My favorite game of all time. Extremely detailed and immersive. If you enjoy detail and complexity in your games, this is the game you need. Also, 10/10 for comradely vibes ☭

help im stuck on an estonian island and my people are starving

The first campaign lulls you into a false sense of security. "Yeah, okay, I can just about handle these systems." Roads, farms, factories, housing, workers and things workers need in order to live happily.

Then the second one throws you into an absolute mess of a scenario and introduces all the OTHER systems of the game - electrical wires, water, sewage, heating, garbage, demolition rubble and a dozen other things. Several of which operate around systems of variable-size pipes, where each section of pipe must have its own pump, and if you want to split one pipe into several? Yep, you need a second pump downstream of the splitter, for each section. You might think this rapidly turns into a confusing micromanagement nightmare, and you'd be right!

7.5% of players finished the FIRST campaign, where those things are not a concern and you are generally asked to use your generous starting funds to build stuff, read an explanation of what the stuff was, and then move on to the next thing.

The random maps, and several of the scenario ones, are nothing like the campaign maps; rather than terrain extending beyond the realistically jagged boundaries of your nation, you instead have a perfect square of mostly flat terrain with NOTHING outside of it. Just a bunch of customs houses leading into the void. Lazy map design which would be less egregious if it weren't so obvious that these devs can do way better, and have. Once or twice. And again, possibly, with the paid map packs. But if you're selling something separately which really should have been in the base game, well, you may just have missed the point of communism!

Now, there is some fun to be had in this game. Some. The railway system mostly works well. It can be nice watching and listening to your trains as they chug around the game world, through industrial and residential areas you've designed and named. But so many of the advanced features seem specifically designed to suck all the fun out of playing. Realistic? Sure, I guess. Turns out, running a realistic communist society all by yourself is a massive hassle. Ideally you'd want some help. So if you do play, maybe just leave most or all of the advanced management stuff off (trying to place a garbage bin, sewage tank or water pump in a crowded city block and finding the last remaining space is blocked by power wires, isn't that enjoyable), since a simplified SimCity/Cities Skylines type "just draw water pipes through the general area and you're good" system is not an option here.

I'd start over on the first campaign map again with the advanced settings turned off, but I really just can't be bothered. Could have just kept playing after the campaign ended, in retrospect; I thought "It might be fun to explore those other features the tutorials briefly mentioned and then moved right on from", but... no. No it wasn't. Your mileage may vary, of course. If you love unnecessary complications, this may be your dream game!

Otherwise, in general, not recommended.