What's everyone's favorite strategy? The more niche the better!Here's mine:

Holy Harbor Stacking

General Concept:

This is a very rigid strategy that, admittedly, requires a bit of luck to pull off. It focuses on maximizing food production by picking every culture with a harbor or coastal district, and then multiplying the bonuses you get from them through the Angkor Watt faith the food feedback loop. If everything goes to plan, your initially very fragile empire will become one of the most OP in the game.

How to:

Neolithic Era: 3 stars

1.  This is a slow start, but you're really going to need the legacy bonuses
2.  In order of importance: Industry from the knowledge star, Influence from the Hunting Star, and Food from the growth star
3. Settle in territories with lots of coast or lake access EXCLUSIVELY, resources and wonders are nice, but the coast is most important.
4. Favorite Natural Wonders: Aitutaki Lagoon (+15 food on harbors), Great Barrier Reef (+10 food on harbors), Lake Baikal (Faith and Food per religious follower), Whakaari Volcano (Science from coast), Victoria Falls (Reduced pop consumption)

Ancient Era: Phoenicians (Rush Expansion and Religion)

1. Expand along the coast, but do not make more than 2 cities, attaching territory isn't necessary and should only be done to connect natural wonders
2. Build harbors in your outposts with influence. Those harbors will allow the outposts to generate population more quickly and that pop is a nice boost once added to a city.
3. TRY to expand to any nearby islands
4. TRY to get Stonehenge, very nice to have. Dont start building it until you get Personal Rites
5. Civics: Collectivism, Tradition, Liberty. But you need Divine Mandate for faith generation Personal Rites to reduce the cost of Stonehenge
6. Religion: Polytheism if you're running behind, Shamanism if you're somehow ahead.
7. Build Holy Sites ONLY in the territory of your capital, you want your capital city to generate as much faith as possible.
8. Go to next era once you have built harbors in all territories with outposts and/or have built Stonehenge. Don't maximize stars

Classical Era: Carthaginians (Rush Expansion and Religion)

1. Focus on making more harbors in your outposts and maximizing your faith production. Connect territory if you need a pop boost in your cities, but still focus on expanding
2. Tenants: Respect the Seas' Bounties (food from coast), Observe Fasts (food on harbors). Observe fasts is almost NECESSARY for this strategy to work
3. TRY to get Pyramid of the Sun ​in your capital, very nice to have
4. Go to next era once you've built harbors in all territories with outposts and/or have built the Pyramid of the Sun. Don't maximize stars

Medieval Era: Swahili (First Power Boom)

1. Your harbors now give stability, and each territory you own has anywhere from 1-3 harbors, and will have anywhere from 1-4.
2. GET ANGKOR WAT!!!!
   
3. If you've made it this far without getting wiped out, its aaaalll coming together now.
4. Start building up what territory you have, keep spamming harbors everywhere. Any outposts you've had since the beginning will likely have a good chunk of pop in them.
5. Maximize Stars, but don't lag too far behind.

Early Modern: Spanish or Mughals (Second Power Boom)

1. This is the first Era you do not have an emblematic harbor. Pop regular harbors on any outpost you still haven't connected and que up your new emblematic building- especially in your capital city. Everything done to this point has rigged things to have high population. The new faith on pop stat given by your emblematic building will now create a feedback loop of food and faith production.
2. Get Machu Picchu, ​now your capital with all its faith and food can effectively feed any other city. Food/farms can be neglected in other cities in favor of more pressing needs.
3. Try to get your religion to the top tier, maybe do a holy war, liberate any captured territories that aren't on the coast.
4. Maximize stars

Industrial: Siamese or Hawaiians (Click Click)

1.  Just maximize however many coastal tiles you can exploit
2. TRY to get Eiffel Tower for the industry boost
3. Maximize Stars

Contemporary: New Zealanders (BOOM, gg)

1. Now, all coastal tiles generate science, and your entire empire is coastal tiles
2. Your science production will now surge to new heights, and you already have an established industry
3. Since the majority of your districts are harbors, you should have tons of room for launching rockets
4. In a perfect game, you'll launch a rocket every turn and can expect to have colonized mars before researching the internet, gg.