Actually GA games for me are similar to total domination games except that I am less worried about any rush to take territory. I am currently doing a BYZ campaign(early, expert) and am up to 1271. I have a good chunk of Europe and the dessert areas East of Constinople. I mostly have used spy rushes and teching up my troops with some merc additions. Currently, I am at war with almost everyone except the Pope and the Hungarians (I attacked the Spanish and the French to kick down their points, whereas the Germans decided to attack me for some strange reason, even though I seemed to be helping their situation by getting ares to rebel that they sometimes scooped up).

So farming is holding up my economy (trade, what's that?), and I keep taking some areas to increase my points, but also remember that the point counting is done in certain years, so that you can sometimes take a territory just before the tally year, and then later dump it if it doesn't fit in with your expansion/frontier defense plans.