Taking capital, add to HRE, return province, conquer new capital - does it work?

[Neos Alexandros]

I've conquered Paris and Constantinople and added both to the HRE. Lets say I return the provinces to baguette and kebab and then take their new capitals, will their new capital automatically become these cities and make them HRE princes? I realize that France and the Ottomans are not "fixed capital" nations, but these are the highest development provinces that would be in their territory. Is development the pure deciding factor or will the game specifically refrain from those provinces since they are HRE?

[g_mod23]

I have taken the Burgundy & Venice capital previously and watched them move their capital into the HRE.
It is potentially more likely to just keep battering them until they can be vassalised.

[Neos Alexandros]

I tested this for France and they do move capital back to HRE Paris. If anyone has done this before with the Ottomans I would still like to know.

[Omniconda]

it used to work where if they had no primary culture provinces other than the HRe one they would move it there but i havnt been able to get it to work recently so might work.

usued to be possible to force Ming into teh HRE like this

[salatrin]

Even though the Ottomans dont have a fixed capital, id think that if you could get Constantinople into the HRE before the Ottomans ever take it the first time, then give it to them after, they should more then likely use the decision to make it their capital as they always do.

[Neos Alexandros]

Originally posted by salatrin:

Even though the Ottomans dont have a fixed capital, id think that if you could get Constantinople into the HRE before the Ottomans ever take it the first time, then give it to them after, they should more then likely use the decision to make it their capital as they always do.

I need this information for a current game in which Ottomans already conquered Constantinople (and I have since conquered it from them). Just need a confirmation that I can give it back to them and force them into the HRE by taking their new capital.

[Neos Alexandros]

What I'm really asking is when a capital is conquered what exactly is the criteria of where the new capital is moved? Does it have to be the same religion as the country?

[bri]

Originally posted by The_Strategist:

What I'm really asking is when a capital is conquered what exactly is the criteria of where the new capital is moved? Does it have to be the same religion as the country?

Generally it moves to the most valuable province on the same continent.

[Neos Alexandros]

Alright I just finished fighting the Ottomans and it turns out I returned Constantinople for nothing because they moved their capital to Ankara. It looks like they go for the highest development province that shares their religion and probably culture as well, while ignoring whether the province is hre or not.

[Windle]

In a game I just wrapped up a few days ago I attempted and successfully got the Ottomans into the HRE using the method you're talking about. I had to declare about six different wars, each time taking their new capital, until they moved their capital back to Constantinople. But it was worth it to have them in the HRE and being able to instantly integrate them and get full cores on all their land

[Windle]

And to further add to that same strategy of taking and returning capitals to force members into the HRE, you can also use this to vassalize those same nations. I first saw this from a youtuber called Budgetmonk, he would declare war on a nation (doesn't matter which one) and offer a a peace deal to remove an imperial reform, this would then allow him to pass the Revoke Privileges reform again and vassalize any new nations that he had added, potentially allowing a player to vassalize the Ottomans