This is a step by step tutorial on how to break the ice and get to building your cities.

• Install SC4 and register your game
  
• Launch the game
  
• Pick a city tile within one of the canned regions or make your own
  
• Place a coal power plant somewhere in your city.
  
• Farther away zone some farms and drag some streets through these zones.
  
• Drag power lines from your zones to the power plant
  
• Let it develop
  
• Of course, workers need to transport their goods out of town, so drag a road to the edge of the city.
  
• There aren't even any workers in the first place, so zone some residential on top of these farms or next to them. If you choose the latter case, drag a road to it and then follow the next step.
  
• At a potential crossroads in the future, zone some larger residential zones.
  
• Add another road going out the other end of town:
  
• Now you can add some commercial of you'd like:
  
• All these goodies are probably getting pretty expensive, so lower your power plant funding. Lower it so as the capacity usage is 90%. Raise as needed. You should now have adequate funding, making more money than spending.
  
• Next, wait for that commercial zone to develop.
  
• After that commercial has developed entirely, place a small park somewhere in your residential zones. This will boost desirability for medium and high wealth.
  
• Zone another chunk of residential across the street:
  
• You'll notice some medium wealth is moving in, but they are abandoning or dilapidation is occurring. Next, place a water tower somewhere in town, away from your farms, and drag water pipes to all your zones, (except farms)
  
• Destroy any dilapidated homes or shops and let them redevelop.
  
• Once your new residential zones are finished, place an elementary school within the residential pod. Make sure it touches to road running through the residential zones, so that it can cover all zones.
  
• Lower funding for this school. Lower the funding so as the student capacity is just above the number of students. Give more funding to this school as needed.
  
• Now, more commercial is needed. Zone some low density along your roads (make sure these are roads, not streets). About 6 2x1 Low density commercial zones should work.
  
• Let that develop, and make sure to provide water. If it doesn't develop instantly, let it sit there.
  
• Now, zone industrial surrounding your power plant. Put a road on the outer edge of the industrial zones:
  
• That should instantly develop. Remember you might have to raise funding for your power plant, because industry uses a lot of power. Don't bother providing water to industrial areas.
  
• By this time, you might be having some CO$$ and R$$$ in town now. This is a sign that the city is going to start growing fast from here on out.
  
• Now you are going to be needing a lot more residential. Zone a large chunk of it as demonstrated:
  
• Keep adding more industrial and commercial next to eachother as needed.
  
• Now the population is high enough were apartments can now develop. Zone some medium density residential along the road and provide water. Only about 3 plots of it should work. If it doesn't instantly, the game will get rid of the low density and replace it with medium density.
  
• Now, zone some more commercial. Low density, right along your roads. Also, be sure to keep industrial seperated from the residential with trees or something.
  
  
• Rezone a small chunk of commercial at your road intersection as medium density. If the taller buildings don't come right away, your demand probably isn't high enough.
  
• Don't be afraid to destroy some farms to make room for the growing city.
  
• When the game offers you any rewards, decline them for the time being. We'll use them eventually.
  
• Occasionally do a quick save. Never hurts to be sure, right?
  
• Now the time has come for big streets. Rezone the road of which your commercial is located as an avenue. Don't be shy to tear out buildings in the process:
  
• And go on from there!
  
• Remember that you can start zoning high density residential at 26,000
  
• Remember to upgrade your road networks occasionally
  
• Add mass transit when traffic gets a bit too heavy
  

If you have any questions please comment or send me a PM.

im sorry josh but this is sort of a no-brainer... not to mention it's in the instruction guide in the box where you get the game in

I see your point, K50, but, what you don't realize is that not all of us have brains - or at least not ones that function real well...which is why I actually found this pretty helpful. Thanks, Cheesguy.

well I'm torn with opinions on this tutorial:

On one hand I agree with K50, but for the player like me who just installs the game and plays without tutorials or reading the book, this is helpful.

Also Riandomhan, Welcome to the Simmania

I think this is fine. It is an easy tutorial, yes, but for absolute beginners, it's useful. After all, someone has to write the stuff for beginners too.

LOL Okay!

Well, the instruction manual that comes with the game pretty much says the same stuff People who read (or even skim, for that matter) the manual can recite this by heart

No offense intended