Hard mode & Rock Bottom

1Read what Hard Mode changes

Hard Mode takes the retail markup off every sale, starts the run without rent grace, makes certain resources and services cost more, and increases rent by twice as much as a normal run.

Hard Mode is chosen separately from the starting scenario: the scenario decides what the shop begins with, and Hard Mode decides how it earns and what it owes.

Rock Bottom is the game's extreme start: the run opens with no Credits and nothing to sell, and the game itself files it under Extreme Challenge Mode.

2Spend the starting perk points

The Starting Perks screen spends points on the perks that help and hands points back for the ones that hurt: the footer counts the points used and the perks carried, and Colorful Character buys extra perk slots.

Bad Lease costs one perk point and raises the starting rent; the perk's own text leaves the amount open, and the frame from the 049 demo prints 40 Credits.

Side Street costs one point and removes one random customer a day: on a small shop that sees about five customers a day it takes a fifth of the traffic, and once the shop draws ten to twelve a day it stops mattering.

Convict costs one point, starts the run 30 Security reputation down and pays 20% less for a wanted-list report, which leaves the player close to the reputation where reporting is blocked.

Known Snitch is one of the two perks Update 049 added: it costs two points, keeps every wanted-poster customer out of the shop for the whole run, and starts the player 10 reputation down with the Revolution and the Black Market.

The other new perk, Degenerative Osteoarthritis, leaves dump scavenging normal for one week and then takes one maximum attempt off every week that passes, until scavenging becomes impossible; it also starts the player with extra bandages.

Sentinel Collapse Disorder is the perk that can end a run outright: it demands an Immunivax injection every week for the rest of the run, and the injectors carry a seven-digit serial number because counterfeits exist.

3Day 1 with nothing: scavenge, and know what it costs

On a Rock Bottom day 1 there is nothing in the store worth selling, so the opening move is to serve whoever walks in and go out for first stock.

Scavenging is not free: a night out in the dump costs one normal customer the next day, so the shop opens expecting one instead of two.

Reporting a wanted-list customer is the quickest early money on these runs: one playtest start took 300 Credits on day 2 and put it straight into production.

4Rent is the clock

Rent falls due every seven days and the shop's own notice counts the days down: in every save where the weekday could be read the demand landed on a Sunday, which makes day 1 a Monday.

Missed rent is not forgiven: the next demand adds the amount from the previous week on top of the new one.

Rent rises during a run, and Hard Mode doubles how much it rises, so a perk that raises the starting rent grows into a bigger bill every week.

5Turn the start kit into first income

The Water Merchant start hands the run a Water Trading Manual, water testing and purification equipment and extra water containers, and on the 049 demo it also opens with a jug, a Bottle Printer, Ghostwater and High-Quality Water to work with.

The chain the run settles into: Rustwater through the HydraTech purifier to Basewater, then the pitcher's filters to High-Quality Water, at roughly 60 points of the purifier's 400 durability a jug.

The one machine Update 049 adds is the Fridge: drinks left in it overnight sell for more, and its panel separates a Chill Zone from a Freeze Zone.

Update 049 also upgrades the Bottle Printer and the vacuum robot: the printer upgrade changes what a printed bottle is worth, which is the run's main cost line.

Update 049 stopped Augs from costing reputation, which removes one of the old hard-mode risks: the Aug still has to be dealt with, but no longer at a reputation price.