trigger · has_capitulated

Hands-On Usage

has_capitulated is commonly used to check whether a country has surrendered, thereby triggering subsequent narrative events, unlocking decisions, or adjusting AI strategic objectives. For example, rewarding the player's country after a war victory, or triggering a special event chain when an ally surrenders.

# In the available block of a focus, ensure the target country has capitulated before selecting that focus
available = {
    FROM = {
        has_capitulated = yes
    }
}

Synergy

• [days_since_capitulated](/wiki/trigger/days_since_capitulated): Often paired with has_capitulated; use the former to confirm capitulation status first, then the latter to determine how many days have passed since capitulation, avoiding immediate trigger of subsequent logic at the moment of surrender.
• [exists](/wiki/trigger/exists): A capitulated country may still exists (not yet annexed). Using both together allows precise distinction between "capitulated but still exists" and "completely eliminated" states.
• [any_enemy_country](/wiki/trigger/any_enemy_country): Used in conjunction when looping through enemy countries; allows quick filtering of all capitulated enemies for unified processing.
• [annex_country](/wiki/effect/annex_country): Typical pairing when executing annexation after confirming capitulation; use has_capitulated as a gating check first, then call this effect to complete the annexation.

Common Pitfalls

1. Mistaking capitulation for elimination: has_capitulated = yes only means the country has surrendered in the current war and does not mean its tag has vanished from the map; the country may still have exists = yes. If you need to check for complete elimination, additionally add exists = no.
2. Using outside of war context: After war ends (peace conference concludes), the capitulation status is cleared, and has_capitulated will return no. Therefore, it cannot be used to "record a history of past capitulations." If persistent recording is needed, use country flags instead (set_country_flag / has_country_flag).