Ragnarok: 1937

TL;DR Germany vs the World. Build up your army quick.
Also available: Ragnarok: 1939

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, 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. Both have options available at the start for tailoring difficulty further.

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.

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

• at the outbreak of war, forces in neighboring countries will be weak until allied reinforcements arrive
• pay close attention to rivers, terrain and the location of VP provinces
• synthetic plants are a terrible source of fuel

1937-specific:

• you want to convert as much manpower into troops in the field as possible; support brigades are a lower priority than simply having boots on the ground
• getting ahold of Austria’s factories should be of the utmost priority
• cheap tanks > expensive tanks
• railways > forts
• military factories > all

Mods that rebalance the game will have unpredictable effects on the difficulty and so are best avoided. Ones that change the tech tree can also lead to crashes.

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.

v1.7.0
-changes made to ensure compatibility with HoI4 1.17

v1.6.8
-version compatibility changed to HoI4 1.16

v1.6.7
-more thorough fix for Communist China declaring war on Nationalist China

v1.6.6
-reintegration decisions will now also rename the states; if any already finished then will be renamed after a month or so of game time

v1.6.5
-fort size limits now work
-slight buff to Göring option

v1.6.4
-reintegrate decisions carved up so they’re easier to enact
-balance tweaks for the 1937 scenario; Germany should end up with 6% more equipment going into the war

v1.6.3
-scenario start popup updated
-minor tweaks

v1.6.2
-Germany’s puppets now always do their duty and join the conflict

v1.6.1
-nerf to the Göring option after the outbreak of war

v1.6.0
-updated for HoI4 1.15
-added difficulty options at the start of the 1939 scenario
-1937 scenario rebalanced to slow down snowballing: far fewer factories at start, much larger production bonus
-Anschluss requirements in the 1937 scenario reduced compared to base game; 500k men in full-strength divisions is sufficient
-naval invasions might be working again; they were intended to begin later on in the war but they were bugged
-fixed exploit wherein Austria was released as a non-puppet after the outbreak of war

v1.5.0
-AI extensively reworked

• countries no longer leave half their troops at home
• each country has a preferred area where they will send their divisions, allowing them to better concentrate their forces and participate in combat
• France is no longer a pushover

-combat widths adjusted down a little to more closely align with the changes made in HoI patch 1.13
-Fate of Czechoslovakia/Yugoslovia focuses now barred for 1939 scenario too
-(1937 only) factories randomly placed by national focuses in East Prussia will be moved elsewhere
-added decision to further diversify elite forces after unlocking 2 special forces trees
-fixed bug where doing the Demand Memel national focus would cause the Reintegrate Eastern Lands decision to never show up
-there will be the same amount of oil in eastern Europe with or without the Death or Dishonor DLC