forum.freeciv.org

Before November 1st, I could join settlers to cities by pressing 'B' while in the city, and could disband units to recover half of their construction cost. After that time, ordering settlers to build in a city fails with "Cannot build city on [Plains/Tundra/other terrain]" appearing in the console. Trying to disband units results in a suggestion to "recycle" them, with no shields gained and the unit apparently lost (on one occasion, the unit came back the next turn).

GHermann wrote:Trying to disband units results in a suggestion to "recycle" them,

The server refused to disband the unit (without reusing 50% of its shields) and suggested that you recycle it (for 50% of its shields) in stead. The change that makes Freeciv-web order "Recycle Unit" when disbanding a unit inside a city probably hadn't reached play.freeciv.org when you experienced your problem.

GHermann wrote:with no shields gained and the unit apparently lost (on one occasion, the unit came back the next turn).

The web client assumed that the unit was gone. Bad assumption. Removed. Not sure when it will reach play.freeciv.org.

GHermann wrote:After that time, ordering settlers to build in a city fails with "Cannot build city on [Plains/Tundra/other terrain]" appearing in the console.

Been like that since the end of March. Old behavior restored. Thanks for the reminder. Not sure when it will reach play.freeciv.org.

Work around
Choose "Do... (D)" and select the action you want.

Explanation
Some actions have been split. This gives ruleset authors more control over when an action is legal. It also gives the player the certainty that the intended action will be performed. If the player orders "Recycle Unit" (after pressing d) the unit won't be disbanded unless a city can receive its shields.