Stats and Pops

I started Cities: Skylines around a week ago. After a few struggles, my city began to hum along nicely. I even received an achievement for keeping the crime rate under 10% for 4 years. But, as I began to expand the city, I began to have major problems.

Happier times

I struggled to balance services, taxes, expenses, and frequent fires. (Oh, the fires. So many of them broke out that I felt like renaming the city North Tonowanda. I still don't understand the fire mechanic.) There wasn't enough water or electricity; sewage and garbage were constantly building up; taxes were too high and land value was too low; traffic was congested; noise pollution was high; not enough residential zones; not enough industry; too few workers. A couple of times I actually managed to get in the green and was able to maintain a positive bank balance. But this never lasted. I dropped into the negative. Multiple loans and a few bailouts weren't enough to save me; my bank balance dropped to -250 000 Euros.

So, I gave up. I turned off all services, increased taxes, and just let the city die. I think it took around 15 minutes for it to become a ghost-town.

The end is nigh

The citizens are unhappy

Oh no, there's an abandoned building in my city

A sad, sad scene

With the city largely empty, I began to bulldoze everything. Yet even as I was razing entire districts new buildings began cropping up here and there. That made me realise that I couldn't really start over. So, with great regret and sadness at the loss of all those tiny, simulated souls, I deleted my saves. I hope to have better luck next time.