One of the ways Humankind stands out from other strategy games is around city population and that plays a role in disbanding units. That’s why it’s important to understand how to disband units for a number of reasons. Even if you’re just looking to get rid of expensive gold upkeep from a new batch of units.
How to Disband Units in Humankind
Due to how city population works, you’ll almost always need to expend at least one population to create a unit. As you get to later eras, you may run into units that even require two to make. Fortunately, you can still disband a unit to get that population back immediately.
The fun part of this mechanic is transferring population between cities by using units. While you don’t need to do this, it can help jumpstart a new city with an established one. And you can also get rid of extra armies if a war is over.
Regardless, how to disband units can be a little confusing but don’t worry, it’s not too complicated. First, click the group of units that has one you want to disband. All you need to do is click them on the world map and a window will appear on the right side.
This new window shows the complete regiment of units. Currently, you have the entire group selected and not an individual unit. This means you’ll need to click the specific one that you want to disband. For example, clicking a regiment of three Swordsmen and then clicking one Swordsmen in the right window.
A new dropdown menu will appear in the same area with extra info on that one Swordsmen unit. You’ll likely notice four buttons with one of them having a person and an X icon above them. Click this to disband that unit as long as they’re within your empire’s territory. The disbanded unit will convert to population for the city territory or outpost it’s within.
It’s important to note that the disband button says a unit will convert to one population. If you have a unit such as a War Elephant that takes two population to make, it will still convert to two. Even though the disband button says otherwise.
Another fun trick I like to take advantage of is assimilating a city and then converting its units to population. This can help jumpstart the economy and speed up building queues. Just make sure you’re not leaving it vulnerable if it’s in a dangerous area. The last thing you want is a hostile neighbor stealing it from you.
Why Can’t I Disband a Unit?
The main time that you won’t be able to disband an army is because they’re not inside your territory. If they’re outside your territory or in an enemy area, you won’t be able to get rid of them. This can be a little annoying if you don’t care about losing that population and prefer to get rid of the upkeep. Unfortunately, you’ll still need to return to your empire before doing anything.
If you have any other Humankind questions for me, feel free to comment below the guide for help. I’m currently working on more guides for common questions in the community like How to Increase City Cap. There are several useful tips and tricks for expanding your city without all those negative penalties.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.