Noob Fighting Culture

[Mknn]

Sorry for the length ... While I was distracted providing air support for WWI on another continent, I had something happen that is clearly my fault for not "minding the home front," but I'm not sure how to counteract. Here's the deal:

I'm Korea, and am poised for an eventual space victory. Early in the game, I conquered a barb city, Estruscan, that quickly turned into my 2nd best science center and, hence, pretty important. Estruscan is on my N border, next to Pakistan who have formed a perm alliance with Masaai to my E, who are my only real tech rivals.

I got caught up in bombing the crap out of Tokugawa and Eyadema, and didn't notice until the war was over that Estruscan was in huge trouble. Its population is down to ONE, and Pakistan now controls all of its fat cross to the N, as well as the tiles directly E & W of the city. The Southern tiles, which are still under its control, are almost all commerce. No matter what I do, I can't get the population over 1 (I even destroyed a town for a farm), and even though I have slowed considerably on my tech rsrch to pump out culture, can't seem to make any headway in controlling those tiles (the best I have is a 42/58 disadv. v. Pakistan).

I assume Bhutto (RIP) consumed a great artist in her city to the N. of Estruscan, but I have no clue how to fight it. I'd rather not have war against Paki/Masaai, as while I have more tech than they do, they have a TON if infantry, and I'd have to take out a lot of Paki to not just have the same culture issue right after the war.

 

[Whitedragon]

Do you have any other nearby cities to help push back the cultural borders?

I would recommend building culture in the city and (if you are running Universial Sufferage) buying some culture supplying buildings over the next several turns.

Watch the culture percentages in and around the city over those next turns. If the percentage of your culture in the down continues to drop, you may not be able to keep the city. However, if it climbs you are producing more culture than your neighbor and you will (Over time) take back the land that was taken from you.

Of course, if you want an easy solution, declare war and capture/raze the offending city.

 

[OTAKUjbski]

... can't seem to make any headway in controlling those tiles (the best I have is a 42/58 disadv. v. Pakistan).

At this stage in the game, a 9% disadvantage can easily represent tens of thousands of culture points you need to overcome to regain control over those tiles.

This means a Great Work might be enough to regain control of the tiles immediately around Etruscan but very likely not enough to gain full control of the BFC.

You need lots of culture buildings and a culture bomb.

EDIT: See Culture Mechanics Disassembled for more information on how to make the most of a Culture Bomb.