I like playing as rome, with a similar religion strategy. I keep my religion to myself and people I don't want to slaughter, then go into mass-production mode once I find Iron in the classical age. Similar strategy for britian: Wait until your infantry unit has a real advantage over everyone else and then stack it up and kill kill kill.
I like to raze cities I know I can't keep in the long run due to distance to my production centres, or that the enemy is too damn strong to defend that city while staying on the offensive. I also use calvary as my elite forces, and seldom for city. A stack of five is more than enough to ensure that the cities and their supporting production centres (larger cities) starve, any exposed resource is crushed (and occupied if possible by archery troops) and that they remain too chicken-shit to do anything. The problem with war however is that I have to carry out the "short victorious wars" as my people don't get too happy with me.
This is why on the home front, anything I can do to focus on the :) is essential while I kill kill kill.
My general civics are
Hereditary Rule(if pyramids = yes, than representation peacetime, police state approaching and in de jure wartime)
Barbarism or vasalage (when I can, I will jump to nationalism)
Slavery
Decentralization, free market (state property when wartime)
Org Rel peacetime, theocracy wartime.
My favorite leader so far is HM Queen Victoria.