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Cold and Frostbite

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Cold is the main survival pressure in Last Frontier. It’s not a rare quirk of the weather but the constant backdrop of every expedition: as long as you stand out in the open frost, the threat builds up slowly, quietly, and — worst of all — with consequences that linger far beyond the coldest moment.

Why cold matters so much

The region is an endless arctic nuclear winter. After World War III, dust and ash blotted out the sun for two years, and by 2023 an arctic climate had settled across the entire north of the Far East and Alaska, with year-round sub-zero temperatures easily reaching −80 °C. Snow and ice have smoothed the surface, and winds here pick up to 60 m/s, turning the rare precipitation into a deadly blizzard; because of the low pressure, the weather shifts abruptly. In thirty years it has warmed by only a couple of degrees. Warmth here is not decoration — it’s a decision.

Felt temperature

Your character has a felt temperature that is recalculated every second (for player-controlled characters only). It depends not on the pretty weather on screen, but on your surroundings. Two spots on the same map can feel completely different.

  • Open terrain with no roof: −20 — the most dangerous option for long waits and slow routes.
  • Under a roof (outdoors) or in an unheated building: 4 — shelter eases the cold pressure, but on its own it still isn’t the same as real warmth.
  • Heated building: 20 — this is genuine comfort that pulls the character out of the danger zone.

An important detail: the active weather preset (snow, frost, fog, blizzard on screen) is a visual layer. By itself it does not change felt temperature or cold buildup: the value is computed only from the roof/heating context, heat sources, and gear.

Heat sources and warm gear

Walls aren’t the only way to warm up. Heat-source items (campfire, heating, machinery) are searched for within a radius of up to 20 tiles, but they only warm you when you’re inside their own area of effect: then your felt temperature rises to the source’s temperature. Having a campfire “somewhere on the map” isn’t enough — you need to stand close enough.

Warm armor and clothing work separately. If your felt temperature is below 18 and you’re wearing gear with cold protection, it adds its own warmth reserve (capped at 18). This is a buffer for when it’s colder than comfortable around you — but the heat-source map deliberately ignores items that only provide “worn” warmth, so armor warms you personally, not the patch of ground around you.

How cold builds up

Cold is a slow opponent. It accumulates second by second:

  • If felt temperature is below 5, the cold counter grows faster the colder it gets: each degree below five adds twice as much.
  • If temperature is above 15, the counter drops quickly — warmth genuinely rolls back accumulated cold.
  • The counter is capped at the top, so there’s a “ceiling” to freezing beyond which this scale won’t go.

Nearby players see a rough status icon above you (FRZ#) — an allied medic will know you’re freezing without seeing your exact numbers.

Hypothermia

When cold builds up enough, Hypothermia kicks in. It appears not from a single step into the frost but after buildup, and it lifts once you warm up sufficiently (the removal threshold is below the onset threshold, so the state doesn’t “flicker”). The effects hit your core abilities:

  • Strength −3, Endurance −5, Perception −3
  • Health regeneration −50% — a freezing character not only fights worse but also heals noticeably more slowly between fights.

Frostbite

If you keep ignoring the cold, hypothermia escalates into Frostbite — a more severe consequence. Its “degree” rises as you freeze and, unlike ordinary cold, does not roll back on its own: it only climbs until you remove the state with treatment. The effects are stronger, especially on dexterity and perception:

  • Strength −3, Endurance −3, Perception −5, Dexterity −8
  • Periodic self-damage (1 every 5 seconds) for as long as the state holds.

How to shed cold and treat frostbite

Hypothermia is cured by warmth: get under a roof, into a heated building, or next to a heat source, and the cold counter will drop. Warm gear adds a margin of safety on the route.

Frostbite isn’t lifted by warmth — it needs medicine. Right now, relief from frostbite comes from:

  • Moonshine — removes frostbite and grants cold protection.
  • Alcohol — removes frostbite.

In addition, the medical ability “Adaptation to the cold” adds frostbite relief and cold protection to the successful treatment of a freezing target via field aid, recovery, and assistance in harsh conditions. On a successful application of such treatment, a WARM mark flashes above the target.

Combat cold — a separate threat

Besides “weather” freezing, there is combat cold — a separate family of effects applied by enemies or weapons. It slows running and deals damage per second, building up in strength. Cold protection (granted, for example, by moonshine) blocks such an effect from being applied — one more reason to carry an anti-cold remedy before a dangerous clash.

What this means in practice

Hypothermia and frostbite matter precisely because of their consequences. Even if your character survives, the mistake carries on: worse combat, a harder road, greater dependence on medicine and safe spots. Don’t wait for a critical state — look for warmth and shelter ahead of time. A warm place (shelter, campfire, heating, machinery) gives the group a pause: to recover, to wait out a dangerous moment, and to decide whether the route is worth continuing.