[Atrocities]

You really need to constantly be adjusting the costs for schools. They fluxuate a lot and you can save a lot of money by keeping an eye on them.

Also don't build un-needed roads until needed.

What I do from game start is:
500k

0. Put Game On Pause
1. Lay down a huge swath of R$ residential
2. Lay down a small swath of C$ comerical
3. Lay down a small swath of I$ industrial (near the boarders)
4. Plant a Power Planet
5. Plant a well near the Res
6. Lay Pip with some room for expansion
7. Plant a Pre-school in the middle of the R$
8. Planet a High School in the middle of the R$
9. Planet a Fire Dept near all three zones
10 Planet a Police Station near all three zones
11 Planet bus stops all over to establish Mass Transit
12 Lay down rail from edge to edge with one or two Transit station and one frieght station.
13 Lay down a dump zone for garbage near edge of map.
14 Unpause game
15 Enable Gambling
16 Adjust the PS and HS so as not to be over paying.
17 Expand as needed but in small patches
18 Replace roads with streets in all zones
19 Lay down extra firestation if needed in I$ zone.
20 Take out a loan for 200k (About 6k a month pay back so be sure your making at least 6k in order to aford loan)
21 Use 200k to expand all zones, build additional schools, libraries, and a college. Rezone I$ to I$$ (High Industrial) and lay down a patch of C$$ (Medium Comerical)
22. Take any deals that are offered and place buildings on edge of map.
23. Monitor the school expenses
24. Add a hospitol or a clinic or two - watch them for growth spurts.
25. Keep adding bus stops and plan for road and rail lines.


In the image I do have a 25k Casino in play, but that is because I am rebuilding the city after the crash and will eventually ditch it.