simcity 4 hints?

Question

anybody have any cheats for simcity 4

Answer 1

Codes
During the game, hit Ctrl+Alt+Shift+X to bring up the Cheat Entry Box. Now enter one of the following and hit Enter.

Code Effect
weaknesspays Adds 1,000 to your treasury.
you don't deserve it All Rewards
whererufrom [name] Change City Name. Enter cityname where [name] is.
hellomynameis [name] Change mayor's name. Enter Mayor Name where [name] is.
fps Displays Frame Rate
gol Green Tinge on map
zoneria Hides empty zone color.
sizeof [number] Increase Magnification. (1-100)
recorder Opens up the Animation Recorder Menu.
stopwatch Pause/Resume 24-hour clock.
fightthepower Removes power requirement for all buildings.
howdryiam Removes water requirement for all buildings.
whattimeizit [time] Set the Time of Day. Enter time where [time] is.
TerrainQuery [on/off] Show coordinates when hovering over an item.
DollyLlama Toggles your advisors between people/Llamas.
tastyzots Toggles Zots.

Easter Eggs
C&C 95 Reference
Place industrial zones and you will eventually see a manufacturing or high-tech industry called Kane Tiberium. If you have played the first Command & Conquer game you will remember that Kane is the leader of The Brotherhood of Nod and tiberium is the green, alien, toxic mineral that GDI and Nod needed to fund themselves.

Simcity 3000 at the Movies
If you're just starting a city, a drive-in theater may appear in your commercial zone. This drive-in plays a short clip of the intro movie for Simcity 3000.

Glitches
Abusing the gambling ordinance
Unlike in past games, the revenue from the legalized gambling ordinance is not dependent on population. To take advantage of this, start a new city and build a single tile of road.

At the beginning of the next month, enable legalized gambling and you will earn $100 a month without having to do a thing. Leave the game on overnight at maximum speed and never worry about running out of money again.

Secrets
Input cheats to patched versions
In the patched versions (there have been two patches released to date) the keys to access the cheat input menu are [ctrl] + [alt] + [shift] + x

Neverending resources/garbage disposal
By giving you the ability to exchange resources between your cities, the game opens itself up for all kinds of abuse.

The big scam is that time only passes if you actually load a city. If you fill a city with nothing but power plants, water pumps, and landfill (and the appropriate connections) and then never open it up again, you can send in garbage and take out water and power without ever having to worry about paying upkeep or running out of landfill space. Not what the developers intended, but certainly a worthy trick.

Unlock Terraforming and Terrain Effects toolbars during city play.
In order to unlock the Terraforming and Terrain Effects toolbars during city play, hold down CTRL+ALT+SHIFT and click the God Mode button.

Answer 2

When you start out your city, don't make water, since low income residents in simcity4 don't need water, build water towers later when you want more growth. Only start with necessities. Put down a highschool first, and then later elementary and colleges, etc. Don't build a fire station right away, only build one if you have a sizable industrial area (those tend to get fires a lot). Also, don't ever decrease funding for maintenence on roads and pipes, since that will always do more harm than good. Lastly, try setting the game on "easy" :)