This one is incomplete unfortunately, and I won't have time to finish before the deadline hits, but since it's been so fun so far I figured I'd give a brief synopsis anyways and explain some reasoning. When I read the scenario overview the very first tech that popped into my mind was Biology, so it was kinda hard to change my mind (Democracy was screaming at me too but I was stubborn)... My reasoning was, Biology is powerful enough, but excess food to run even more specialists (once you hit caste system preferably) for a Philosophical can be just plain scary if used right. I founded Beijing 1E of the starting location, figuring that since I had corn and Biology, I'd easily be able to support all of the hill tiles at one point or another, add that to beaurocracy, ironworks, and maybe heroic epic and you have a sick military pump. Maybe I'll post a shadow game in the near future if I manage the time to finish the game, I just ended up being a bit busy finishing up the school year. Thanks to Darrell for the fantastic scenario idea, and to Sullla for investing the time spent making and emailing out all the saves, the effort was appreciated. 
Edit: one more thing, I literally laughed out loud when I saw the starting location for Washington... Darrell was that intentional or did it just roll that way?
Edit: one more thing, I literally laughed out loud when I saw the starting location for Washington... Darrell was that intentional or did it just roll that way?
. FWIW, I believed Biology was the strongest tech choice (especially with Mao's two traits, which just scream for a specialist economy).