3Division put Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic into Early Access on 15 March 2019 and released version 1.0 with Hooded Horse on 20 June 2024. You run a planned economy on two currencies, rubles for Eastern trade and dollars for Western trade, across more than 30 commodities. Every citizen is simulated individually from school age onward, and loyalty and happiness decide whether they turn up for work at all.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Dual currency trade in rubles and dollars
You buy and sell through customs houses on either border, rubles with the Eastern bloc and dollars with the West, and prices differ between them. Loans are available in both currencies, which makes early borrowing a real strategy rather than a last resort.
Realistic mode construction
With realistic mode enabled nothing appears instantly. A construction office has to schedule vehicles to haul gravel, concrete, bricks, steel and prefab panels to the site and bus workers there, and the building rises only as materials and labour arrive.
Individual citizen simulation
Citizens are tracked one by one through school, work and retirement, with their own loyalty, education level and access to goods. Unhappy or disloyal citizens work less and can leave, so housing, shops, healthcare and entertainment are production inputs rather than decoration.
Production chains from ore to finished goods
Over 30 commodities feed into each other, so a gravel plant needs stone from a quarry, a steel mill needs coal and iron, and electronics need refined inputs of their own. You choose per commodity whether to import it or build the whole chain yourself.
Cargo and passenger transport networks
Buses, trains, trams, trolleybuses, ships, aircraft and cable cars all move people or freight, with custom airports and manual train signalling. Nothing walks itself to work over long distances, so a factory without a bus line is a factory without staff.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dollar export economy | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Ruble self sufficiency | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Heavy industry chain | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Tourism income republic | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Loan financed rapid start | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Construction office | The heart of every build in realistic mode. | Every construction project once realistic mode is enabled |
| Gravel processing plant | Turns stone hauled from a quarry into gravel, which is the single most consumed construction material in the game. | Any republic planning to build more than a handful of structures |
| Steel mill | Sits in the metallurgy menu, offers 500 worker positions and produces steel from coal and iron. | Heavy industry economies and self supplied prefab panel construction |
| Distribution office | Moves goods from your factories and warehouses into the shops citizens actually visit. | Keeping shops stocked once your city outgrows manual deliveries |
| Customs house | The border crossing where every import and export happens, in rubles on one side and dollars on the other. | Selling surplus production and importing anything you have not built a chain for |
Construction office: The heart of every build in realistic mode. It schedules construction vehicles to collect materials, hauls them to the site and transports workers there, so nothing on the map goes up without one in range.
Gravel processing plant: Turns stone hauled from a quarry into gravel, which is the single most consumed construction material in the game. Producing it locally removes a constant drain on your foreign currency.
Steel mill: Sits in the metallurgy menu, offers 500 worker positions and produces steel from coal and iron. It is one of the largest employers you can build, which means the housing and transport around it matter as much as the ore supply.
Distribution office: Moves goods from your factories and warehouses into the shops citizens actually visit. Without one, food and clothing pile up in storage while your population goes without and loyalty falls.
Customs house: The border crossing where every import and export happens, in rubles on one side and dollars on the other. Road, rail, ship and air variants exist, and throughput here caps how fast your whole economy can trade.
Full breakdowns in our Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| Randomly generated map | Any, terrain difficulty is up to you | Unlimited fresh starts, terrain tuned to your preferred slope and height |
| Estonia | Beginner friendly | Existing harbours, ready rail connection to customs, coastal trade access |
| Poland | Beginner to intermediate | Flat building room, prebuilt rail, oil in the northwest |
| Austria | Experienced planners | Iron, coal and uranium deposits, cable car and tunnel opportunities |
| Yugoslavia | Intermediate to advanced | Adriatic harbours, northern plains for housing, mountain resources |
Randomly generated map: Random map generation arrived with the Biomes DLC in September 2024. The generator produces terrain from your chosen parameters, which is the fastest way to get a fresh republic without hunting through the workshop.
Estonia: A World Maps DLC entry that starts you with pre existing cargo and passenger harbours. Tallinn already has a passenger train station with tracks connecting to Soviet customs houses, so your trade links exist from minute one.
Poland: Vast flatlands, connected rivers and an existing railway network make this the easiest World Maps entry to build across. Resources sit mostly south and west with oil deposits in the northwest.
Austria: Rugged mountain terrain with rich pockets of iron, coal and uranium, and steep cliffs that punish careless road planning. Resource wealth is high, but so is the cost of reaching it.
Yugoslavia: Mostly mountainous with limited plains, softened by coastal harbours near Zadar and Split and a northern plain that gives you somewhere to actually build. It rewards players who plan sea freight early.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Place the construction office before you place a single building in realistic mode. It schedules the trucks and buses that deliver materials and workers, so a site outside its range simply sits untouched no matter how much gravel you own.
- Import your construction materials for the first several hours rather than building the chain. A quarry, gravel plant and concrete plant tie up money and labour long before they pay back, and a customs house delivers immediately.
- Check the price difference between the ruble and dollar customs houses before every large sale. The two blocs pay differently for the same commodity, and routing exports to the better paying side is free money.
- Staff large buildings completely before adding another. A steel mill has 500 worker positions, and running it at a third capacity still costs full upkeep while producing a fraction of the steel.
- Solve heating before your first winter, not during it. Heat is a supply chain like any other, and a housing block that goes cold empties out quickly, taking the workforce of whatever factory it fed with it.
- Build the education chain early even though it pays back slowly. Technical schools and universities produce the educated workers that refineries, chemical plants and hospitals require, and importing that labour is not an option.
- Use the difficulty presets deliberately. Very easy, easy, medium, hard, realistic and custom are all available, and starting on realistic with no experience of construction offices is the fastest way to abandon a save.
- Set your starting loan against a concrete plan. You choose starting rubles and dollars separately, and borrowed money that funds an export industry pays for itself, while borrowed money spent on housing does not.
- Put a distribution office in place before your city outgrows its first shop. Goods sitting in a warehouse while shops sit empty drives loyalty and happiness down even though your production numbers look healthy.
- Plan rail signalling before you lay the second line. The game gives you manual signals, and a badly signalled junction will deadlock your entire coal supply while every other system keeps demanding it.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Building factories with no transport to them. Workers do not walk across the map, so a factory without a bus route stands idle regardless of how many citizens live nearby.
- Starting a full production chain in the first hour. Quarry, gravel plant and concrete plant together cost more labour and money than a young republic has, and importing is cheaper until the economy stands up.
- Ignoring citizen services. Loyalty and happiness feed directly into how much work gets done, so shops, healthcare, education and entertainment are inputs, not luxuries.
- Forgetting heating and power capacity before expanding housing. A new block that cannot be heated or lit costs you the workers it was built to house.
- Selling raw resources when refined goods are available. Fuel and steel carry far better margins than crude oil and iron ore, and the extra step usually pays for the factory quickly.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did the game leave Early Access?
On 20 June 2024, after starting Early Access on 15 March 2019. 3Division develops it and Hooded Horse publishes it.
What is realistic mode?
The setting that removes instant construction. With it enabled, buildings are assembled from delivered materials by construction offices, vehicles and workers, which is the mode the game is really designed around. It can be switched off if you prefer simplified building.
How do rubles and dollars differ?
Rubles trade with the Eastern bloc and dollars with the West, through separate customs houses at different prices. Some goods are cheaper to import in one currency and more profitable to export in the other, so most republics end up running both.
Which map should I start on?
Poland or Estonia from the World Maps DLC, released 13 December 2024. Poland has flat land and an existing railway, Estonia starts with working harbours and a rail link to customs. Austria and Yugoslavia are mountainous and much harder to plan.
Why are my factories not producing?
Almost always workers, power or inputs. Check that a bus route actually reaches the building, that the electricity line is connected, and that the required commodity is arriving rather than sitting in a warehouse with no distribution.
More Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Guides
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Best Builds
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Tier List
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Walkthrough
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Beginner's Guide
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Tips & Tricks
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Weapons Guide
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Combat Guide
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Boss Guide
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Maps & Locations
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Crafting Guide
- Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic Classes & Characters
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