Hands-On Usage
num_operative_slots is commonly used to check whether a country currently has available operative slots, making it ideal for conditions in decisions, focuses, or missions' available blocks to prevent players or AI from triggering related effects when slots are exhausted. For example, in a "Deploy Operative for Infiltration" decision, you can require the country to possess a minimum number of available slots before execution:
available = {
num_operative_slots > 0
}
Synergy
[any_operative_leader](/wiki/trigger/any_operative_leader): Can be used to further check the status of existing operatives, combined with slot count to evaluate compound conditions like "has free slots AND specific operative type is not deployed".
[create_operative_leader](/wiki/effect/create_operative_leader): Execute operative creation effects only when slots are sufficient, avoiding logical conflicts.
[has_completed_focus](/wiki/trigger/has_completed_focus): Many national focuses unlock additional operative slots; using them together allows you to verify whether prerequisite focuses are completed before checking if slot benefits are active.
[agency_upgrade_number](/wiki/trigger/agency_upgrade_number): Intelligence agency upgrades also affect operative slot caps; combining both enables precise description of intelligence system development level.
Common Pitfalls
- Conflating "slot count" with "can recruit immediately": This trigger detects total available slots, not "can recruit right now" status—when an operative occupying a slot is executing a mission, the slot count remains unchanged, but you cannot immediately fill that slot with a new operative. Newcomers often make logical errors due to this confusion.
- Using outside COUNTRY scope: This trigger only works under country scope; accidentally placing it in STATE or CHARACTER scope condition blocks will cause the game to error or silently fail. Be sure to explicitly switch back to country scope using
ROOT/FROM before calling it.