1100
Adjusted tiles to work only improved tiles or at least forests. At risk to economic stability.
Momentarily hired max scientists (no tiles) in Macau to starve off the 1 unhappy pop there.
Turned up slider to finish CS in 1 turn.
Our spy disappeared last turnset, so we have no contacts.
1110
CS -> Paper
Mandalay Barracks -> LB
Scout hits the hut in NE Australia. We get a Warrior, which I delete.
Hancheng has built an Archer, apparently whipped.
1120
Scouts exploring the ruins of Pagan discover a cache of knowledge - 404

towards Machinery. We don't have the 138

to go double or nothing.
Stability is -32 v (3 =, -7 =, -45 v, 4 v, -1 =)
Great Artist in Hangzhou. Revolt to Vassalage and start the emergency golden age, since we seem to have no choice.
Macau starves down and I restore its tiles.
1130
-24 (3, -7, -37, 4, -1)
Beijing LB - LB
1140
-13 (7, -1, -35, 4, -1)
Scout pops the hut on Java for another Warrior which I also delete.

There's a Combat I Japanese Trireme nearby. This turn I'm able to evade it, but it will be dicey. We have one more hut, in New Zealand.
Hangzhou Courthouse -> Trireme (1 of 2 for Beijing's Fish)
Hancheng has whipped a Worker.
1150
-12 (7, -1, -35, 4, -1)
Fushun Granary -> Courthouse
Beijing LB -> Trireme (2 of 2 for Beijing's Fish)
Macau LB -> LB
1160
-9 (7, -1, -32, 4, -1)
Surya has captured Lhasa!
Mandalay LB -> Catapult
IBT the Japanese Trireme comes out from behind a rock and bags our Galley, with the Scout in it.
1170
-8 (7, -1, -32, 5, -1)
Beijing Trireme -> WB
1180
-10 (7, -1, -32, 3, -1)
Macau LB -> LB
Hangzhou Trireme -> LB
1190
-11 (7, -1, -33, 5, -1)
Beijing WB -> resume Temple. I don't really want the Temple, but I don't want to lose the hammers.
Mandalay Catapult -> LB. I'm realizing we should leave Longbows in the southern cities and move their Axemen garrisons up North to use retaking Hancheng.
1200
-11 (7, -1, -33, 5, -1)
The barbs have retaken Lhasa.
Surya will now trade Machinery for Feudalism + Civil Service + Currency + 15.
A Chinese revolt takes place in Hancheng, injuring its garrison. Fushun is not under immediate threat, so I move all our units up to it.
I'm not sure whether the garrison will heal next turn, so I declare war on Hancheng and attack with the Longbow that still has a movement point. I give him Combat I to bump it from 98.7 to 99.7, and he takes out an Axeman.
And the real cliffhanger:
Our Machinery is at 414/2763 and he still won't take Alpha + Sailing + Aesthetics + Civil Service + Monotheism for it. He WILL declare on Surya for Alpha + Sailing + Aesthetics + Monotheism + 145. Since I want to leave this open (without also trading CS), and since I don't think a first contact gift by itself would really deter Genghis from attacking us, I don't give him one.
I don't know what we should do, but we have interesting options. No matter what, we should probably trade to Surya for Machinery. I do think we can fight off Genghis, with difficulty, but we could also bribe him to attack Surya. By itself, I'm not sure that would do much. It's hard to say how long the war would last. But if we declare too, we could get OB and mutual military with Genghis. That might be enough to deter an attack for a while.
We could conceivably take it a step farther by hitting Genghis with Confucian missionaries and revolting back to Paganism (or Pacifism; we have 87% Scientist in 1 turn in Macau). Apart from the anarchy and the various long term consequences, it would in the short term hit Macau, which is relying on FR for 2 happy. I think I'm leaning away from this, but it's worth considering.
Surya is also Tokugawa's worst enemy, but right now Tokugawa will still not talk to us, and declaring on Surya would give him and Surya a mutual military bonus. Right now they have -8 and -12 from heathen religion.
mushyman - skip
Jet - played
Quotey - up
pigswill - on deck
mushyman - hopefully back