So I've been playing quite a bit lately, had 2 cites but neither one of them... worked. No matter what I do I always loose money. I put in ordinances that make me money, I watch my spending, I try to keep taxes low, around 7-10% for everything but commercial is always at the lowest in the bar, Residential is always high but no one moves into my houses and Industry switches between not needed and really needed...

I always have police and fire but I keep their funding near 75%, I keep my roads at 100%

I'm not sure if I'm doing anything wrong here... any help[ at all guys?

It's been a LONG time since I've played, but you may find some useful tips here. Google may be able to help, too.

http://www.gog.com/forum/simcity/tips_and_tricks

First thing I can think of, if you aren't getting anyone moving into houses, is are the residential zones powered and watered? The same applies to other zones too (except for when you try to get farms if I remember rightly). For power you have to have pylons going from your power station to the edge of the zone. Within a zone the power is transferred from building to building. For water, you need pipes leading from your water pumps. Each pipe section then waters an area around it (visible in the underground view).

Also, try having the res zones within 3 or 4 squares of a road, and far away from industrial. Second, try not having the income and sales tax ordinances, as that doesn't really add to people wanting to join the city. Legalized gambling, sure, though that's a tradeoff for more crime. Connecting your roads to a neighbouring city helps too, I think.

Hmm, what else... Well, I've never dealt with bonds before, but I'm sure if you're having trouble keeping a city going you're not playing hard mode...

Well, just do what the people request via newspaper, that's the best thing I can think of.

Have fun :D

DELETED.

Cut funding in the budget for education, police etc early on. They don't need full funding in small cities.

Gamefaqs.com have some useful strategy guides

Something you don't see mentioned in most strategy guides is that sometimes you need to leave the game running for a while and let demand and supply even itself out. Every time you lay down new zones you are creating an imbalance where people move out of their old homes, or factories close down for a time as new factories pop up. During these small fluctuations (which you have already spotted) people may relocate leaving abandoned or not growing very fast. Every time you have put down a lot of new zones, let the game run for at least one year so that people can settle down and new businesses can move in on old abandoned lots.

Of course, zones grow and populate faster if they are close to roads. If in doubt, make sure there is a road within 3 squares at all times. Water supply is optional, I never bother with it. Sometimes it really helps to lay down power lines through empty zones to speed up the building process, otherwise squares can only be populated if there is a powererd building next to it.

I find that a very slow expansion is key to surviving the first 50 years without debt. Things get faster and faster eventually. Don't lay down unnecessary roads, don't invest too much in education and safety until you're a real city. Your advisors will be pushing for utopic environmentalist advanced democracy kind of city building from the very start but ignore their anachronistic ambitions and play it like it's actually the 1910's and onwards. You can't afford to cater to idealists while you're still a frontier town. Parking tickets and legalized gambling early on works as money makers for a growing city, though eventually I drop the gambling to help allieviate crime once the population is big enough for crime to make a difference.

I avoid dense zoning early in the city's life, I'd rather create a vast sprawl of light zones with high land value. Every time I try and build a dense inner city and expanding outwards I get caught in a spiral of slow growth and high expenses. I find that Dense Residential zones in particular are more trouble than they are worth in the beginning, though Dense Industrial is quite good. I'm having good luck laying down and Dense field of industry surrounded by Light Residential zones at a good distance. Sprinkle some Light Commercial zones with the residential zones and you'll be a steadily growing industrial small town within a couple of years.