Achievement Guide [Mostly Abandoned, Occasionally WIP]

Some tips on how to get all of the achievements, and what exactly they entail.

General Notes on Achievements

1. I highly recommend playing each scenario, especially New Home, blind before trying to earn achievements. This guide will spoil all of them, and at risk of sounding like a pretentious ♥♥♥♥, you might miss the point of the game if you're too well prepared.

2. All achievements, unless the requirements specifically state otherwise, can be earned on easy difficulty.

3. In addition to playing on easy, many achievements can also be earned on endless serenity mode. You can't earn any achievements that require you to complete a scenario in a certain way, like Vegetarian (complete a scenario with only hothouses) but you can earn achievements with requirements that can be completed at any point, like Shai Hulud Summoner (have 4 thumpers working at the same time.)

4. For the achievements that require you to play an actual scenario, I highly recommend the Arks scenario for most of them because I find it to be the easiest and shortest. Of course, your mileage will vary, so go with whichever scenario you prefer. Make sure to discover New Manchester and accept the quest to rescue its people, but never actually complete it. This will allow you to play through to the end of the scenario. Otherwise the scenario automatically ends when you complete all of the objectives, even if you have more time left. Also, note that the game will shower you with steam cores, but for some reason you need to run out first or it won't provide you with the scouting locations you need.

5. Some achievements are notoriously vague, and possibly bugged. The Golden Path achievement is most infamous for this. If anything you find conflicts with the information in this guide, please leave a comment to let everyone know.

6. This guide doesn't include the Last Autumn or On the Edge, but that might be in the works at some point.

7. You can also check the wiki for some tips: https://frostpunk.gamepedia.com/Achievements

The Golden Path

I'm giving this achievement Its own section because it's quite infamous.
The requirements are to "Finish the New Home scenario without passing severe laws and using harsh abilities." There is an existing guide by ExplodeySquirrel that you should check out here:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1525540176
But I've seen all kinds of disagreement on various sites about what exactly the requirements are. There are lots of people who say they didn't get the achievement despite following the requirements, and even some people who did get the achievement even though they shouldn't have. My intention with this section of the guide is to update it as people provide more information.

You DEFINITELY need:
-No laws that "cross the line" (The final three laws in either purpose tree.)
-To be playing on the "New Home" scenario.

You PROBABLY need:
-No preventable deaths (sickness, hunger, etc.)
-To rescue everybody in the Frostland and accept all refugees
-To refrain from passing certain laws, even though they don't cross the line
-No emergency or extended shifts
-To make certain decisions
-To provide for your people anytime they make a demand, and maybe to prevent them from needing to make demands in the first place

It is PROBABLY okay if:
-Scouts die during events

It is DEFINITELY okay if:
-You decide not to slow down the dangerous automatons
-You pass any of the laws listed below (Although you might need to make certain decisions as a result of passing them)

List of laws that are confirmed safe:
Adaptation
-Soup
-Child Shelters
-Engineering Apprentices
-Sustain Life
-Extra Rations for the Ill
-Care House
-Cemetery
-Ceremonial Funerals
-Prosthetics
-Fighting Arena
-Public house
-Moonshine
Order
-Neighborhood Watch
-Guard Stations
-Patrol
-Morning Gathering
-Foreman
Faith (Thanks @matson)
-House of Prayer
-Shrines
-Field Kitchens
-Evening Prayers
-Temple

General Advice for All Scenarios

Important Stuff
1. Don't bother with generator range upgrades. You can cover the same ground with steam hubs, at a tiny fraction of the cost in coal.

2. Try to do the vast majority of your building at night. Your workers will construct buildings during their freetime instead of spending time that could be used working.

3. Child labor is very good in the early game when you're short on workers, but apprentices are much more powerful in the long term.

4. Avoid reassigning workers during their shift. From what I can tell, during the brief moment that they're unassigned, they'll start going home, and won't go to their new workplace until they get home first.

5. The temperature of hunter's huts only matters during the brief period that your workers are preparing for the hunt. Heating them is therefore ideal, but generally not needed.

6. RESEARCH IS HOW YOU WIN THE GAME. Employ as many engineers in workshops as humanly possible. Anything that reduces your number of sick people allows you to assign more engineers to research, so good healthcare indirectly increases your research speech.

New Home and Ark

New Home

Some General Tips for the Scenario:
-During Act II, your hope level will determine how many people join the Londoners every day, while your discontent level will determine how often the Londoners try to sabotage you.

Leader
Finish the New Home scenario

The Saviour
Finish the New Home scenario with no deaths from cold, hunger, sickness or overwork
Save every day and reverse your mistakes, if you make any. You cannot use emergency shifts unless you're willing to be cheesy and move people around mid-shift. Note that it's okay for scouts to die, or for people to die in events.

Iron Man (New Home)
Finish the New Home scenario on Hard difficulty

The Iron Saviour
Finish the New Home scenario with no deaths from cold, hunger, sickness or overwork on Hard difficulty

New Home Survivor
Finish the New Home scenario in Survivor Mode.
Notably this one doesn't have a "Saviour" counterpart, because it would be absurdly difficult. Keep in mind that finishing a scenario doesn't mean your people have to be happy or healthy, barely scraping by works just fine.

Lost Souls
In the New Home scenario, save every person in Frostland
I got this one through a bug, and I'm guessing a lot of people did considering a surprisingly high percentage of players have it. If you want to earn this legitimately, just scout the Frostland and rescue everybody you can find. Keep in mind that new locations are added throughout the scenario. Does "save" simply mean escorting them to New London, or do they actually need to survive to the end? I have no idea, but if you're trying to keep everyone alive, you should end with 691 population.

United
In the New Home scenario, don't let anyone leave for London
I recommend Faith, because it has much better options for increasing hope and reducing discontent. You can also postpone passing some popular laws until after the fall of Winterhome for some easy hope.

Compassionate
In the New Home scenario, accept all groups of refugees
You should probably be doing this anyway, there's really no reason not to go for the max population possible.

Golden Path
Finish the New Home scenario without passing severe laws and using harsh abilities
See above

Each of these Londoner-based achievements may require you to intentionally raise discontent in order to make sure the events occur.
Banksy
Deal with the Londoners' graffiti peacefully
Requires guards or faith keepers. Keep removing the graffiti until your guards get attacked, and don't punish the attackers.

Negotiator
Deal with the Londoners' thievery peacefully
Thanks @CAPF:
"A comment on "Negotiator" (Order, requires guard posts):

- Investigate theft -> Throw thief in prison
- Investigate second theft -> Gets guard killed -> Don't punish the thief (who isnt the murderer according to the text pop-up)
- Accept the gift from not-murderer -> thefts will stop, achievement should pop

You'll get the achievement only if you accept the gift, which is a follow-up event to the whole "he isn't the murderer"-thing.
I only got this last event to appear in time by deliberately holding my Discontent at 50+% (on Hard difficulty since that's easier to manage than normal)"

My Turn to Speak
Let the Londoners speak and have the last word
Anytime there's a Londoner protest, let them speak. After you do this enough times, you can say it's your turn to speak, which gives you a massive hope boost that will likely more than make up for letting the Londoners speak.

Arks Specific

The Arks is probably the easiest scenario because there aren't any events that shake things up, even the discovery of New Manchester just expands your checklist of resources to collect. It's also the shortest. You don't actually need to save New Manchester or gather enough resources to survive the storm to earn achievements, simply waiting out the clock also counts as completing the scenario. If you accept the New Manchester quest and never send them relief, this allows you to wait out the clock even if you have enough resources to survive the storm, otherwise the scenario will end automatically.
Some tips:
-You can deconstruct the roads around the arks for some easy wood.
-The game will shower you with steam cores, but it doesn't give you the scouting locations you need until you first run out of cores.
-You don't immediately lose an ark if it drops below chilly, instead it creates a circular countdown timer above the ark. If an ark is below chilly, this timer will always drop at the exact same rate, regardless of temperature, so there's no point in heating it if you can't make it at least chilly.
-This timer will also reverse if the ark is at least chilly. It won't reverse faster if the ark is hotter, so there's no point in heating it to warmer than chilly.
-On most difficulty modes, you can ignore the arks for the first couple of cold snaps because it will warm up again shortly afterward, and the timer is very slow and gives you a couple of days before the ark actually dies.

Technocrat
Finish The Arks scenario

Iron Man (The Arks)
Finish The Arks scenario on Hard difficulty

The Arks Survivor
Finish The Arks scenario in Survivor Mode.

Conservationist
Save all the Seedling Arks in The Arks scenario
You don't actually need to prepare for the storm, simply keeping the arks alive to the end is enough.

Everybody Lived for Once
Finish The Arks scenario, saving both cities

Sprinter
Find New Manchester before Day 15
The old man will stumble into your city either on Day 13 or when you complete the "Autonomous City" objective, whichever comes first. Complete the objective as soon as possible, making sure you have a scout on hand, and sent it straight to New Manchester. Scout upgrades can help, but even without them you should have time to spare.

Refugees and Winterhome

Refugees

Refugee
Finish the Refugees scenario

Iron Man (Refugees)
Finish the Refugees scenario on Hard difficulty.

The Refugees Survivor
Finish the Refugees scenario in Survivor Mode.

The Union
Finish the Refugees scenario, accepting all the lords and resolving the class conflict
I recommend Faith, because it has much better options for reducing discontent and increasing hope.

Search and Rescue
Rescue all of your people coming to the City
Just scout the surrounding area and find everyone you can. The game will tell you where to scout after some time has passed.

Unknown Ship
Find the unknown ship in Frostland
This is referring to the ship that the lords used. It's all the way to the right on the scouting map.

Fall of Winterhome

This is probably the hardest scenario. Half of the city has been burnt down, and the other half is a monstrosity of terrible city planning.
Some Tips:
-You need so much steel to fully upgrade the dreadnought that you absolutely need the outpost as soon as possible - fully upgraded steel mills alone won't cut it. Send your scouts to the weather station and have them cross the bridge from there. Do not remove the automaton from the bridge.
-You also pretty much need all of the engineers you can find. The engineers that are "close to a breakthrough" are only there for an easter egg that you're not even guaranteed to get, so there aren't any consequences for taking them.
-The hardest part of making it past day 8 is getting hope above 50%. Choose the faith tree, because it offers much better tools for restoring hope, and go for temples. House of Healing is also helpful so you can keep more engineers on the generator.
-There are a lot of useless and/or redundant roads that you can deconstruct for some easy wood.
-You will probably need to move your snowpit anyway to get it out of the heat, use the space this gives you to build a gathering post.
-Construct a storage depot for coal as soon as you can. You start out with an outpost team delivering coal, but they won't actually drop it off if there isn't enough storage.
-There are a lot of useless steam hubs you can deconstruct to save on coal. You can also set some of them to only operate during work hours.
-Even though I generally recommend against generator range upgrades, they can be helpful in the early game while gathering if you don't want to waste steel on steam hubs heating the ruins.
-You need to keep worrying about hope and discontent after day 8, because there are A LOT of events that can screw you over once you start evacuating if people aren't happy with you.
-DO NOT accept any requests to be given priority on the dreadnought, except for the first request to give children priority. If you do, people will call you out for your favoritism and start heading out to the dreadnought themselves.
-DO NOT lie about another city, or your engineers will know you're lying and blackmail you into preferential treatment.

Winterhome
Finish the Fall of Winterhome scenario.

Iron Man (Fall of Winterhome)
Finish the Fall of Winterhome scenario on Hard difficulty.

The Winterhome Survivor
Finish the Fall of Winterhome scenario in Survivor Mode.

All children on board
Finish the Fall of Winterhome Scenario, sending all children to Dreadnought.

Full Dreadnought
Finish the Fall of Winterhome scenario, fully upgrading the Dreadnought and filling it with people.

The Last Autumn and On The Edge [Very Unfinished]

The Last Autumn

Some General Tips for the Scenario:
-Shipments give you an equal quantity of steel, wood, or coal. Charcoal kilns give you several coal per wood. Therefore, getting shipments of wood and then turning that wood into coal is both SIGNIFICANTLY more efficient, and more flexible, than getting coal shipments. The only reason to ever bother with coal shipments is if you either don't have enough labor to staff charcoal kilns, or you need coal ASAP.
-Don't get cocky about food. It's extremely easy to come by in the early game, so stockpile it while you can.
-The game gives you several advance warnings before the company shipments stop. Take them seriously.
-When the ocean freezes over, you can begin gathering steel from a sunken ship.

Builder
Build the Generator in The Last Autumn scenario.

On The Edge

Honestly I still haven't figured out this scenario. Obviously you want to focus as much energy as possible on gathering steel,
Some General Tips for the Scenario:

Achievement Name
Achievement Description

Endless Mode Specific

Endless mode has several cosmetic buildings under the "public" tab. Just build enough of them for some easy achievements. Note that they have to be heated and connected to roads to count.
Let There Be Light
Build 10 Street Lamps

Walk on the Grass
Have a Garden of each size

Hyde Park Corner
Have a Town Square of each size

In endless mode, your scouts will sometimes come across relics. Once you find your first, you can build the archives. You need 15 relics to fill them. This is luck based, so just do a lot of scouting.
A Tomb for Memories
Build the Archives

Master Archivist
Fill the Archives

There was no Waldo
Explore all Frostland sites between the storms
Simply requires you to discover every location in the Frostland during your cumulative time playing endless mode. Doesn't have to be done on one map.

Full House
Have over 700 population
Supposedly this can only be earned on serenity mode due to population limits. People will stop appearing in Frostland after you hit a certain population, but this population level is below 700. If people stop appearing, you need to kill off enough people that more will spawn, and hopefully enough will spawn that they can push you over 700. Otherwise, just get lucky enough that you earn the achievement naturally.

Backup Plan
Stockpile 35 000 Coal and 10 000 Food Rations
According to the wiki, you can only earn this on endless. I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to earn it in a scenario, but don't. (Confirmed by @matson to not work on New Home)

Hi Marek!
Lose in Serenity mode
The quickest way to do this is by killing everyone in a generator explosion. Send a couple kids in first to make sure you go straight to Hell.

By the Sweat of their Brow
Survive 75 days without having automatons

Marathon Medium
Survive 50 days of Endurance mode on Medium or higher difficulty

Ultramarathon Medium
Survive 100 days of Endurance mode on Medium or higher difficulty

Marathon Hard
Survive 50 days of Endurance mode on Hard or higher difficulty

Ultramarathon Hard
Survive 100 days of Endurance mode on Hard or higher difficulty

Marathon Extreme
Survive 50 days of Endurance mode on Extreme difficulty

Ultramarathon Extreme
Survive 100 days of Endurance mode on Extreme difficulty

Theoretically Achievable in Endless Serenity

In endless serenity mode, the only limitation to your achievement hunting prowess is how many storage depots you can build before your computer crashes.

Build to Serve
Build an automaton.
I'm pretty sure acquiring an automaton through scouting also counts for this.

City of Steam
Have 15 automatons working at the same time
Quicker to do in the Arks scenario, since you'll be building lots of automatons anyway. Note that they have to be actively working, not just constructed. A warning from @Skippan: Make sure not to send automatons as relief. They only count towards the achievement if they're actively working in the city. A general note on buildings and automatons: You always get back 100% of the steam cores you put in when deconstructing, so you can always repurpose them after getting the achievement.

Rise of the Machines
Have 20 working automatons
This is the same as the last one.

Advanced Designs
Have an Advanced Coal Mine, Advanced Wall Drill and Advanced Steelworks at the same time

Shai Hulud Summoner
Have 4 Coal Thumpers working at the same time
Note that they have to be working, it isn't enough to just build them.

Politician
Stay in power after your people threatened to overthrow you
Requires you to get hope to 0 or discontent to 100, and then turn things around within two days. Protip: You can only have one ultimatum at a time, so you can intentionally cause one in order to avoid having to deal with the other.

The Scientific Method, vol. 1
Finish the Automaton Project
Sometime after building an automaton, an engineer will ask you for time off to work on improving your automaton designs. Give the engineer everything he needs for each step of the project.

The Scientific Method, vol. 2
Improve Radical Treatment
Sometime after passing the radical treatment law, an engineer will ask you for time off to work on reducing the frequency of amputations. Allow him to do so.

Bread and Games
In a city of at least 200 people, ensure everyone has access to the Public House and a Fighting Arena
You should be aiming for this anyway. Note that the public house has an infinite radius and can be placed anywhere.

Promised Land
Have maximum hope and no discontent

Power Overwhelming
Have a fully upgraded Generator (power, range and overdrive)

Please, Sir, I Want Some More
Give child workers extra rations
You have to pass the child labor law. I'm not sure whether safe jobs are enough or if you have to go all the way. After some time, you'll get an event that allows you to unlock the achievement.

Oxbridge
Have 4 Workshops doing research at the same time

Once More unto the Breach
Provide an amputee with a prosthesis

City of Man
Have more than 650 people in the city at the same time

Notting Hollow
Have over 600 population living in Houses only

Hyperefficient
Have a workplace with efficiency greater than [200%]
This is a non-exhaustive list of things you can do to raise workplace efficiency:
Medic Apprentices: +20% efficiency in one medical building per every five children in a shelter
Engineer Apprentices: +20% efficiency in one workshop per every five children in a shelter
Foreman: +40% efficiency
Agitator/Shrine: +20% efficiency (Workplace must be fully staffed to get full 20%)
Give Amputees Wood: +40% efficiency in cookhouses (Only available via random event)

Urban Planner
Have 300 people living in the heat zone of a single Steam Hub
Requires the range upgrade on steam hubs.

Autonomous City
In a city of at least 200, have automatons working in more than half of workplaces.
Thank you to @Alan for confirming that this is, in fact, achievable on Endless Serenity - even though it is finnicky and might not award even when it's supposed to.

Not Achievable in Endless Serenity

I recommend reading my tips on the Arks scenario, since I suggest you use it for most of these achievements.

Bad at Politics
Keep every promise made during a playthrough
Play on Arks easy. Only proc one needs crisis, and make sure to fulfill it. Pairs well with Better than London, because they'll demand housing while you're busy researching bunkhouses.
I'm not sure whether denying a request outright counts as breaking a promise.

Better than London
Finish a playthrough without building a single Tent
Play on Arks easy and build bunkhouses.

Worse than London
Finish a playthrough without building a single House or Bunkhouse
Could also be pretty easy on Arks, but you might as well get this one on Refugees, since you probably won't have much of a choice anyway.

Central Heating
Finish a scenario without building a single Steam Hub
Play on Arks easy and use heaters in the arks.

Charcoaled
Finish a playthrough with Charcoal Kilns as the only buildings that provide Coal
This actually isn't a very natural fit for Arks because there's relatively little wood, but I'm going to recommend it anyway because its still pretty easy. Coal piles and gathering posts assigned to coal piles do not count against the achievement.

Satellites
Finish a scenario never expanding the range of the Generator
I actually recommend you do this on every single scenario, even after getting the achievement. It only takes four or five steam hubs to cover the generator's range, and its a lot cheaper than quadrupling your generator's coal intake. Focus on power upgrades instead.

Tis but a Scratch
Finish a playthrough without an Infirmary or House of Healing
Play on Arks easy and pass radical treatment. Passing the prosthesis law prevents you from getting the event where an amputee commits suicide, even if you never actually build the prosthetic.

Unskilled Labor
Finish any scenario without constructing Steam or Advanced buildings
Any building that doesn't have multiple tiers is fine. Researching upgrades for buildings is fine, as long as the upgrade doesn't give you another tier of the building. e.g. You can research the range upgrade for the sawmill but you can't construct a steam sawmill. Houses, medical facilities, and large resource depots are all fine. Play on Arks easy, and maybe pair with Charcoaled, since charcoal kilns don't have tiers anyway.

Carnivore
Having a choice, finish a scenario using only Hunters
This achievement does not take into account any food acquired by scouting, all that matters is that you build hunters huts and don't build hothouses. Since engineers can't work in hunter's huts, you can't earn this on Arks. Hunters huts are a good source of food for scenarios where you have a lot of excess labor, so not Winterhome.

Vegetarian
Having a choice, finish a scenario using only Hothouses
This achievement does not take into account any food acquired by scouting, and it actually doesn't even care if you're a cannibal. All that matters is that you build hothouses and don't build hunters huts. Since you need to have a choice, you can't earn this on Arks.

Expats
Set up 2 Outposts in one playthrough
Not achievable in Arks or Fall of Winterhome. I was able to get this in The Last Autumn because forager's camps counted as outposts - not sure if intentional.

[Williwizard]

Hey, still coming back to this every now and then, I enjoy the game, and this is a boon.

[Panta Rhei]

there is a Hope check in Negotiator, if your hope is too low they will beat the thiefs, if it's high you get the achievment. I don't know how much exactly but I think the threshold is about 50%

[DerOkon]

I managed to get the "Golden Path achievement" on first try. Sticked to your suggested policies and actions. Even had two crisis events trigger at the beginning ( heat and housing) chose to cover all of them. Thx

[matson]

Can confirm that Backup Plan will only proc on Endless Mode (unless there was a bug in A New Home).
Also, more laws confirmed safe for Golden Path:
-House of Prayer
-Shrines
-Field Kitchens
-Evening Prayers
-Temple

[Skippan]

For City of Steam, it seems automatons sent with relief count as in the city but not for the achievement

[eXe]

A comment on "Backup Plan":
I got it in endless mode + serenity + default difficulty settings.

[CAPF]

A comment on "Negotiator" (Order, requires guard posts):

- Investigate theft -> Throw thief in prison
- Investigate second theft -> Gets guard killed -> Don't punish the thief (who isnt the murderer according to the text pop-up)
- Accept the gift from not-murderer -> thefts will stop, achievement should pop

You'll get the achievement only if you accept the gift, which is a follow-up event to the whole "he isn't the murderer"-thing.
I only got this last event to appear in time by deliberately holding my Discontent at 50+% (on Hard difficulty since that's easier to manage than normal)

[Emerson]

@Menshai
You have to build houses in order to get the best ending. To my knowledge, achievements that require you to "complete a playthrough" unlock regardless of which ending you get.

[Menshai]

"Worse than London
Finish a playthrough without building a single House or Bunkhouse
Could also be pretty easy on Arks,"
As part of the Arks scenario you have to build houses for your workforce, so you can't get this achievement there. Refugees is a good alternative though - it never gets cold enough (at least on normal) that you need the extra insulation from bunkhouses/houses

[Alan]

I can confirm that I was able to get Autonomous City in Endless Endurance. It took significantly more than half of automatons (something like 13/18) for me before it triggered - not sure how the game is calculating it.