trigger · is_capital

Hands-On Usage

is_capital is commonly used in regional events or decisions to restrict certain effects to trigger only on the capital state, such as when applying occupation penalties, adjusting compliance, or constructing special buildings while excluding or specifically targeting the capital state. Typical scenarios include resistance movement mods where additional suppression or compliance bonuses are applied to the capital state, or in victory condition scripts where you need to check whether an enemy nation's capital has been occupied.

# In a limit block: apply special occupation law only to the capital state
every_state = {
    limit = {
        is_capital = yes
        is_controlled_by = ROOT
        NOT = { is_owned_by = ROOT }
    }
    set_occupation_law = martial_law
}

Synergy

• [is_owned_by](/wiki/trigger/is_owned_by): Ownership determination for the capital state, frequently paired with is_capital to verify the combined condition "whether a nation's capital has been occupied or controlled by a specific country."
• [compliance](/wiki/trigger/compliance): Compliance in the capital state often carries special policy significance; combined with is_capital, you can set compliance thresholds or triggers for the capital separately from other states.
• [set_occupation_law](/wiki/effect/set_occupation_law): After confirming a state is the capital, apply occupation laws specifically to it; capitals typically require different management strategies than other states.
• [add_compliance](/wiki/effect/add_compliance): Adjust compliance independently for the capital state, commonly paired with is_capital in event or decision effect blocks to limit the scope of application.

Common Pitfalls

1. Confusing scope types: is_capital can only be used in STATE scope. Beginners sometimes write is_capital = yes directly in condition blocks under COUNTRY scope, causing script errors or triggers that never fire—you must first enter state scope using capital_scope = { } or every_state before checking this condition.
2. Mistakenly believing it can check "a specific nation's capital": This trigger only checks whether the current state is the capital of its owner nation; it cannot directly accept a country tag parameter to query a specific nation's capital. You need to combine it with triggers like is_owned_by to establish the owning nation's identity.