after trying for a faster domination I can tell for sure:
- when on strike for long periods, you will lose all your units except settlers
- you never go under 0, meaning that as soon as you can break even, strike is over (you won't need to pay for the centuries of deficit)
- you can use scientists to produce beakers and you can build science while on strike, meaning that you can still tech and even fast with rep or large production cities. However, with no defense you can get killed by barbs or neighbours, so it's not exactly what I would recommend ...