Workers and Resources: Soviet Republic
What a great game this is! Honestly, this is pretty much my ideal game. Long ago I posted about my ideal game. At the same time I also posted the idea to some forums on Steam. I recall someone said that they had a good idea in response to my post. And a few years later this game was born! Perhaps I inspired them to create it! I hope so.
In any case, this is a great and deep game of city building and management.
My latest play through is seen above. Starting at the customs houses, I am building a nation that I pre planned from scratch, with each city having its special purpose for production. I enjoy playing in realistic mode, which means you can not quick build things. Your construction offices must build for you. It takes a long time to build up in this mode. Some play throughs I start in the year 1960 and am not self sufficient until well into the 1990's or 2000's. But that just really depends on how spread out the resources are. Each map is different. I do try to reach self sustainability by the year 1980 tho.
I have a specific way I like to play in that I enjoy organic cities which mix industry and residential together. I can usually create quite a high happiness level and health level regardless. Other people sometimes like a more uniform or grid like pattern of building, or specific residential neighborhoods and industrial sectors. Where they will have to transport workers to their workplace by bus. Me, I prefer to allow my residents to walk to work! Walkable cities are the best! Areound resources, I create a city specifically tuned for that resource. I may add another secondary industry in there as well. Nearby I will create what I call 'Depot' towns, which are central distributing warehouses for materials, and distributing companies which will supply the nearby cities with goods. This has to be it's own town however, in order to provide fire protection to the warehouses.
You have to plan for traffic. My main roads are often all four lane highways with restricted access and ramps for fast traffic flow. Otherwise traffic can for sure happen and snarl up a city, bringing it to a complete stand still! You also must provide garbage collection services, fresh treated water, and sewage lines with treatment plants. Not to mention the very detailed power grid. I will often suppliment my traditional power grid with wind power near critical establishments, like gas stations, farms, or water treatment / pumps.
Building a rail network in 'realistic mode' is super crazy too. But I manage to do it. I often create a few rail construction offices near the border towns and begin as early as I can, laying track. The rail network is often what holds up expansion and progress, so it is best to get that going ASAP. In the top picture, you can see that a lot of construction needs to get done. The red and white signs are roads and such that needs to be constructed. The yellow signs are rail lines that need to be completed. I started the rail network way too late in that play through.
All in all though, it is a super fun game indeed! Check it out on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/784150/Workers__Resources_Soviet_Republic/