (2), and can not be obtained any other way.

Central Intelligence Agency ⋆⋆⋆

• Neutral
• Happiness +50
• This car does not take up a slot of your train cars.
• This car is added directly to your train with Security synergy (4), and can not be obtained any other way.