Greetings Captains!

Thanks to your love and support, the <Online Meetup with the Game Producer> event ended in great success.

We express our sincerest gratitude to all Captains who allocated their precious time to join us on this occasion.

This notice will provide some heads-up information about the new update server opening mentioned during the meetup and share the Q&A discussions covered during the meetup for those who were unable to attend.

1. Beta Server for New Update Content "President Season"

The dev team of <Frostpunk: Beyond the Ice> is currently working on the new "President Season" content.

This update will be a demanding process as it entails comprehensive tests of the game's content, balance, and system.

Therefore, the President Season update will first be released in a new beta server, and the content that has been validated in the beta server will be implemented in the current early access server in succession.

For Captains who wish to have a taste of the President Season content beforehand in the new beta server, please wait for the detailed notice to follow.

2. [Online Meetup Event] Q&A Overview

Topic 1. President Season Update

Q) The first topic will be about "President Season Update". The head director will talk about some details regarding the update first.

A) President Season is a brand-new gameplay designed by us. During the season, players provide everyone with a simulated experience of "being president". You can run for president and win qualifications by maintaining support. After you are successfully elected as president, you can also represent your city in world issues, express your own views and opinions, and strive to be recognized by more people, and even participate in the leader ranking of all players around the world.

Q) Will there be any new events in the future? Also, we want to know if there will be a Guild system added.

A) There will be seasonal activities, and the President Season is a seasonal event that will be held once a month. The core city construction and growth will be retained, but related attributes such as support rate and president will be reset in each round.

We will consider making some adjustments to the guild and change it to an "organization" system, just like organizations such as G7/G20 in the real world. Players can find people with the same philosophy to play games together, but this will place high demands on the leaders of the organization. In order to create and expand the organization, we hope that the organization will be a more effective, small-group social group.

Q) Please explain new things added in upcoming updates. For example, new buildings, new contents and so on.

A) During the testing period, there will be some differences between the live server and the test server. Different featured industries will have their own new products. Everyone needs to use these special products for more efficient city construction. We will also produce some new buildings and automatically produce them. Shillings or new GDP currencies (for users to purchase or exchange higher-level resources), because these things are relatively new, they will be tested on the test server to see how they work.

Q) Would being “president” be available to one player in the world or one player per guild?

A) Every player can become president, as long as you maintain the support of the camp survivors.

Q) Are there going to be any “organizational” events or war clashes so that the citizens can vote or elect the right leader? What is the platform for voting or election?

A) We have an interesting and innovative PVP system where players can battle their thoughts and ideas on topics such as "World Trade" or "World Conference".

Q) What are the benefits of becoming President?

A) The president means having more authority, such as unlocking more legal abilities, managing your city more effectively, and ultimately trying to develop the city's population according to your wishes.

Q) So there will be PvP, but it'll be a so-called "battle of the minds/ideology?"

A) Yes, you will be discussing many topics every day. You can choose to participate in topics that interest you or that you want others to understand.

Topic 2. User Interaction(Social & Competitive)

Q) Now, we will move on to the second topic, which will be about "User Interaction"(Social & Competitive). The head director will talk about some details regarding the topic first.

A) In the President Seasonal update, we have made a lot of new gameplay designs for social interaction and competition. For example, we have added a batch of (currently tentatively 6) special industries. Each special industry has its own unique specialties and systems. Players need to interact with each other. Trade specialty products and grow faster.

For example, world issues are a very meaningful social network. Not only can you obtain the resources needed for growth in the process of world issues, but you can also express your own opinions on world issues and interact with other players.

Q) What are your future plans to make the game more interactive among users? For example, doing expeditions together, making friends, maybe raid other cities together and so on?

A) In this President Season, we have planned to add more interactive content, including elements similar to PVP and GVG(Guild vs Guild), but we don’t want to make it like other SLGs(Simulation Games) with the same old battles, character development, and P2W. We want to make the gameplay more interesting, creative and unique, which is our new "characteristic industries (which can be understood as professions)" and "participation in world issues (PVP)" related gameplay this season. Here, players of each different characteristic industry have more needs to trade with other players, and there will be more "thoughts or ideological PVP" with other players in the issue of gameplay.

Q) Will there be a 'PvP' system added in the game? If yes, how does it work?

A) There will be "PVP", but it is different from the traditional SLG war-type PVP. In this gameplay, everyone's PVP is based on their own ideas and opinions. After everyone is successfully elected as president, you will be able to  participate in PVP.

There are some new topics emerging every day. There are many topics that cover many aspects of our lives. Some topics are more scientific, such as "Is climate change caused by humans?", while some topics are more realistic, such as "When a country infringes on the rights and interests of another country, do you think it should retaliate immediately, or should the problem be solved through negotiation?" 

Everyone can vote on the topic, discuss it in a dedicated channel, and use your own Ideas and opinions PVP with each other. These thinking and decision-making processes are actually what a real president needs to go through. This is what we want players to have the experience of a "presidential" simulated business operation.

Q) We want to use the chatting system properly. For example, the word 'Brass' is censored but it is the essential resources and money in the game.

A) We will re-examine the keywords, thanks for the reminder.

Q) Are the developers planning on releasing more YouTube videos regarding these releases? I think this was helpful in providing communication on the new releases and another way to promote the game to others.

A) We are still in the intense development process and will consider releasing more YouTube videos in the future, but right now our main focus is on how to make the game more fun.

Q) Will there be a way to interact with other players' cities to see what each building is? Like a label.   "greenhouse", etc.

A) In fact, we have made it possible to visit other players' homes, but just visiting is not enough. We hope to have some more interesting "interactions" in this process, so if you have interesting ideas, please tell us.

Q Regarding “Districts”, will this be a permanent choice? 

A) It will be reset after each season and you can choose again.

Q) Will there be a function to block and report people in the game chat?

A) Thank you for your suggestion. We will review it internally.

Topic 3. Other Questions

Q) Will FPBI keep its stance similar to 'Simcity Buildit'? or change its way?

A) We will not be similar to any other game, we will have our own unique gameplay. In the future, everyone will see our own innovative gameplay system, not a copy of any other game.

Q) How is FPBI going to be in the end? Will it be Pay to Win or Free to Play? Will Free to Play users be competitive to users who spend money?

A) We should call it P2F, PAY 2 FAST. Whether it can be WIN depends on your thoughts and opinions. How many players support you in the world issues gameplay, not how rich you are. FAST can make your city develop faster, or have some better service auxiliary tools.

Q) Will there be significant changes in the mid-to-late stages of the game? For example, more improvements of Mountain Factory, Black Market, Laboratory, Tool Upgrades and so on.

A) Regarding the gameplay direction in the middle and late stages of the game, we will make unified settings again after testing the President Season. Because President Season will have some impact on the overall gameplay of the game, we will first optimize the mid-term experience, and then further optimize the later-stage experience. Thank you for your understanding.

Q) What's your plan and timeline for adding new stories and technology contents? When will those be added?

A) After the President Season update is stable, we will add more human stories and plot-related experiences in the future. In our previous tests, we tried to include some "dilemmas" and "human choices", but the response was mixed. Some players find it very profound, and some players feel uncomfortable and refuse to continue the game. Therefore, we are still designing the optimal level of telling the story.

Q) Is FPBI related to Frostpunk 2?

A) Our gameplay design and that of Frostpunk 2 are independent of each other, so there will not be much correlation with each other. Therefore, the packaging and price will be different. We will adapt more to the user habits of mobile games and the rhythm of game time. Specifically designed to bring a new and fun experience to mobile game players.

Q) Will we be able to upgrade those special buildings like the Super Factory? It’s hard to pay for those and still can’t upgrade them.

A) We have received your information and we have been considering it. Mainly because of the President season setting, we have not had time to update this part yet.

Q) Should the “President” title change based on which path(Order/Faith/Freedom) you choose for your laws?

A) Good question. We have had this idea before and bookmarked it for future updates.

Q) What’s the plan for incorporating engineers?

A) There are no specific details of the plan to merge engineers yet.

Q) Will there be technology speed ups, similar to that of the building and production speed ups?

A) There will be, and there will be more interesting acceleration methods. In addition to steam core acceleration, there are also some more novel ideas. For example, we want to make science research somewhat random. Your engineers may get +20% speed through research, and possibly research to get -5% speed. These are all in the process of conception and design.

Q) Any more ways to obtain Brass and Flares F2P?

A) Yes, at the President Season Update, we will try to drop more brass and flares.

Q) Will there be more realistic resources that will be used in the factories. I understand it's easy to just use coal and potatoes to make everything but it's not realistic.

A) This design is somewhat difficult. It must conform to the universe and timeline, be easy to understand, and have the potential for growth.

Topic 4. Other Questions Not Answered During the Meetup

Due to the limited time, we were unable to cover all the questions that were asked during the session.

Please read on for answers to some of those questions.

Q) Currently, if the worker working at a building dies, the building stops running. New workers can be dispatched manually, but it would be convenient to have an auto-dispatch feature.

A) All workers in the city are precious citizens. We're worried that their value may be overlooked if the workers who die are automatically replaced by other workers.

Q) Please add an auto-translate feature in chats.

A) We are aware of the need for auto-translations to facilitate communication between Captains from different regions. We will conduct a technical review for the possible addition.

Q) When will the Black Market be available, and what items will be offered there?

A) Our team is putting all of our energy into preparing for the upcoming President Season update. Content available later in the President Season, such as the Black Market, will be released in order following the President Season update.

Q) It would be convenient to have doctors in the Hospital to diagnose diseases in place of the user.

A) Thank you for your input. We will review the case internally.

Q) It would be nice to have more ways to acquire Steam Cores and Core Components.

A) We recently had an update that allows Captains to acquire Core Components based on their expedition progress. We will discuss internally adding more Steam Core and Core Component sources like so.

Q) It would be nice to have clearer, more detailed information that explains each content in the game.

A) We are continuously working on tutorials and guides for Captains who are new to the game. We promise to be more user-friendly moving forward.

Again, we thank all Captains who participated in the <Online Meetup with the Game Producer> Event.

We ask for your kind understanding for not being able to provide answers to all the questions that were submitted in advance and discussed during the meetup.

Thank you.