Yeesh. I don’t like politics on any day of the week, but being a politician who’s put in charge of building a city from scratch, growing it, and helping it prosper makes me want to throw my computer out the window. Such is my lot (called Scopiqueville) in the new SimCity.

I’ve played many versions of SimCity over the years, and while the general point of the game has remained the same, the execution has changed. I’ve never been horribly adept at building a massive metropolis, but this latest version is either out to get me, or I really shouldn’t be put in charge of anything larger than a broom closet.

We started a private region of 16 plots for our Google Plus community members, but during the rough patch of server issues, only myself and Stargrace were able to claim plots and begin building. My town started off on shaky ground (figuratively). I had enough money to build roads, power, waste disposal, and water, but that left me with pocket change and very little income. I tried to keep the unemployment low, and the taxes as high as I could without inciting a revolt.

It wasn’t until much later that I got word that I had a garbage problem. Sims are filthy creatures, and their trash was just piling up in the driveways so I needed to bite the bullet and spend money on the garbage collection.

The next day I got word that my water was polluted. Note to self: don’t put the water tower in an industrial zone.

For several Sim-days, I struggled with cash flow. I didn’t want to gouge my people in taxes, but I didn’t have enough income to be able to afford anything that would allow my houses to evolve into higher-earning households. Stargrace mentioned how she floated as many bonds as she could, up front, which meant she could afford a lot of buying, and have the padding necessary to weather the expense until the city started turning a profit. I took a bond of my own, which allowed me to get an elementary school to boost the standard of living for my town. But now I have the weight of the bond payments on top of ongoing maintenance, and am only bringing in 265s / hour while also having to listen to people complain about lack of services, and the high taxes. These services don’t grow on trees, people!

Now it’s a game of upgrades: getting better roads to handle higher density, and hopefully getting a clinic at some point. Stargrace has been handling my fire and medical, but the pollution from the industrial zone is causing no end to problems. With only 2,046s in the bank, what will become of Scopiqueville? A disease-ridden leper colony? A ghost-town due to high taxes?