fun and better than CS 2

- I want to start on Soviet Workers and Resources Realistic! I have plenty of experience on City: Skylines, how hard can it be?
- Oh, my sweet summer child...
- What?
- Nothing, let's go.
- Ok... so, better to start at the centre of the map, right?
- You do you.
- ...What's that grim on your face? You know what? I'll stay close to the borders, since I want to sell them stuff.
- Good call.
- Right, so... where is the residential zone tool?
- There is none. You need to plan buildings individually.
- Really? Ok, no problem. So... here.
- ...
- ...
- ...
- Nothing is happening. Why nothing is happening?
- How do you think they will be built?
- What do y... right. So, I need *someone* to build them... right?
- Correct.
- Ok. So... here, construction - ah, and it's free! That wasn't that difficult!
- ...
- Again with the grim? What the... Still nothing?
- How do you think your construct depot will build the building?
- Riiight. So, I need...
- Trucks.
- Trucks! I had it, Jeez... Ok, let's go to the construct depot menu and... why are there two currencies?
- Well, you are between the Soviets and the West after all...
- Yeah, I know but!... ok, let's see... I have more Rubles, so it makes sense to spend this currency. Soon I will be swimming in it being this close to the border anyway.
- Uhum...
- ... Ok. So, to build it I will need a... well, that's complex.
- Remember building sites in real life.
- Ok, so a Dumper, to carry around sand and stuff. Ah... flat one to bring metal, an excavator and... Well, that's all the space. It should be enough.
- Never enough... never, never... Oh sorry, I'm just realizing how that "Greatest Show Man" music fits here so well.
- Ok, the vehicles are here.
- ...
- ... nothing? C'mon people!
- What people?
- People! Peo... right. No people.
- No people.
- But I'm building this so people can come here! How can I need people if I don't have people??
- Is your country the only place where there are people?
- Of course not but!... ok, so I get I need to import labor.
- Attaboy.
- My construct depot is full, but luckily I have another one for free. And... here, a bus.
- Nice.
- Ok, so the bus is here, but nothing is happening... again.
- How do you plan on building the building?
- With people and trucks!
- And...?
- Materials... but I have none.
- Right, and where can you get them?
- With my comrades...
- Yep. You *are* learning! You need to define what you want to get from the...
- EVERYTHING! Ok?? Get everything from them!
- Good call.
- Shut it. Ok. Ah! The trucks are finally moving! They are going to the border and picking up stuff!
- Good job.
- Thanks! And... wait, what's happening?
- ...
- Why did they stop??
- Do they have everything they need?
- Of course they do! I... what is this?
- ...
- Now they need another type of truck?
- Yep.
- Jeez... so, they need a covered truck now? What more do they need, a puppy?
- That'd be nice...
- Shut it! Ok, covered truck here, and already going to the border... Now it's back and... done! My first building is done!
- Good job!
- Thanks! Now, all I need to do is... ah, invite some people over! Easy peasy!
- Uhum...
- Ok, they are here! Now I can... what? Why do they have so many demands so soon? Why are they starving?? Kindergarden, what??? WHY ARE THEY LEAVING????
- :)
*stands up. Walks away.

I believe Soviet Workers & Resources is missing a tag on its description: "Soul's Like". The game is brutal. You need to think about each and every element of your country's life from how you will maintain your economy afloat to if you have enough gravel to build. Every decision has consequences, some - most - of them can destabilize your economy into oblivion.

And then there's winter.

One time my one city had just surpassed 3.000 ppl. It was October, Health was 80% and Happiness 85%. All was well. Beginning of November and everything is stable. Then, Happiness drops to 75%, health begins declining to 70%. Something is very wrong. I check the population. Steady, both small heaters working. People reaching the heaters - What's going on??. "Temperature too low". What?? Both heaters are working and... coal. I run to the storage and it's empty, save from a sporadic drip from one truck. I run to the route to see a line of trucks near the border with the road full of snow. I had created a new service depot and the snowplow trucks were not going all the way to the border. Worse still, there were a couple of trucks with 100% wear and tear. Before winter the service was working fine since I didn't need as much heat and consequentially, not as much coal, but now? Now I'm in trouble. Health falls further, then happiness, then people start leaving, so now the heating plants don't have enough people. In less than two months my city is deserted. All was fine in November, all is destroyed by the beginning of January.

I had to load that game back a couple of times to prevent total annihilation that year. The only other construction sim that forced me to do that was Ixion - and not nearly as many times.

That being said, I love the game and it kinda ruined me for most of the other construction sims.

10/10

A masterpiece, I have never played a similar game before... this "city builder" requieres your maximum efford to get things working.
It has plenty of mechanics with makes it super interesting, I personally loved the building/demolishing mechanics, in wich you have to manage materials requirements as also manpower.

I have been playing computer games for 42 years. This game is now in my top 3 of all time. Do I need to say anymore?

Just moved in my first citizens.
They are fed, hydrated, entertained, healthy, employed, have no sewage backup, and didn't freeze to death.
(L)Mao at the reactionaries saying I was building a "ghost city" for 20 years.

Romania

not beginner frendly and guides are hour play thru i would love to play more of this game but no

This game made me eat my boss 11/10

Love this game. It's not a quick one to learn, let alone master, but play through the campaign which teaches you loads and use the Youtube play throughs to help you understand better.
The amount of interraction between the different elements is just fantastic and every time I play a little I learn a little more.
Looking forward to many more happy hours building my little socialist empire :-)

While it's a decent game, it fell short of my expectations when it released with most of the jank of early access period left in. I love the economy simulation in the game, the ability to start with zero, you just have some money, you designate some land as roads and some more land as vehicle "depots", and everything starts there, you build up your building industry, move to cities and its services, more industry for export and satisfying internal needs, it's great!

However, as soon as you start doing more complex things, it all falls apart. If you need to extend an already working double-tracked railway with all the signals and jazz, you have to micromanage your track layers, because they just get lost while trying to get back to depot to refill materials. Oh, and don't even think to pre-place your signals on this new track, because track layers will try to honor them. If you want a metro and can only remember one thing, remember this: tunnels cannot branch. On the most realistic setting, this means your metro has to include a patch of overground rail to be able to bring trains in. And every train in your metro will have to pass that segment from now on. Not great. If you want to combine renewable energy and keep fuel guzzlers in reserve, just in case, you will likely have to build your electric network in a very specific way, and not because electricity works that way, but because the game rules that govern electricity are arcane. With the game now considered released, any hopes of getting any of that fixed are now lost. What a shame.