trigger · num_occupied_states

Hands-On Usage

num_occupied_states is commonly used to determine whether a country has occupied a sufficient number of enemy states through war, thereby triggering special events, unlocking decisions, or advancing national focuses. For example, in expansion-oriented mods, when a certain country's occupation reaches a defined threshold, you can grant political power or activate specific ideology bonuses.

# Allow activation of a decision when this country's occupied states reach or exceed 10
available = {
    num_occupied_states > 9
}

Synergy

• [any_occupied_country](/wiki/trigger/any_occupied_country): First use num_occupied_states to check the total occupation scale, then use any_occupied_country to iterate through which specific occupied countries meet additional conditions. Together, they enable dual-layer filtering for "large-scale occupation + targeting specific enemies".
• [controls_state](/wiki/trigger/controls_state): Occupation (occupied) and control (control) are distinct states in game logic and are often used in parallel to differentiate between "temporary wartime occupation" and "actual control" scenarios.
• [add_political_power](/wiki/effect/add_political_power): Granting political power when occupied states reach the threshold is the most typical pattern for "expansion-based instant incentives".
• [add_war_support](/wiki/effect/add_war_support): Pair occupation scale checks to dynamically adjust war support, simulating narrative designs like "more occupation equals higher/lower domestic morale".

Common Pitfalls

1. Occupation ≠ Control: num_occupied_states counts states occupied (occupied) by this country, not states controlled (controlled) by it. Beginners often mistake the two as equivalent, causing conditions to fail triggering during war—states that are controlled but not occupied (such as those occupied by allies on your behalf) do not count toward this metric.
2. Scope must be COUNTRY: This trigger can only be placed within a country scope. If mistakenly placed in STATE or CHARACTER scope, it will either throw an error or silently fail. When debugging, verify that the outer scope is a concrete country tag or references pointing to countries such as ROOT/FROM.