effect · add_ideas

Hands-On Usage

add_ideas is most commonly used to grant nations special bonuses, advisor policies, or spirit buffs upon focus completion, and is also widely employed in event options to dynamically switch a nation's ideology alignment or war mobilization state. For example, in a focus effect that adds an industrial mobilization spirit to a nation:

focus = {
    id = GER_war_economy
    # ...
    completion_reward = {
        add_ideas = war_economy
    }
}

You can also add multiple ideas at once:

add_ideas = {
    my_custom_idea_1
    my_custom_idea_2
}

Synergy

• [add_timed_idea](/wiki/effect/add_timed_idea) — When you need to set an auto-removal deadline for an idea (such as a temporary wartime mobilization decree), use it alongside add_ideas or as its replacement; the two are semantically complementary.
• [has_allowed_idea_with_traits](/wiki/trigger/has_allowed_idea_with_traits) / [has_available_idea_with_traits](/wiki/trigger/has_available_idea_with_traits) — Before adding advisor-class ideas, use triggers to verify that the idea is legal and available, preventing script errors or logical contradictions.
• [add_dynamic_modifier](/wiki/effect/add_dynamic_modifier) — add_ideas handles static fixed bonuses, while add_dynamic_modifier handles bonuses that scale with variables; the two are often used together in the same reward block to achieve compound effects.
• [amount_taken_ideas](/wiki/trigger/amount_taken_ideas) — Used to check the current number of ideas held, paired with decisions or event triggers in conditional blocks to prevent duplicate stacking of similar ideas.

Common Pitfalls

1. Referencing an idea directly without defining it in the ideas file: The game won't crash with an obvious error, but the idea silently fails to apply, and the log will show an unknown idea warning. Newcomers often spend excessive time debugging why values aren't taking effect due to this.
2. Confusing advisor ideas with regular ideas when adding them: Advisor ideas with an advisor slot should prioritize using [activate_advisor](/wiki/effect/activate_advisor) to activate them. Directly adding advisors with add_ideas sometimes bypasses slot-occupation logic, causing advisor slots to display incorrectly or create conflicts with other scripts.