effect · `damage_building`

Definition

Supported scope:STATE, COUNTRY
Supported target:THIS, ROOT, PREV, FROM, OWNER, CONTROLLER, OCCUPIED, CAPITAL

Description

Damages a building in a targeted state or province.
Example:
damage_building = {
	type = industrial_complex
	damage = 2.4
	repair_speed_modifier = -0.5 # repair will be 50% slower until building is fully repaired
}

The building can also be specified through tags.
Example: damage_building = {
	tags = facility # can be a single tag or a { }-wrapped list of tags
	damage = 2.4
	repair_speed_modifier = -0.5 # repair will be 50% slower until building is fully repaired
}

The above examples will only work in state scope where buildings can be found through the scope state,
and province buildings are recursively found from that state.

You can also manually specify either a state or province:

damage_building = {
	type = industrial_complex
	province = 500 # or a variable like var:target_province
	damage = 2.4
}

damage_building = {
	type = industrial_complex
	state = 35 # or a variable like var:target_state
	damage = 2.4
}

If the building is a province building but only a state has been specicied, all provinces in that state will be
searched to find the first matching province building.

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

damage_building is commonly used in events or decisions to simulate the narrative effects of war damage, bombing consequences, or sabotage operations—for example, destroying an enemy's industrial facilities during a spy action event. When triggered at the province or state level, you can precisely specify the target province or state, avoiding unintended damage to all similar buildings across an entire region.

# In an event scoped to a STATE, damage infrastructure in a specified province
immediate = {
    damage_building = {
        type = infrastructure
        province = var:sabotage_target_province
        damage = 1.5
        repair_speed_modifier = -0.3
    }
}

Synergy

[remove_building](/wiki/effect/remove_building): When a building needs to be completely destroyed rather than merely damaged, chain this after damage_building to create a complete "damage then demolish" workflow.
[add_province_modifier](/wiki/effect/add_province_modifier): After damaging a building, simultaneously apply a repair penalty or production malus modifier to the province, amplifying the cascading negative effects of the event.
[any_province_building_level](/wiki/trigger/any_province_building_level): Before executing damage, use this trigger to verify that the target building exists and meets the required level conditions, preventing wasted commands on nonexistent targets.
[state_event](/wiki/effect/state_event): After damage is complete, fire a follow-up event to notify relevant nations or advance story branches, creating a cohesive event chain.

Common Pitfalls

Forgetting to specify state or province under COUNTRY scope: When the scope is a country rather than a state, you must manually provide either state = ... or province = ... fields. Otherwise, the game cannot locate the target building and the command silently fails. Newcomers often mistakenly assume COUNTRY scope automatically searches the capital or entire nation.
Specifying only state for province-level buildings while expecting precise targeting: According to official documentation, province-level buildings with only a state specified will recursively search all provinces in that state and hit the first match. To maintain precise control, you must explicitly provide province; otherwise you risk damaging unintended buildings in other provinces of the same type.

effect · damage_building