trigger · has_war_with_major

Hands-On Usage

has_war_with_major is commonly used to determine whether a country is engaged in war with a major power, triggering specific events, unlocking decisions, or restricting diplomatic actions. For example, in a custom focus tree, a wartime mobilization decision can only be executed when the player is at war with any major power:

available = {
    has_war_with_major = yes
}

It can also be used in reverse (= no) to restrict diplomatic focuses that only trigger during peacetime.

Synergy

• [has_defensive_war](/wiki/trigger/has_defensive_war): Frequently combined with has_war_with_major to further distinguish whether the player is actively attacking or being invaded by a major power, enabling differentiated trigger conditions.
• [any_enemy_country](/wiki/trigger/any_enemy_country): After confirming war with a major power, use this trigger to iterate through enemy countries for more granular checks, such as verifying whether a specific major power is a combatant.
• [has_war_support](/wiki/trigger/has_war_support) (note: the whitelist includes subtypes like has_bombing_war_support / has_casualties_war_support) or [has_capitulated](/wiki/trigger/has_capitulated): Combine with has_war_with_major to check whether certain conditions are met after a major power war enters a specific stage.
• [add_war_support](/wiki/effect/add_war_support): As a result effect, grant additional war support bonuses when confirming war with a major power, simulating the atmosphere of total national mobilization.

Common Pitfalls

1. Confusing the "major power" classification standard: The "major" designation in-game is dynamically evaluated by the engine based on overall strength, not a fixed country list. Newcomers sometimes assume only the default seven major powers qualify, but in reality, countries that grow in power during gameplay may also be promoted to major status, causing the trigger to return yes in unexpected circumstances.
2. Forgetting to specify = yes or = no: This trigger requires explicit assignment. Writing has_war_with_major without = yes will cause script parsing errors or silent failure, especially easy to overlook in nested conditional blocks.