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The Empiricist is an archetype of Investigator, so it's not an "or" question. High strength using a longspear works well. Pick up Combat Reflexes, Power Attack and the Investigator Talent: Alchemist Discovery (Mutagen).
*edit* Empiricist is generally considered a strong archetype, so it's a good choice.
Well, I know little about RoW, so I can't really spoil things.
Things I know:
1)It starts in southern Taldor.
2)It does not stay in Taldor; it hops around to some far-flung places.
3)The places it hops to tend to be quite cold.
4)It involves Baba Yaga.
That's what I know about it, all summed up from the Player's Guide.
So, that said, what kind of role were you thinking of taking on, knowing these general facts?
What sort of investigator are you going for? Do you want to be in the thick of things often and do damage while supporting out of combat, or do you want to go full support with extracts, monster knowledge, and aid another?
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Both Reach Str build and Swashigator Build is very effective. I give the edge in skills to the Swashigator build but combat belongs to the STR build. Most high end poly-morphs favor strength form transformation. I will be honest tho I only play the Swashigator. If I was to play the Str reach I would play a Vivisectionist Alchemist. Because greater mutagens are not on the Investigator list and the discoveries are a lot of fun. The Icing on the cake is Brew potion.
But 20 point buy is more than enough to accomplish what your wanting to do with a STR investigator.
I'm currently Playing Skulls and Shackles with a Swashigator and I'm loving it. I planned the first 11 levels out and at the start the DM gave us a free feat. I was on the fence between Toughness or Dirty Fighting. I took the gamble on Dirty Fighting and it has been a great little addition adding fun options. I plan to buy a Dusty Rose Prism and a Wayfinder for the +1 AC, +2 CMB & CMD to compliment the new feat. Its fun to Trip them on my turn and Both of us get the AoO when they stand up and Parry their single attack (If its directed at me). Its a good way to mitigate damage. Or to Disarm the right enemies can tremendously reduce incoming damage to both flankers. I will be honest I am very happy with the package. But I figured you would enjoy the advise about this little gem of a feat.
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I play a Strength build empiricist and it works fine. The loss to your defences isn't as severe as you might expect; at level 9 I can still buff to AC 37 as well as Displacement.
The big upside to Strength builds isn't just damage (although that's a significant factor), but reach, and therefore control over areas of the battlefield. It's far far easier to do Reach using Strength; size increases are not Dex-friendly but they tend to at least break even on Strength. Any reach-increasing trick that works for Dex also works for Strength.
Another upside of Strength is flexibility; all your attacks can use Strength, but to get Dex to damage you have to "buy" that ability for every different kind of weapon. Strength can shapeshift to a 4+ natural attack monster if you just need quantity, or resort to a special-materials weapon if DR is an issue. Dexterity runs into double costs for Agile enchantments or Finesse/Grace feats. Note that Inspired Blade swashbuckler only finesses rapiers.