Ah, for some reason I never realized GEs worked this way. It doesn't change my mind though... Waiting for Combined Arms to start upgrading units is too long. That's a *lot* of maintenance cost on all those units. And investing 4 policies in Honor only to wait until t150 to attack is... well counterproductive. Honor survives negative gpt with warfare.
So, I still favor Mercantilism/Big Ben/Mobilization, because I can get armories up in the t100-t130 range, bulb Big Ben by t135 and start rush-buying each unit type as I reach the tech: Artillery at Dynamite, Landships at Combustion. (Tanks are a cheap upgrade)
Furthermore, I can start building additional artillery/landships as soon as I hit the tech, and usually have a few more done by the time I finish the bulb.
That way if I mistime my bulb and don't hit Combined Arms, I can still go on the rampage with landships/artillery, and more importantly, I can move my units into position by the time I get Combined Arms, which shaves a few turns at least.
The alternative that might work well with mixed Liberty/Honor, IE poland or monte, is basically XB rush on steroids. It's actually pretty effective, I tried it last night with the Maya.
Start off with a traditional CB rush, leveling up your units with an early attack. Instead of going for Education, go Construction->Philosophy->Machinery, leaving as much of tree unresearched as possible... bronzeworking, trapping, sailing lines. Start your bulb as soon as you hit Machinery, which should preferably be no later than t100. You'll hit Industrialization 20 turns later.
You'll have Logistics + Range guaranteed (finally a use for Honor) by the time you upgrade to XBows, and by the time you upgrade to Gatlings, you'll have Cover and March. 30 strength units that heal 6 hp per turn and attack twice on t120 are basically unstoppable killing machines, especially if you pillage effectively.
This probably works even better if you forego Honor and stick with Liberty for the extra GS. You can definitely bulb Ballistics by t145. 60 strength Machine Guns, fully promoted by then even without Honor, should finish out a map even if you suck at Domination.