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My primary war enemy was now the Ottomans. Progress on pushing into his territory was slow, but I did manage to take one of his cities. Of course, what also mattered to me was wiping out what remained of Mongolia so that Cyrus could never ask me to return all those cities. After all, I had conquered so many cities that they made the majority of my empire. To lose them through a voting process would be crippling to me.

What would also at least seem crippling to me is if Cyrus decided to simply invade my lands. He and I shared a long border after my conquests with Mongolia. And I may have had more military might than him, but much of that was tied into fighting against the Ottomans. Sure enough, Cyrus knew this and declared war. To make matters more tricky (if by a little), Catherine was now a vassal to Cyrus.

What helped me a lot, however, was that one of my cities next to his border was more heavily fortified than any other in my empire, and that was the one that defended against a quite huge stack of army. Cyrus had lost a large chunk of his forces right there. However, he did try again at a less heavily defended city, and sent in so much that all that remained were two trebuchets. And all other defense forces were too far away. For that situation, I found myself with two options. Option A was that I withdraw the trebuchets and lose the city without a fight. Option B was I lose the trebuchets and the city with them. I chose A. It was the most strategic retreat I ever made, even if it was probably nowhere near the most important.

After Cyrus declared war on me, I decided to focus most of my efforts toward defeating him. His army's military strength is second only to mine, which still needs to guard my cities from the wraths of Mehmed and Catherine. (Kublai Khan played the defensive for the rest of the war.) To deal with this more effectively, I bribed Qin Shi Huang of China and Shaka of the Zulus to joining the war against Persia. They captured few (if any) cities, but they acted as great diversions.

Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword (c) Firaxis Games and 2K Games.

Description
My primary war enemy was now the Ottomans. Progress on pushing into his territory was slow, but I did manage to take one of his cities. Of course, what also mattered to me was wiping out what remained of Mongolia so that Cyrus could never ask me to return all those cities. After all, I had conquered so many cities that they made the majority of my empire. To lose them through a voting process would be crippling to me.

What would also at least seem crippling to me is if Cyrus decided to simply invade my lands. He and I shared a long border after my conquests with Mongolia. And I may have had more military might than him, but much of that was tied into fighting against the Ottomans. Sure enough, Cyrus knew this and declared war. To make matters more tricky (if by a little), Catherine was now a vassal to Cyrus.

What helped me a lot, however, was that one of my cities next to his border was more heavily fortified than any other in my empire, and that was the one that defended against a quite huge stack of army. Cyrus had lost a large chunk of his forces right there. However, he did try again at a less heavily defended city, and sent in so much that all that remained were two trebuchets. And all other defense forces were too far away. For that situation, I found myself with two options. Option A was that I withdraw the trebuchets and lose the city without a fight. Option B was I lose the trebuchets and the city with them. I chose A. It was the most strategic retreat I ever made, even if it was probably nowhere near the most important.

After Cyrus declared war on me, I decided to focus most of my efforts toward defeating him. His army's military strength is second only to mine, which still needs to guard my cities from the wraths of Mehmed and Catherine. (Kublai Khan played the defensive for the rest of the war.) To deal with this more effectively, I bribed Qin Shi Huang of China and Shaka of the Zulus to joining the war against Persia. They captured few (if any) cities, but they acted as great diversions.

Civilization IV - Beyond the Sword (c) Firaxis Games and 2K Games.