Whew!
I've finally played my turn... Two years was a lot longer than I expected! I practically transformed the face of the city, trying to make some sense of the traffic arrangements.
(Btw I'm glad you didn't let me give up, Calad.

It was major fun trying to untie the knot that the city was tying itself into; it remains to be seen whether you think I've
succeeded or not.)
http://imgur.com/a/FN4Vx?#0
(hope you've got a good connection; it's over 60 large images! :O)
Most of the comments will be in the imgur album (I find that it's much easier to format than a forum post), but here are some general comments:
What were my actions and their rationales:
- I preserved the long avenue as the main artery of the city, and tried to build the major traffic arrangements around it. To this end I had to raze half of
the district of Fat Cat Villa, replacing it with a huge roundabout. Sorry, fat cats (I hope they don't sue me, or I'll have to raise their taxes!)!
FWIW, I reserved a nearby scenic cliff area for the rebuilding of Fat Cat Villa. I think they'll appreciate the view there much better than at
the bland plateau that is now occupied by my monstrous (but very useful!) roundabout.
- Many areas were expanded to make the city soar in population; I also started several new developments. A few areas look fairly ugly due to masses of high-rises
with very little services; however, space was at a premium and those people will still pay taxes, regardless of their dying grandparents and noise-pollution-ailed,
half-psychotic children (yes, I'm a terrible person -- but a great mayor!).
- I added greatly to the fire-safety of the city. (It's strange how in this game you need more fire stations than police ones, since in the original SC
you had to have a PD on every other block! Certainly a nice change though.)
- I built a huge dam that is capable of producing up to 980 MW! However, since we don't yet need anywhere near that much, I slashed the power budget by half
in order to keep a better cash flow. Remember to increase it before building new power plants! We can have at least 45-55k residents before any new plants
are needed.
- I claimed a district for myself, a remote-ish island that I named 'Stiiknafuulia Resort'. So, if you're inclined to gentlemanly conduct, mind the beach
while you stroll around it.
- I also renamed many existing districts, mostly with similar names that sounded (imo) more 'realistic'. E.g. 'Shopping Area' became 'Central', and
'Beachside Area' plain 'Beachside'. Feel free to alter the names further as the city develops; or even rename them back to the original names if you prefer them.
- I leave you with 21,000 citizens and almost $ 300,000 in cash; it should be plenty for any hare-brained schemes that you can come up with.
What are the pressing tasks awaiting the next mayor (Myquandro), and those who come after:
- I lowered some taxes in the beginning of my turn to boost demand, and forgot to raise them back later on! Probably cost us at least a good 100,000. Oh well, such is life (of a mayor).
- As we will reach 25k citizens soon, a harbor becomes available for building. Where it should be is at your discretion, naturally; imo, the most logical spot would be
the area where the railroad enters our main industrial area (Smokestack Cove -- a charming name, isn't it?), since harbors are primarily for shipping industrial goods
in and out of the city, as I understand it.
- As of now, our city has *zero* public transport of any kind. I would advise against clogging our already troubled streets any further with buses, but if that's your thing,
have at it! Personally I'd opt for metro though (although I haven't checked how costly that might be... Given our mountains of cash though, it should be a doozy).
- Similarly, as we approach 50,000 citizens (as may well happen during your turn), an airport can be built. Imo it would be best located somewhere high up in the mountains, to prevent
any, well, *disagreements* between planes and buildings/mountains (although I'm not sure if that can even happen in this game?).
- A hospital might already be available to build; it would help with our 59 % Health Approval value, I'd imagine.
- I've highlighted some possible areas for logical expansion; they're more suggestions than anything else. I'd actually prefer it if you'd ignore them and just built
an industrial resort in the middle of the ocean. The more nightmares to sort out, the more fun to be had!
- The main game bug/feature where Industrial zones need parks nearby in order to fully develop is rearing its ugly head. I didn't remember the whole thing until well
towards the end; be sure to accomodate the proles' delusional wishes (nothing like sipping some tea in a nice Japanese Garden while that airplane factory is spewing
its toxic fumes in your drink!).
- I'm not sure whether most District Policies are worth it. Without mods, it's impossible to know if some policy produces more money than it costs in upkeep.
Imo, it might be best to use the policies simply for flavor, since the money seems to be fairly endless in this game anyways.
- There is one exception, and that is the 'Ban Heavy Traffic' policy. Given appropriate District shapes, it can be used to banish truck traffic from sensitive
areas (hint: where the rich folks live), something I didn't think of until it was already too late to alter my existing road network. A future mayor with
no sentimental attachments to my creations might well be able to utilize the policy to a great effect, given a few major (and many minor) rearrangements.
Some comments about the game in general:
- Imo, the 2-year time limit already seems excessive. I tried to restrain myself quite a bit, and yet I built up huge swathes of new areas, and altered many existing
ones. And I still had almost 300k in my pocket when I ended my turn. So, after the first round is done (3 more players), I propose a change to a one-year turn time.
Trust me, those who played before me: it's a whole new ball-game when the cash starts rolling in! There's plenty of time in a single year.
- I think it might be possible to activate a mod, play with it activated, then disable it and upload the save like nothing ever happened. It depends on the mod of course,
but most mods that don't add any assets should work like this. Imo, it's best not to try it with this game, but it's something to keep in mind for a potential next one.
- Imo, the in-game terraform mod might make the game too easy. It's already very easy to make money, and the terrain isn't as big of an obstacle as I thought;
the roads are capable of much greater bends than in SC4. So even if we do go with mods in the next game, it might be best to opt against using it.
- For the next game, activating Hard Mode will be a given I think, since the game seems to be very easy on the default setting.
- re: Traffic Manager etc: we should start making a list of 'mandatory' mods now, imo. I think something like 5-10 mods would be well manageable, given how easy mods
are to activate / de-activate in this game.
That's all for now I think. Here is the save; good luck Myquandro:
http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=40414335827550750675