A unique cold-climate scenario where the ocean is partially frozen. Ice platforms provide solid building foundations — but seasonal thaw events can collapse entire sections without warning.
Key Challenge
Ice platforms have a fixed lifespan. Every 20 in-game days, a random 30% of your ice-based foundations cracks and sinks. You must anticipate these events and pre-build replacement foundations on adjacent stable ice before each thaw cycle.
Strategy
- 1.
Never build permanent infrastructure directly on ice. Always build Pile Foundations first (drilling into bedrock below the ice) and construct on top of piles rather than on the ice surface. Pile foundations survive ice thaw events; ice-surface buildings do not.
- 2.
The scenario's unique resource is Permafrost — gatherable only during freeze events and used to research Cold Climate technologies including Heated Housing (happiness bonus in cold weather) and Ice Reinforcement (extends ice platform lifespan by 50%).
- 3.
Schedule your expansion cycles around the 20-day thaw timer. Days 1-15 of each cycle: expand and build. Days 15-20: reinforce existing structures, prepare emergency pile placements.
Quick Tips
- ▶ Heated Housing is mandatory for Engineer happiness in this scenario — cold weather provides a -15 happiness penalty to Engineers without heated quarters.
- ▶ Sailors can navigate between ice floes in special Ice Breaker ships (unique to this scenario) to access isolated resource deposits.
- ▶ The thaw animation gives you 2-3 seconds of warning before a section sinks. Enough time to undo any building you just placed on doomed ice if you're watching carefully.