Quote Originally Posted by fluffyunbound
You know, I never thought of that.

I always assumed units had to be in a city to be disbanded.
If the men do go somewhere other than into your nearest city, it's certainly a better option than paying for a ship, putting them on it and getting it sunk.

But I'm puzzled by this discussion. I've never had terrible population problems, as growth tends to slack off when cities get especially large. I imagine though not having the money for public order-increasing buildings or growth-restricting ones could make things difficult. I must add though that once my empire gets past a certain size and the distance-to-capital penalty quite severe I exterminate conquered cities as a matter of course. With four turns per year they have plenty of time to grow back, and the lower income is acceptable because with more surly new citizens I'd have to pay for more garrison troops and, in some cases, pay to repair buildings damaged by rioting.