What does "Iron Man Mode" and "Space Whale Preservation Tax" do?

[Lunais]

I'm currently playing on space whale difficulty and finding it too easy, so I've been considering some of the challenge mods. What do these 2 do?

[jlawleraz]

Iron man mode turns off the ability to save the game during combat. Space Whale Preservation Tax makes the player earn less money from combat. If you're experienced with it, neither is a huge deal, though I think Iron man makes a bigger difference than the tax.

[Lunais]

Thanks. Neither feel particularly appealing to me; I like having the ability to make backup saves in-battle in case I make stupid mistakes. I was hoping "Iron Man mode" turns off post-combat repairs so that all repairs must be done during battle and that the only way to resurrect a ryder is through the (expensive) "Resurrect" Order.

[jlawleraz]

I think the post-combat repairs thing is more plot-related than anything else. On several of the missions, certain characters and their ryders are presumed to be present, even when they aren't mentioned in the mission goals. Sometimes they offer relevant insight to what is seen or they have to perform a task offscreen that they would logically be responsible for. It would probably be a bit strange to have those ryders somehow be ready when others previously removed from combat were not available.

[Lunais]

Yeah, that makes sense.

I recently finished Chapter 6 (1st playthrough) and felt the boss of that chapter went down too quickly. I have no issue with enemies' attack power, but I was hoping I could increase their HP somehow. Strange how higher difficulty levels multiplies attack power but not HP.

[Business Boss]

on previous games, space whale lowered your damage output too, but not on sr4. guess youd have to purchase less damage upgrades to do that sort of challenge

[jlawleraz]

Originally posted by Weeb Boss:

on previous games, space whale lowered your damage output too, but not on sr4. guess youd have to purchase less damage upgrades to do that sort of challenge

The "Isn't it Sad, Lynn?" challenge. Like the Isn't it Sad, Chigara? achievement from the previous game.

[Lunais]

Originally posted by Weeb Boss:

on previous games, space whale lowered your damage output too, but not on sr4. guess youd have to purchase less damage upgrades to do that sort of challenge

Right, there was that too. Granted, I played Admiral in Liberation Day, not Space Whale, but even on Admiral there was a roughly 25% reduction in player damage output (and 25% increase to enemy damage output) after armor.

[Lunais]

Originally posted by Lunais:

I'm currently playing on space whale difficulty and finding it too easy

I take back what I said. I got my butt kicked by Chapter 7's boss, and since then I'm finding space whale to be just right. I'm on the final chapter now.

Note: I don't purchase upgrades unless I feel I need them, and I don't use unit-summoning Orders. If I did, maybe it would be too easy.