effect · remove_unit_leader_role

Hands-On Usage

When you need to transition a character from a field commander to a political advisor or scientist, you must first use this command to strip their military responsibilities, then assign a new role. This is commonly seen in character growth event chains or political purge events. For example, a general wounded and withdrawn from combat to take up an advisory position:

# Within country scope, remove the corps commander role from a specific general
remove_unit_leader_role = {
    character = GER_von_manstein
}
# Subsequently assign an advisor role
add_advisor_role = {
    character = GER_von_manstein
    advisor = {
        slot = theorist
        idea_token = GER_von_manstein_theorist
        cost = 0
    }
}

Synergy

• [add_advisor_role](/wiki/effect/add_advisor_role): Removing a military position followed immediately by assigning an advisor role is the standard pairing for character transitions.
• [remove_unit_leader](/wiki/effect/remove_unit_leader): If the character no longer needs to exist in the game, you can completely remove the unit leader after stripping their position.
• [add_corps_commander_role](/wiki/effect/add_corps_commander_role) / [add_field_marshal_role](/wiki/effect/add_field_marshal_role): Remove the old military position before adding a new one to switch command hierarchy during promotion or demotion events.
• [has_advisor_role](/wiki/trigger/has_advisor_role): Before executing removal, use this to check the character's current position via conditional, preventing duplicate operations on characters who no longer hold that role.

Common Pitfalls

1. Calling in the wrong scope: If you call this command within a state scope or other non-COUNTRY/CHARACTER scope, the script will fail silently without error messages. Always verify that the outer scope is a country or the character themselves.
2. Forgetting to handle character status after role removal: Removing a military position does not automatically assign the character a new role. If a character subsequently has neither a military position nor an advisor position, they will remain in the game consuming resources with no actual function. You should pair this with subsequent commands to explicitly assign a new role or use [remove_unit_leader](/wiki/effect/remove_unit_leader) to remove them entirely.