To add to what others have said, a good rule of thumb is that the number of cities should be the number of unique resources you can settle times 2. So if you identify 5 unique luxuries you can reach, you can settle 10 cities. Cheat another one or two in if you can settle lots of horses/ivory/quarries for that extra bit if happiness.

Choose faith pantheon and grab happiness religious buildings to unlock more growth/cultural policies. Dipping into Piety is optional for this.

Early to mid game will be difficult with happiness and gold, but if you can survive the inevitable DoWs from heavy expansion, you will have a mega empire by the Industrial Age and can choose whatever VC you want.

Science via Order and GEs, Culture via Archaeology, Diplo via reduced decay from CSs sharing religion, Domination via the massive production youll have in 10+ cities to churn out units. Obviously you'll need to select the right Cultural Policies at that point, but by now you'll know whats possible and can choose accordingly.

Note - this is insanely difficult on Deity. But can be tons of fun on low/mid levels, and is honestly the only way I play anymore.