In efforts to further his precarious sovereignty, Dadiani easily switched sides, allying himself, alternatively, with the Imeretians, Russians, and Ottomans, as exemplified by his vacillating position during the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774).
In 1757, he had commanded a Mingrelian detachment which fought in the ranks of a united army of the western Georgian rulers led by King Solomon I of Imereti in the victorious battle of Khresili with the invading Ottoman forces.
Totleben's successor, General Sukhotin, attempted to mediate the conflict, but Solomon demanded his suzerainty over Mingrelia be recognized and the dispute over the district of Lechkhumi be settled in Imereti's favor.
[3] After Totleben's failure to take the Ottoman-garrisoned Mingrelian port of Poti, for which he blamed Dadiani, Katsia broke with the Russians, but he had to withdraw from a renewed onslaught on Imereti, led by the Ottoman pasha of Akhaltsikhe, under pressure of Heralcius II, king of Kartli–Kakheti in eastern Georgia.
In power struggles that followed Solomon's death later that year, Katsia rendered important services to a new king of Imereti, David II, his cousin, for which he was rewarded with the fiefs of Sachilao and Samikelao.