trigger · has_autonomy_state

Hands-On Usage

has_autonomy_state is commonly used to check whether a country is currently in a specific autonomy tier. For example, in a puppet state's national focus or decision, you can detect whether it is a "puppet" or "dominion" to unlock options for seeking independence or further suppression. It can also be used on the suzerain side to check a subject's autonomy status in AI strategies or events before deciding whether to grant greater autonomy.

# Subject state decision: only available if the country is a puppet
available = {
    has_autonomy_state = puppet
}

Synergy

• [compare_autonomy_state](/wiki/trigger/compare_autonomy_state): Complements has_autonomy_state. The former can compare two autonomy tiers, and both are often used together to cover both "equal to a specific tier" and "higher/lower than a tier" scenarios.
• [compare_autonomy_progress_ratio](/wiki/trigger/compare_autonomy_progress_ratio): Used to further check the current autonomy progress ratio. Combined with has_autonomy_state, it can precisely describe compound conditions like "in puppet state with autonomy progress exceeding fifty percent".
• [add_autonomy_score](/wiki/effect/add_autonomy_score): After confirming the autonomy tier, use this effect to reward or penalize the autonomy score. This is the standard "check first, then modify" approach.
• [end_puppet](/wiki/effect/end_puppet): In a suzerain's event or national focus effect block, first confirm the target is indeed a subject using has_autonomy_state, then call this effect to remove the puppet relationship, avoiding accidental triggers on non-subject nations.

Common Pitfalls

1. Misspelled autonomy state string: The keywords for autonomy tiers (such as puppet, dominion, integrated_puppet, etc.) must exactly match the id defined in the game's autonomy_states, and any spelling or capitalization deviation will cause the condition to never trigger. The game typically does not report such errors, making them difficult to debug.
2. Scope confusion: This trigger only works in COUNTRY scope. Beginners often mistakenly use it directly in a STATE scope's limit block, causing script errors or silent parsing failures. If you need to use it within state-related loops, you must first switch back to country scope using OWNER or controller.