Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic has been out for a while, and though it is in early access, it's probably one of the best City Builders ever made. If you can get past some of the terrain issues and the peculiar art style and graphics, you will be rewarded with a game that perfectly captures a mix of old-school Sim City and Transport Tycoon simultaneously.
Multiple complex simulations work together to bring your cities to life in Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic – whether it’s the price of goods in the global market, the proper distribution of electricity and water, or the increased supply of heat during the winter months, everything can be manipulated with the right actions. Adjust your game settings based on your appetite for complexity in particular areas – civil engineers, urban planners, economists, and simulation enthusiasts will all be able to experience the mechanics they love.
- Run your nation with both rubles and dollars as you strike a balance between eastern and western markets, trading with nations from either side of the Iron Curtain to gain access to valuable currency, resources, and technology. Despite following a soviet-styled planned economy, you are a fledgling non-aligned nation – this sets you free to engage in trade with both the Western Bloc and the Soviet Bloc to your benefit. Loyalty to one side is always an option, but flooding one market with your goods might result in diminishing returns, and shunning the other side might see you cut off from useful technological advances.
- Familiarize yourself with the intricacies of realistic supply-chain management with over 30 commodities to acquire, manufacture, and transport. Raw materials, processed goods, and waste material all have specific places where they can be stored, with specific vehicles needed for their transportation, and specific structures needed for loading and unloading. Liquids and gasses are stored in tanks, and moved with the help of pipes and pumps, or loaded onto vehicles with tanks. Mined ores are stored in aggregate storage facilities, and moved with conveyor belts and flatbed trucks and train cars. Processed goods, meanwhile, are shipped around in covered trucks and train cars, and stored in warehouses. Organize forklifts for short distance hauling, build intricate conveyor belt networks to minimize your reliance on vehicles, or use trains to haul goods from one city to another – supply-chain management is an integral part of operating a nation, and you’ll use everything from cargo planes to freight trains to cargo helicopters to make sure everything is operating smoothly.
- Every road, bridge, residential building, and factory is built from the ground up with resource costs reflecting the size of the project. Pay market rates for raw materials to execute quick builds with the help of foreign labor, or establish construction offices and provide employment to your population as they head to construction sites to build everything using locally acquired resources. Buildings can require anything from prefab panels, to steel beams, gravel, concrete, and more – produce and supply them locally, or import them to simplify the process. Will you be a self-reliant republic, or will you exploit the international market for rapid expansion?