Wiki

trigger · strength_ratio

Definition

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

Description

Compares the estimated army strength between the scope country and the one set with 'tag'

Hands-On Notes

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

strength_ratio is commonly used in AI decision-making or diplomatic events to trigger an attack, ultimatum, or faction join only when one nation has a relative military advantage. For example, you can require in an event's trigger block that your nation's estimated strength is at least 1.5 times that of the target nation before allowing a declaration of war option to appear:

# This option only displays if your nation's estimated strength is at least 1.5 times Germany's
trigger = {
    strength_ratio = {
        tag = GER
        ratio = 1.5
    }
}

Synergy

  • [enemies_strength_ratio](/wiki/trigger/enemies_strength_ratio): strength_ratio performs a bilateral comparison against a specified tag, while enemies_strength_ratio aggregates all current enemy belligerents; combining both allows you to satisfy composite military strength checks against "a specific nation" and "all enemies collectively."
  • [has_army_size](/wiki/trigger/has_army_size): Military ratios often need to be paired with an absolute strength floor to prevent the ratio condition from unexpectedly triggering when both sides are weak.
  • [any_enemy_country](/wiki/trigger/any_enemy_country): When iteratively checking multiple potential enemies, you can nest strength_ratio within the limit block of any_enemy_country to filter for the enemy nation where you hold a clear advantage.
  • [declare_war_on](/wiki/effect/declare_war_on): After meeting the military ratio condition, you typically execute a declaration of war in the effect block immediately after; this is the most common downstream effect for this trigger.

Common Pitfalls

  1. Reversing the comparison direction: The ratio value means "scope nation ÷ tag nation," with a value greater than 1 indicating the scope nation is stronger; beginners often mistakenly assume a smaller value means they are stronger, or assign the tag to the nation they want to "overpower" while getting the numerator and denominator backwards, resulting in completely inverted logic.
  2. Overlooking the "estimated" nature leading to unstable results: This trigger uses the game's internal estimated strength (including weights for units in training, equipment reserves, etc.), which differs from the intuitive "deployed forces" players expect; setting overly precise thresholds in AI scripts (such as ratio = 1.01) easily produces unstable behavior due to estimation fluctuations—it is recommended to leave a reasonable safety margin.