As far as I know, it matters not which server you connect through. I'v seen posts on here saying NAmerica servers crashing, I'm on Oceanic alot (Because I can't even get into the North American servers) I'v also connected through a Europe server and each time starting a city 10-15 minutes in, it crashes. Seems it's something to do with the Auto-save feature.
I'll admit, I'v been disappointed with origin since day one back when they switched from EA dl manager after spore released. EA/Origin, you fail to make a fan out of me yet. How is it possible that you weren't prepared for this? there was so much hype about this game. Hope to see solutions soon.