In what way would it be consistently advantageous over "Get laid. Do not get killed"?

It wouldn't, but "Get laid. Do not get killed" is a low bar to clear. Once you can do that, your goals may change to finding the best possible partner to get laid with/by (what is the correct preposition here?) and this is where status comes in.

As to your other objection:

If status was really what women wanted, the vast majority of men would go to their graves without ever getting laid.

Women also have status. High-status women sleep with high-status men and low-status women sleep with low-status men. (Also high-status men sometimes sleep with other high-status men and so on.)