I did a post on Shaka a few months ago that led to a longish thread. You've already covered most of the ground already. A few minor points:
-- There's something very liberating about ignoring early religions and Wonders. (You let other civs spend hammers on Wonders. Then you take them away.)
-- Shaka may have the most overdetermined early teching of any leader. When playing Shaka, there's a pretty clear best path:
Mining
Bronze Working (find the Bronze for Impis)
Wheel (for hooking up same)
Pottery (cheap Granaries, leverage Agriculture, better whipping)
You might throw Fishing in there if you start near coastal resources, or Animal Husbandry if you have animals in your BFC. But otherwise, it's pretty fixed.
If this seems a little rigid, consider the other early techs.
* Mysticism? Dude. Shaka doesn't found religions... Shaka takes religions. No Mysticism until after you've got your second city, and then only if you need to chop a Monument for a border pop.
* Masonry? Maybe if you have Stone or Marble in the BFC, but otherwise forget it. You're not going to build expensive early Wonders -- you're going to take them from the people who do.
* If you beeline Bronze Working and the Wheel, you'll have Impis before barb archers start showing up, so Archery isn't a priority.
* Polytheism, Meditation, Sailing? Don't think so.
-- Mobility is so useful that you may keep an Impi or two around even into the Macemen/Trebuchet era. An Impi can cross a continent as fast as a Keshik, then jump out of the bushes and pick off a strategic resource.
For closer-range raiding, try combining an Impi with a Crossbowman. The CB fends of melee units, the Impi keeps Horse Archers at bay; every turn they move one square and then the Impi spends his second move pillaging. This works great until Knights come on the scene.
-- Finally, Impi medics can last a long, long time. Last time I played Shaka I still had one running around with Infantry. Might have lived long enough to get promoted to Mech Inf (with Mobility!) but the game ended first.
Post the starting position, why don't you, so we can spend a week arguing about where to move the scout.
Waldo
-- There's something very liberating about ignoring early religions and Wonders. (You let other civs spend hammers on Wonders. Then you take them away.)
-- Shaka may have the most overdetermined early teching of any leader. When playing Shaka, there's a pretty clear best path:
Mining
Bronze Working (find the Bronze for Impis)
Wheel (for hooking up same)
Pottery (cheap Granaries, leverage Agriculture, better whipping)
You might throw Fishing in there if you start near coastal resources, or Animal Husbandry if you have animals in your BFC. But otherwise, it's pretty fixed.
If this seems a little rigid, consider the other early techs.
* Mysticism? Dude. Shaka doesn't found religions... Shaka takes religions. No Mysticism until after you've got your second city, and then only if you need to chop a Monument for a border pop.
* Masonry? Maybe if you have Stone or Marble in the BFC, but otherwise forget it. You're not going to build expensive early Wonders -- you're going to take them from the people who do.
* If you beeline Bronze Working and the Wheel, you'll have Impis before barb archers start showing up, so Archery isn't a priority.
* Polytheism, Meditation, Sailing? Don't think so.
-- Mobility is so useful that you may keep an Impi or two around even into the Macemen/Trebuchet era. An Impi can cross a continent as fast as a Keshik, then jump out of the bushes and pick off a strategic resource.
For closer-range raiding, try combining an Impi with a Crossbowman. The CB fends of melee units, the Impi keeps Horse Archers at bay; every turn they move one square and then the Impi spends his second move pillaging. This works great until Knights come on the scene.
-- Finally, Impi medics can last a long, long time. Last time I played Shaka I still had one running around with Infantry. Might have lived long enough to get promoted to Mech Inf (with Mobility!) but the game ended first.
Post the starting position, why don't you, so we can spend a week arguing about where to move the scout.
Waldo
This conjured up an image of an Impi doing exactly that--jumping out of some bushes, yelling "BOO!" and stomping all over someone's sugar canes or whatever, then taking off, leaving the local populace startled and bewildered, muttering, "What the heck was that?!?" 
