Scouting

Scouting is one of the Game Mechanics in Frostpunk. See Scouts for the Class type.

Description
Upon creating a Beacon, the player can send scouts out into Frostland to various locations. Scouting is an integral part of the game, and is one of the most efficient ways to gather Wood, Coal, Steel, Raw Food, and Food Rations. Scouting is also the primary and often the only way to gather Steam Cores. Scouts combine with Outpost Depots for a much greater effect.

Scouting also serves as a way to advance the storyline in most of the Scenarios. A scouting party costs 40 Wood and 5 Workers.

In The Last Autumn (Expansion) Scouting and Outposts are replaced by Foraging. Foragers can explore the Frostland just as Scouts would or from certain sites collect food for a specific number of days similar to Outposts. A Foraging Team costs 20 Wood, 10 Steel, and 15 Workers.

In On The Edge a new unit called Construction Team is featured. It costs 50 Wood, 50 Steel, and 10 Workers

Upgrades
The following technologies improve scouting:


 * Additional Scouts (Technology)
 * Automaton Scouts (Technology) (only available in The Arks)
 * Boosted Scout Sleds (Technology)
 * Lighter Scout Sleds (Technology)
 * More Scouts (Technology)
 * Foragers Quarters (Technology) (only available in The Last Autumn)
 * More Foragers (Technology) (only available in The Last Autumn)
 * Additional Foragers (Technology) (only available in The Last Autumn)

Tips
Utilizing the following strategies can increase the effectiveness of your scouts:


 * Scouts travel faster to known locations. If a scout is being sent after returning to your city, it's often faster to send them to the nearest known location first.
 * Outpost Teams travel faster than scouts. If you have an outpost team available, you can send them along with your scouts to make locations known, even if the Outpost Team itself cannot search the location. Once the Outpost Team finds the location, resend the scout to the location to cut down the amount of time it takes for your scouts to travel.
 * Some locations trigger dilemmas that can cause you to lose a scouting party, such as Tesla City. The loss of your party is random, so you can save your game before searching the location and reload your game if your party ends up dying on the first attempt. This is known as "save scumming" and is sometimes considered cheating.

Speed Comparison
The time needed per group to travel the same distance is shown in the Table below. Reference is the distance traveled by unupgraded scouts in one hour.

Scouts and Automaton Scouts only need half the time when traveling to known locations. Outpost Teams do not benefit from this.

Sending Scouts from the City to retrive people on their way to the City will cut their travel time to roughly half. (~65%/54%/~41%)

Free Technology

 * Boosted Scouts - Large Crater
 * Generator Safety Bypass - Jagged Rocks
 * Advanced Coal Mine - Nansen's Storm Watch
 * House Insulation - Fortified Hut

Scout locations 'The Arks'
Information gathered from personal playthrough. Values may vary very slightly for each player.

Scout locations 'The Refugees'
Information gathered from personal playthrough. Values may vary very slightly for each player.