Cities: Skylines (PC) (2015)

20151225:
Today I tried playing Cities: Skylines for the first time and unfortunately it wasn't as fun as I thought it would be. In particular, I was hoping I could jump right into the game as if it were The Sims, but there was actually quite a steep learning curve.

Thus far I've started a new game three or four times due to an incorrect usage of money. Some points that I've gathered are as follows:
1) Build small
2) Pause the game (certain buildings require upkeep)
3) Build residential areas first and only build electricity and drains after they have completed
4) I wrongly assumed the first map, Cliffside Bay, would be the easiest. After two or three games I switched to Grand River.

5) Electricity was confusing for me. I benefitted from reading this thread. Electricity can be shared via zones. Also this wiki page: http://www.skylineswiki.com/Power
6) Pipes have an 11-cell radius: http://www.skylineswiki.com/Water_and_sewage
7) Needs required by buildings won't go away until you unpause the game.

Steam Game Time: 75 minutes

20151226:
Today I played more and one of the residents tweeted about needing fresh water, but I was confused because my pipes seemed set up correctly.

More things learned:
1) Micromanaging the amount of electricity and water produced/drained will save money.
2) Determine a tile's resources by going to view tiles and clicking on them. The starting tile in Grand River has fertile land and a bit of forest.