Shiro drops major update Ragnarok for Northgard

From dark elves to fallen sailors, Northgard is getting bigger!

The new continent

Whilst the arrival of Ragnarok has been passed around on the Steam forums for quite some time, Shiro finally dropped the update today in a large (for Northgard) update.

You can check out all its goodness here, but I will sum up all you need to know below!

Ragnarok is the largest update for Northgard since release and adds the rather bleak Ragnarok map. On the Ragnarok map you may find a new special tile called the "volcano"...You guessed it, a volcano will appear in the centre of the map.

However, the volcano doesn't just make a pretty picture, it will spew molten rocks across the map which morph into rock golems if you fail to mine them within four months. Talk about getting burned.

It is important to note that the volcano can't be colonised, or tamed...(for some reason Shiro made sure to mention the taming part).     

Extra bits

Alongside the new continent, there is a new ancient graveyard tile. Studying the graveyard with two lore masters will bestow two commandable spectral warriors. Stronger than normal warriors, spectral warriors have a high resistance to projectiles and retain a higher defence. They do come with a drawback; spectral warriors will drain happiness by ten when inside your territory. If you play it right, spectral warriors might be useful for fending off the Myrkalfar - a neutral but aggressive dark elf faction.

The Myrkalfar raid Northgard players, stealing food, wood and krowns. It's a good idea to either wipe these out to get the resources back or trade with them so they are more likely to attack other players.

For me, I like the former option - I have never liked pesky dark elves!      

Fallen Sailors looking for rum

"During their long journey toward Northgard, countless Viking ships have sunk into the great depths. But Ragnarok is here, and the Fallen Sailors return to haunt the living.” A great sentence. Fallen sailors, are ghostly warriors that appear from the sea and roll into the coastal areas of Northgard. They have a high defence and significantly lower civilian happiness.          

Kobolds...

Remember those annoying gnomes that run around stealing all the precious stone and iron you really wanted? Well now they will attack you. However, you will no longer see them colonising more than four tiles, and an expansion before year two.             

A bloody moon?

One of the most interesting mechanics to be introduced, is the blood moon feature. All units outside of owned territory receive a 50% extra attack bonus. I don't know about you, but coupling that with the Snakes scorched earth ability and you'll have yourself an unstoppable defence when taking a tile. I also reckon everything will go a nice atmospheric dark red.

Military Paths

It's been known for a while that the military mechanics of Northgard leave a bit to be desired. With military paths, Shiro hope to make military development fuller. Defeated enemies will now grant xp and once 500 xp has been acrewed you can choose between three distinct military paths: tactician, guardian and conqueror. Each tree has three skills, but once a tree has been chosen you will not be able to choose a different tree. To get the bottom of a tree you will need to amount 3000 xp, which sounds like a lot. If you want to see the amount of xp for each unit click here.

The tactician tree provides a 10% chance for military units to negate an attack, a war cry that causes fear and a bodyguard for your warchief - which also increases the warchief's attack and damage reduction.

Whereas the guardian focuses more on defence, towers will increase your warband capacity, grant 30% more defence to units in an area as well as a free tower upgrade per year. You will also receive an ability to convert civilians into militia.

The conqueror homes in on improving your offensive capabilities obviously, right?

With the conqueror you can choose a free military tech, gain increased attack and defence for 1 month when one of your units dies in enemy territory and get a whole bunch of useful bonuses to all military units.

On the highest tier, damage caused to towers by your skirmishers will be unrepairable.  

The trailer

There are also a lot of balancing changes and other features added too, including totems buildings which are rewarded for hitting certain multiplayer ranks. I recommend watching the trailer below to see the rest of update.