How to decrease Crime in Frostpunk 2

In Frostpunk 2, Crime is one of the five main city problems, along with Hunger, Disease, Cold, and Squalor. Crime increases Tension and reduces population growth. As with other problems, you can either take steps to prevent it or tackle it directly when it emerges.

Crime is a feature of pretty much every city-building game, and Frostpunk 2 is no exception. It’s almost inevitable that a segment of your population will feel they’re not getting their fair share and will resort to theft and thuggery to get what they think they’re entitled to. Fortunately, there are many different ways to prevent and tackle Crime so that it doesn’t get out of hand.

How to prevent Crime in Frostpunk 2

The two main causes of Crime in Frostpunk 2 are population size and a lack of Goods. In general, population growth is a good thing because it allows you to expand your city, making it more resilient. But it does increase demand for everything and brings various other problems, including Crime. Still, I wouldn’t advise deliberately reducing population size or population growth just to reduce Crime.

Which leaves providing a plentiful supply of Goods as the best way to prevent Crime. To produce Goods, first make sure you are bringing in a surplus of Materials, then build an Industrial District. The default setting for Industrial Districts is to produce Prefabs, so make sure you have enough Industrial Districts set to producing Goods to meet demand.

Once your city reaches a certain size, meeting Goods demand alone won’t be enough to prevent Crime completely. If you’re producing a surplus of Goods, but Crime is still present in your city, then it’s time to take direct measures.

How to tackle Crime in Frostpunk 2

The main resource for tackling Crime in Frostpunk 2 is Guard Squads. Your Central District produces a small number of Guard Squads by default and, so long as you satisfy demand for Goods, this should be enough to keep Crime under control until your city is pretty big. Eventually, though, you’re going to need more.

The simplest way to get more Guard Squads is to research and build Watchtowers in your Housing Districts. Not only do these produce Guard Squads, but they have a direct reductive effect on Crime.

Prisons are the next level of anti-Crime technology in Frostpunk 2. They don’t produce Guard Squads by default, although some types of prison allow you to increase Guard Squads via the Conscript Inmates district ability. Prisons also reduce Crime directly and provide capacity for Detainees, keeping criminals off the streets in the long term.

Crime also has its own sub-category of laws within Society laws in the Council Chamber, which includes three researchable categories of Radical Ideas related to Crime: Criminal Reparations, Crime Elimination, and Guard Immunity. These enable you to take various extreme measures against Crime and, while they’re all very effective in decreasing it, they also have strong negative effects and will upset at least some segments of your population.