Ragnarok: 1939

TL;DR Germany vs the World. Build up your army quick.
Also available: Ragnarok: 1937

Enjoy playing as Germany, but finding the difficulty lacking? Looking for a more even contest? Then Ragnarok might be just what you’re looking for.

Some mods aim to increase difficulty by trying to make the AI smarter or giving it large bonuses, others by slapping the player with harsh penalties. Ragnarok takes a different approach. By making a few subtle diplomatic adjustments, the German player should get the challenge they’ve been craving.

You might want to man your borders.
ALL your borders.

Intended only for the 1936 scenario, whilst playing as the German Reich.

Recommended settings
Difficulty: Recruit is a good idea, at least for your first playthrough
Historical AI Focuses – enabled: reduces the chance of inadvertently starting the world war early
Ragnarok: 1937 is harder than the 1939 scenario, and has some extra options available at the start for tailoring difficulty.

You have one year (Ragnarok: 1937) or three years (Ragnarok: 1939) to prepare, use them wisely.

Getting into a war with anyone starts the world war prematurely.
Ragnarok: 1937 only – ‘First Vienna Award’ and ‘First Ljubljana Award’ are off limits. Beginning work on either of these national focuses will also trigger an early world war.

In battles, the amount of combat width available has been nearly tripled. Forts have been substantially reduced in effectiveness.

It’s best to spend the first few minutes of the game deciding on one’s long-term strategy. Where will you attack first, where are you going to defend, and what will you abandon? Pay close attention to terrain and rivers, as defending in open plains will prove difficult.

Only puppets will remain loyal after the outbreak of war so national focuses that befriend other countries are a waste of time. In the 1937 scenario, you can only complete five focuses before the outbreak of war, so you need to be highly selective.

Mods that rebalance the game will have unpredictable effects on the difficulty and so are best avoided.

Any mods that alter the ’00_terrain.txt’ file will negate the combat width changes. To check if another mod does so, from the Paradox game launcher, go to the "All installed mods" screen, hover over a mod and then the three dots (‘…’) that appear and select "Show in folder". If there is a "commonterrain0_terrain.txt" file within, the mod will be incompatible.

v1.4.18
-copied the changes patch 1.13 made to the 00_terrain.txt file

v1.4.17
-small changes to work better with Arms Against Tyranny/1.13 patch

v1.4.16
-HOI4 version compatibility changed to 1.13

v1.4.15
-small adjustments to mid- and late-game balance

v1.4.14
-will ensure Unplanned Offensive debuff from Spanish states is removed

v1.4.13
-Communist China uprising should no longer occur

v1.4.12
-Mussolini will no longer be deposed

v1.4.11
-Britain and the US will send troops to Europe sooner

v1.4.10
-couple extra operative slots for Germany once you become Spymaster

v1.4.9
-suppressed civil war in Mexico
-now also sets Churchill as British leader if he disappears

v1.4.8
-suppressed some rebellions in Spain
-de Gaulle will be installed as Free France leader if he disappears

v1.4.7
-tightened up conditions regarding some special events for the Soviet Union
-one of the DLCs caused Vichy France to be neutral instead of a puppet of Germany; Allies will now declare war on a neutral Vichy

v1.4.6
-increased division limit before stacking penalty starts to be applied
-AI should prioritize defending Benelux a bit more

v1.4.5
-some small balance adjustments

v1.4.4
-default HoI4 Allied AI would ignore defending Poland before 1940 or until it capitulated

v1.4.3
-Allied countries should have fewer rebellions now
-France will no longer ask Germany to agree to Spanish non-intervention after the war starts
-some small balance adjustments

v1.4.2
-some small balance adjustments

v1.4.1
-added a production line for AA and trains because the war will be over by the time a player-created line reaches high efficiency
-after Anschluss, the special forces cap will be raised
-fixed production UI often being out of date on the first day

v1.4.0
-extensively rewritten for compatibility with HoI4 version 1.12
-removed mod compatibility options as they were seriously outdated
-von Falkenhausen now recalled at start of war