Wiki

effect · activate_mission

Definition

  • Supported scope:COUNTRY
  • Supported target:none

Description

Activates mission, ignoring its normal trigger conditions. Cannot activate a mission that is already active. 
Example: activate_mission = some_mission_here

Hands-On Notes

Hands-on notes are AI-generated and checked against the vanilla command vocabulary — treat them as a starting point, not authoritative reference. The definition above is the game's own documentation.

Hands-On Usage

activate_mission is commonly used in scenario mods to bypass a mission's own trigger conditions via events or national focuses, forcing activation of a time-limited mission. This is ideal for situations where you need to advance a mission chain at a specific narrative checkpoint but cannot guarantee the trigger conditions will be met. For example, immediately activating a diplomatic time-limited mission upon completing a national focus:

focus = {
    id = GER_activate_diplomatic_mission
    ...
    completion_reward = {
        activate_mission = GER_ultimatum_mission
    }
}

Synergy

  • [has_active_mission](/wiki/trigger/has_active_mission): Before or during mission activation, use this trigger to detect whether the mission is already active, preventing duplicate logic or providing notifications.
  • [activate_mission_tooltip](/wiki/effect/activate_mission_tooltip): Used together in UI hint blocks (such as custom_effect_tooltip) to display mission information to the player upon activation, improving readability.
  • [add_days_mission_timeout](/wiki/effect/add_days_mission_timeout): After mission activation, combine with this command to dynamically extend or adjust the mission's countdown timer, giving flexible control over the mission deadline.
  • [country_event](/wiki/effect/country_event): Mission activation typically triggers an associated event simultaneously, providing narrative context to the player or offering additional choices.

Common Pitfalls

  1. Calling activate_mission on an already-active mission fails silently: The engine explicitly does not support activating a mission that is already in an active state. The game will not throw an error—it simply does nothing. New modders often mistake this for a scripting bug. Always guard your calls with [has_active_mission](/wiki/trigger/has_active_mission) to check beforehand.
  2. The mission must exist in the missions folder: The mission ID passed to activate_mission must have a complete definition under common/missions/, and its owning country scope must match correctly. If the mission's assigned country does not match the current scope, the mission will not activate, and no error will be logged.