I was thinking what a city named "Attila's Court" might actually be if the Huns lost its capital and was forced to relocate to another city from a borrowed name list.
What if the second function of Great Generals is that you can "settle" it in one of your own city and it will relocate your capital to that one.
The great general, then, would be understood to be the personification of your empire's seat of power.
While this would not be desirable for many play-through where you are content with your starting city, it has the potential to emulate many civilization's history, particularly militaristic civilizations that did relocate their capital rather frequently.
I want to be, as Alexander, to start out as far-flung Macedonia, conquer the known world all the way to India, and then settle down in the geographic centre of my empire, Babylon.
Or, as the Ottomans, I want to be able to conquer Constantinople and immediately claim to be the successor empire, founding Istanbul within the rubbles of Queen of cities.
As the Mongols, I want to be able to start in a pastoral backwater of Karakorum, push into Central Asia, and then conquer China, eventually founding the Chinese Yuan Dynasty in Beiping (Dadu), which used to be a provincial capital until the Mongols raised its importance, and then became used as the capital of native Chinese dynasties ever since that time.
Or as Japan, Kyoto is landlocked, sleepy town next to a lake yet Tokyo sits on a fertile river valley next to Mt. Fuji and has access to coast, iron working has revealed plenty of iron and Civil service gives much potential to Tokyo as the new capital. I want to use my great general Tokugawa to move the capital to Tokyo and grow it into a global megalopolis.
How about China? China literally had a different capital every time a dynasty changed. Some cities were used more than once, like Beijing or Xian. One of my greatest pet peeve actually, is that the starting city of China is Beijing. Obviously, developers knew a lot more about Japanese history than China's. Kyoto being the Japanese capital is a good aesthetic decision, if you extend it to China, the capital should definitely be Chang'an (Xian), not only was it the first capital of unified China under the first emperor who built the Great Wall, it also happened to be the capital of Tang dynasty 800 years later under Wu Zetian, but I digress.
Or as the Russians, I want to be able to start in Moscow, while for centuries, you were content to be in the middle of vast plains and forests, you look out and see that the only way to be a world power is to have access to the sea. Seeing a tiny yet productive coastline into a sea occupied by your rivals, you can found St. Petersburg, then quickly settle Peter the Great there to start your adventure set your sights on your more technologically advanced rivals.
Your first capital will always be considered the heartland, the origin of your empire and will still count towards Domination victory, so you cannot just neglect it and trade it away, so this mechanics wouldn't conflict with the present domination victory requirements.
What if the second function of Great Generals is that you can "settle" it in one of your own city and it will relocate your capital to that one.
The great general, then, would be understood to be the personification of your empire's seat of power.
While this would not be desirable for many play-through where you are content with your starting city, it has the potential to emulate many civilization's history, particularly militaristic civilizations that did relocate their capital rather frequently.
I want to be, as Alexander, to start out as far-flung Macedonia, conquer the known world all the way to India, and then settle down in the geographic centre of my empire, Babylon.
Or, as the Ottomans, I want to be able to conquer Constantinople and immediately claim to be the successor empire, founding Istanbul within the rubbles of Queen of cities.
As the Mongols, I want to be able to start in a pastoral backwater of Karakorum, push into Central Asia, and then conquer China, eventually founding the Chinese Yuan Dynasty in Beiping (Dadu), which used to be a provincial capital until the Mongols raised its importance, and then became used as the capital of native Chinese dynasties ever since that time.
Or as Japan, Kyoto is landlocked, sleepy town next to a lake yet Tokyo sits on a fertile river valley next to Mt. Fuji and has access to coast, iron working has revealed plenty of iron and Civil service gives much potential to Tokyo as the new capital. I want to use my great general Tokugawa to move the capital to Tokyo and grow it into a global megalopolis.
How about China? China literally had a different capital every time a dynasty changed. Some cities were used more than once, like Beijing or Xian. One of my greatest pet peeve actually, is that the starting city of China is Beijing. Obviously, developers knew a lot more about Japanese history than China's. Kyoto being the Japanese capital is a good aesthetic decision, if you extend it to China, the capital should definitely be Chang'an (Xian), not only was it the first capital of unified China under the first emperor who built the Great Wall, it also happened to be the capital of Tang dynasty 800 years later under Wu Zetian, but I digress.
Spoiler:
Or as the Russians, I want to be able to start in Moscow, while for centuries, you were content to be in the middle of vast plains and forests, you look out and see that the only way to be a world power is to have access to the sea. Seeing a tiny yet productive coastline into a sea occupied by your rivals, you can found St. Petersburg, then quickly settle Peter the Great there to start your adventure set your sights on your more technologically advanced rivals.
Your first capital will always be considered the heartland, the origin of your empire and will still count towards Domination victory, so you cannot just neglect it and trade it away, so this mechanics wouldn't conflict with the present domination victory requirements.