COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS & RESEARCH – ISSUE #02
- forzion
- Aug 29
- 6 min read
Updated: Sep 7
August 2025 | Fields of Steel and Stone: Farming, Freight, and the Future Republic"
🗞️ A newspaper — from the community, for the community.
👋 Greetings dear comrades of the Soviet Republic.
A couple of months have passed since the last Community Highlights announcement. As we stated then, this is a work in progress. We are still shaping what this publication should become — refining the rhythm, experimenting with structure, and building something both educational and entertaining.
While the development team is focused on fixing bugs and shaping the future of the game, there is something else simmering. And though we cannot say more just yet, we assure you: it will be worth the wait.
Until then, we turn our attention to you. The modders, the creators, the city-builders and infrastructure visionaries. This issue is full of rail, farming, screenshots, and the beginning of a new kind of challenge.
🚲 MOD SPOTLIGHT: Train Station Pack by Dejfo94
This recently discovered gem on the Steam Workshop features a variety of train stations inspired by real-life designs from the Czech Republic. Well-crafted, functional, and authentic, these stations offer builders more variety in both scale and style.
We selected this pack not based on star ratings but on practical value and visual quality. If you have other underrated mods you’d like to see spotlighted, let us know in our Discord Forum!
📸 COMMUNITY SCREENSHOT HIGHLIGHTS
A few of these were suggested via Discord; others we found while exploring the vast creativity of the Steam Community. We encourage you to submit or vote for your favorites for the next issue.
🏛 City Center (Suggested by Al.Nenninger)
A grand Soviet-style plaza comes to life with a striking rocket monument at its center, framed by monumental socialist-era architecture. The scene captures the spirit of a well-planned city, complete with bustling crowds, classic vehicles, and a touch of nostalgia from the golden age of space exploration.
🌊 Waterfront Views (Suggested by AugCph)
A stunning coastal city stretches along the waterfront, combining dense urban life with scenic mountain terrain. With a thriving port, rail links, and a well-planned layout, this republic stands as a testament to industrial strategy and natural harmony.
🚂 Soviet Railyard
A dense Soviet supercity towers over a bustling rail yard, where steam and diesel locomotives cut through the urban sprawl. With monumental architecture, powerful symbolism, and the pulse of motion, this scene evokes the industrial heart of the republic at its peak.
❄️ Winter Industrial Port
As the sun sets over a frozen industrial port, the republic’s steel arteries pulse with life beneath a blanket of snow. From roaring smokestacks to endless rails and cargo cranes, this winter scene captures the power and precision of a fully developed industrial hub.
🏘 Hillside Residential District
Soft evening light washes over a peaceful residential district framed by forested hills and crowned by a towering broadcast spire. A perfect balance of nature, infrastructure, and high-rise housing, this scene captures the quiet rhythm of suburban life in the republic.
🌾 COMMUNITY RESEARCH CHALLENGE #01
"The Glorious Grain Export Initiative"
A logistics megaproject. A mechanized farming zone. A Republic that feeds the world — with no one living there.
In the first issue, we promised that Community Highlights would include not only visual content, but research and learning opportunities. And instead of writing lengthy technical breakdowns, we chose to make that learning interactive. Welcome to the first Community Research Challenge.
This is not a regular playthrough. It’s a logistics-based scenario, inspired by a real Republic producing over 70,000 tons of crops yearly. Your goal is to beat that using minimal population, isolated facilities, and fully vehicle-based farming.
🧠 Main Challenge Objectives
🧺 Produce 100,000+ tons of crops per year
📦 Export 500,000 tons over 5 years
🏝️ All production on an isolated island or remote region
🦼 No permanent population; only foreign workers brought in for:
Maintenance
Fire protection (no helicopters!)
Power generation
🛏️ All construction must be completed by foreign workforce
📏 Suggested Map:
Soviet Island by KArantukki
You can use also any of default maps if you do not want use a modded map. To play on an island is most challenging in this case because you have to solve vehicle import logistics, construction resource imports and then export all the crops using ships.
Starting setup:
Overall difficulty Hard with Realistic Mode enabled after initial setup built.
Research can be turned off (added for clarification as there was an oversight)
Medium money amount for start (it is not about money but you can try hard).
Starting year 1960 with locked vehicle availability.
⚒️ Construction Rules
Autobuild only allowed (in first months) for then turn on realistic mode:
Initial docks, helipad, power lines
Basic storages, gravel processing
Other required starting buildings
No gravel import allowed after initial setup established.
Build your own gravel, concrete, and asphalt production
Import all other construction materials by sea or air (when playing on an island)
You can play with demolition on. There should be not much waste to deal with.
To prove that you did not imported gravel, concrete and asphalt except for initial setup screenshots from the overall economic report with all imports throughout history of your Republic can be used. Anybody can calculate what would be enough gravel, concrete and asphalt for basic setup. You can build all that using autobuild or find a way around with some mods and do not use autobuild at all.
🔌 Infrastructure
Use your own power (gas plant + imported oil allowed)
You can also rely on wind turbines or solar.
Import fuel as needed for your vehicles or power plant.
You can build whatever road or railways you choose.
You can consider using rails but it will be a challenge to build and get trains in on an island.
Water/sewage or waste not required unless you want to play with that on.
🌾 Farming Rules
No housing allowed – use foreign workforce brought in by suitable means.
You can use any kind of transportation to deliver workers (added for clarification)
Farming done entirely with vehicles
You can import fertilizer and find a way to get bio fertilizer if you are creative.
Must maintain:
Power
Building and vehicle maintenance
Fire protection (without helicopters for extra staff requirements)
🎨 Freestyle Mode (Optional)
Any map allowed
You may build a small town only if all food, clothes, alcohol, meat, and electronics are produced locally (no imports of those is alloved throughout the history)
Encouraged for artistic, aesthetic, or more open-ended playstyles
📅 Submission Instructions
Challenge is open August 2025
Challenge is expected to conclude in November 2025
Submit via Discord Forum using tag: 🌾 Farming Challenge or 🌟 Community Research
https://discord.com/channels/553183201774796803/1411038581170110577
You can also join the discussion in Dedicated thread in Steam Forum
🧱 COMMUNITY RESEARCH CHALLENGE #01 W&R: Soviet Republic General Discussions
Include:
3–5 screenshots capturing key economic and import export figures.
You can include some additional screenshot that highlight your setup.
Brief description of your setup
(Optional) Save file for deeper analysis shared in cloud.
🏆 What Happens Next?
We will have some fun while building our farming setups and discussing them.
Selected entries will be featured in future Community Highlights
Results may inspire deeper developer commentary or research articles
You help define the logistics meta for future community research challenges
Will your Republic feed the world, or drown in logistics nightmares?Let the tractors roll.
📆 WHAT’S NEXT?
This is just the beginning. Upcoming Community Research Challenges may explore:
Electricity networks
Massive waste processing
Population logistics
Supply/demand balancing
Got an idea? Drop it in Discord. Want to be featured? Submit your screenshot. Let’s learn the game together — one challenge at a time. And alongside this challeng you can use our dedicated Discord Forum to suggest screenshots, mods or other content that may be featured in future community highlights.
🛠️ With challenge and respect,
Ministry of Community Propaganda
(Feeding minds as well as the people)