Play it with all the dificulty settings on, set fires on normal and money on high, set realistic off. I think thats the best way to play it, play on an empty map first.

I really like the planned economy here, its not the typical build a bussines and let them do x and you take taxes stuff.

Play the tutorials to help, If you are in doubt wait for the 1.0 release, devs are doing a great job.

The main problem is that citicens need already working infrasteuctrure and there is not much scalability right now, you have to start making most of everything for things to work out or your people leave the country. Might need to restart a few games so I recomend saving when you finish the initial plan.

Having "5 year plan" mentalities works great. Try to start a simple town that imports complicated goods people need and export fuel or steel for example.