Hard Mode?

[algame]

Just started the game, wondering if I should go hard mode, as its very unlikely I will play through twice. Does it really make the game more "fun" or does it just increase the grind? I have played Mudrunner and loved it but it looks like there is WAY more content on each map in this version.

[Chaotiс_Evil]

first time? you will not make it past the first map and will have to start over:)

[Actionjackson]

... AND it is a massive grind since you can not respawn for free ... AND you will have a very hard time to find anyone to help you out in multiplayer since there is the deployment and recover cost. You will grind it out all alone.
So, it is best played when you know the game a bit so you can avoid mistakes and optimize things(routes and fuel supply).

If you do not think you play it twice, i guess you will not even finish it once in casual mode, it is that much of a grind also in casual mode.
Just start a casual game and forget about hard mode, hard mode it for masochists.

That said, there is fun to be had in hard mode, but you are very much isolated from the community.
If you decide you want help and open a coop lobby, hardly anyone will come and help you in casual,... in hard mode the chance for that to happen is near zero.

[algame]

Originally posted by Chaotiс_Evil:

first time? you will not make it past the first map and will have to start over:)

I have played Mudrunner so I do have experience.

[K®o©K]

I started my first and only playthrough on hard mode, I already knew that I would have to invest many hours in this game to complete it so I didn't want to waste time doing it on "easy" mode, since I only played hardcore mode in both Spintires and Mudrunner. But in Snowrunner, all that hard mode does is making the game a constant struggle for money. I've managed to go through Michigan and Alaska to about 80-90% without restarting even once (around 170 hours), but I was constantly stressed out about keeping enough money and not making any mistake.

It pretty much prevents us from experimenting with trucks and upgrades since money takes so long to earn and is so easy to spend. In Taymyr, gas/fuel costs 8$/Liter, which means that you will have to spend 2400$ filling a 300 liter vehicle ONCE, this is the point where I finally realized that hard mode wasn't worth it for me. In addition to the logging missions that require us to buy the trailers in each map, for the modest price of 9000$ for the medium log trailer and 14000$ for the long log trailer. Suddenly the 20000$ pay for 6 deliveries isn't so good anymore.

If you are one of those people that enjoy that kind of struggle, i.e. working as hard in the game as you would have to do in real life for your paycheck, than go forward with it, but if you are just looking to have fun driving all kinds of trucks, and you are expecting to have at least one of each truck by the end, then I think staying in standard mode is the right choice.

TL;DR Increases the grind and removes the fun (I ended up editing the config file to give myself money or else I would have dropped the game for good)

[Actionjackson]

What killed the fun for me personally was the deployment cost, i think you pay 2500 to deploy 1 vehicle in another region, so that more or less force you to grind a full region in one go and then move over your vehicles to the next and grind that one out.

In casual i liked to mix it up, switch between snow and green regions depending on how i liked, in hard mode this will suck away your money real quick. I stoped playing hard mode after i finish michigan almost fully, contracts done, some annoying tasks left, and started on taymir... i had 109k on the bank, so i was doin ok on money, but since i was forced to stick to one region all the time it was not fun.

Everything else was kinda fine, it makes you find creative solutions, how to steal fuel from quest trailers in taymir for example, you can empty them out to 10% and still complete quest,... but the deployment cost robbed all the fun and killed multiplayer where you could make extra money helping others.

[NuclearToast™]

Originally posted by algame:

I have played Mudrunner so I do have experience.

I, too, played MudRunner, but this game is a bit different with leveling up (grants access to trucks/accessories) and an economy (earning money from tasks and contracts to buy new trucks/accessories/trailers).

The game has a single hardness level when it comes to the maps, whether you play in normal or hard mode. Switching to hard mode puts the entire emphasis on the economy aspect. There's plenty of fun and frustration to be had in normal mode (there is WAY more rescuing in this game).

[algame]

Originally posted by Actionjackson:

Everything else was kinda fine, it makes you find creative solutions, how to steal fuel from quest trailers in taymir for example, you can empty them out to 10% and still complete quest,... but the deployment cost robbed all the fun and killed multiplayer where you could make extra money helping others.

Yea I can see stuff like deployment cost annoying me in the long term, I also like to move around maps to keep it fresh. One aspect of hard mode I really like is the cost to recover, it forces you to plan ahead and sometimes get creative with rescuing your vehicles. The no cost recover in easy mode can lead to bad behaviour as you know its always an option even if you try not to use it. Kind of like playing ironman mode in an RPG vs savescumming. Shame they do not have toggles for difficulty as then I could turn on some of these options but leave others.

[Groove]

Originally posted by algame:

Originally posted by Actionjackson:

Everything else was kinda fine, it makes you find creative solutions, how to steal fuel from quest trailers in taymir for example, you can empty them out to 10% and still complete quest,... but the deployment cost robbed all the fun and killed multiplayer where you could make extra money helping others.

Yea I can see stuff like deployment cost annoying me in the long term, I also like to move around maps to keep it fresh. One aspect of hard mode I really like is the cost to recover, it forces you to plan ahead and sometimes get creative with rescuing your vehicles. The no cost recover in easy mode can lead to bad behaviour as you know its always an option even if you try not to use it. Kind of like playing ironman mode in an RPG vs savescumming. Shame they do not have toggles for difficulty as then I could turn on some of these options but leave others.

I definitely recommend hard mode. That's what I'm doing for my first playthrough and I've got plenty of experience playing Spintires/Mudrunner. The cost to recover penalty is great, it makes you accountable. It sounds like you like Ironman type experiences (so do I) and I think you'll really enjoy hard mode for this reason, along with the economy.

In my playthrough, I've just been using trucks I find. Even ones the internet says are "bad". I've found a use for them all. You need to be careful to avoid mud on the highway tires at first, but level 7 (ideally waiting until level 8 for the offroad tires) will really open things up for you in terms of doing everything. Some have complained about fuel (such as stealing from mission trailers). I have never needed to do this, it isn't necessary. When you start, you can find can enough trailers (fuel/utility) in Michigan that you don't need to buy them so you can save money early on.

Some hate the economy, I enjoy it. You find upgrades and deploy these, and the ones you do decide to buy can be swapped between trucks. Just be smart with your money - not every truck needs the best tires for its role, and not every truck needs to do everything. As long as you don't have the "I need to 'max out' every truck" mentality you'll do fine.

I am also fine to do one area and move to the next - but I don't think you need to do that. You could just deploy a single scout truck and find trucks to use in a region. The truck purchasing section tells you what you'll find in each area versus if you can only get a truck by buying it, so you won't waste your money on trucks you'll acquire organically as you play.

Hardcore mode is 100% worth your time - it should be the default difficulty setting. I think you'll find normal mode too easy, honestly.

[Actionjackson]

Originally posted by Groove_GFA:

Some have complained about fuel (such as stealing from mission trailers). I have never needed to do this, it isn't necessary. When you start, you can find can enough trailers (fuel/utility) in Michigan that you don't need to buy them so you can save money early on.

In michigan the game throws so much free fuel at you, you never need to spend 1 gold on fuel, just use the free trailers, i think that is what everyone does in hard mode.
But once i came to taymir where fuel is quiet expensive and has hardly any free fuel trailers on the map, i started stealing from the quest trailers

[PUNISHFOOLS]

hard mode, in my opinion, is the basis of the game.
I also come from spintires and mudrunner.

hardmode adds nothing to the mechanics of the vehicles but the economic aspect is fundamental.

at the beginning, in order to not spend all the money, you have to pay attention to every single road and try to never overturn the vehicle.
I hate to think that recovery is free.

moreover, you have to pay attention to the damages if you want to always have a good appearance body of the vehicle; you have to pay the entire repair sum in the garage if not (scout 1500, heavy duty 2500, heavy 5000...).

gasoline, as they say above, isn't a problem because there are many free trailers (at least in Michigan).

you will have to use the vehicles you find, because buying them will be expensive at the beginning.
Fleetstar and White Western Star are monsters once you hit the level for off-road tires.

I love completing map by map, but if this were a problem, i would consider moving one scout to alaska and another one to Russia and discover vehicles from that region.

I would recommend normal mode just in case you want to have all vehicles upgraded and to remove the economic aspect... once you complete Michigan you will have enough money to do it all.

moreover, by purchasing upgrades in the garage, it will be essential to switch them between the vehicles.
and surely you will have to adapt the trucks according to your needs, without having to buy every single upgrade for every single vehicle.

the cons of hardmode, is that you will have to move the vehicles manually, no free respawns to the garages.
so you will spend much more time.

[SeniLiX]

I played normal mode just to do the tutorial, then started up on hard.
Never looked back.

If you like a sandbox experience where you got (fairly) easy access to everything, and/or want to easily complete the game, using nothing else, other than some of the bigger russian trucks, normal mode would be for you.

If you want more of a challenge, where the game pushes you towards the more difficult or time consuming tasks.
Hard mode it is.

Personally, I like to face the consequences of my decisions, or pay the price to get away with it.
If i drown my biggest rig in a river. I need to mount a rescue party. Not click a button and "try again" a second later.
Moving your entire fleet back and forth between regions is not something you should do too often. Besides, do you really need 8 different trucks to complete a region anyway?

[SaxonRaider]

much prefer hard mode. free fuel and respawn is just far too easy. I have all my save slots filled up. one for arcade mode just messing around, one for hard mode with money cheated in, and one with hard mode with selling trucks early game to try and find good buys, and one with plain hard mode without selling trucks. On my 3rd playthrough now, cant wait for new game+ though that will change everything!

[Hans Meiser]

It is much more grind, but it's also much more fun imo. Only play hardmode if you have alot of time on your hands to play the game though, it takes alot longer to do stuff when you can't recall and fuel up for free.

[Groove]

Originally posted by Actionjackson:

Originally posted by Groove_GFA:

Some have complained about fuel (such as stealing from mission trailers). I have never needed to do this, it isn't necessary. When you start, you can find can enough trailers (fuel/utility) in Michigan that you don't need to buy them so you can save money early on.

In michigan the game throws so much free fuel at you, you never need to spend 1 gold on fuel, just use the free trailers, i think that is what everyone does in hard mode.
But once i came to taymir where fuel is quiet expensive and has hardly any free fuel trailers on the map, i started stealing from the quest trailers :lunar2019grinningpig:

Yeah, I set some additional limitations on myself for my playthrough. I wanted to simulate the fact that if a person hired me/my company for a trucking job that I wouldn't steal their fuel or supplies. It's funny that you can do that though, I laughed when I realized you could a actually take the fuel from the trailer. I think the first task I did with the fuel recovery was the one for the preacher in Smithville Dam where you get his scout fuel trailer back.

I'm glad the game seems to be popular and I like how people play it their way. I'm going to start a co-op hard mode career with a friend of mine tonight, it should be a good time. I'm going to try using trucks I haven't used yet like some of the free anniversary DLC trucks like the CAT 681 (I think that's the model) with the lift axle. Should be a good time!

[Actionjackson]

Originally posted by Groove_GFA:

Yeah, I set some additional limitations on myself for my playthrough. I wanted to simulate the fact that if a person hired me/my company for a trucking job that I wouldn't steal their fuel or supplies. It's funny that you can do that though, I laughed when I realized you could a actually take the fuel from the trailer.

It was forbidden at release, but so many people just took fuel from quest trailer and could not complete the quests as you had to deliver it 100% filled, they write in focus forums about quest bug and had to be told it is no bug they need to fill it up again and finish the quest.
Few patches dow the road they changed it so you can steal like 90% of the content now and still finish.