Hard Mode is Evil

[Llywylln]

I made it to level 10 and got a message telling me that I could try playing in Hard Mode. By the description, it would make the business part Harder and stop holding your hand... For THAT I was definitely up for the challenge. Then I started the game and realized that the Yellow highlight around the places you are supposed to connect cables is a 'Tutorial" and that killed it for me. I have enough trouble seeing those yellow highlights, trying to find all of the places you can connect stuff without that is just impossible for me.

I really wanted to try this but I can't do the cables this way. If you put in a toggle fr that, or change it so that it works like normal mode, I'm in

[spanki2]

That's the major difference between hard and normal - no highlighting. Other differences are hardly noticable like slightly (95%) lower budgets and slightly lower labour earnings.

What you are asking for is to get rid of the main feature of hard mode.
Not to mention you can unlock upgrades and forget about cables completely at lvl 16 so I would advise to treat them as no more than a temporary nuisance.

[PUC_Snakeman]

Hard Mode is not Evil.
Hard Mode is not Normal Mode.

But Hard Mode may not be for you.
And that is okay.

[BonPadre]

I know the game well (+250h in it)
I have built IRL PC's for me and family / close friends

And yet I never played hard mode, because it's just like in Car mechanic simulator. It does not really bring a chalenge, more than fiddling with the connections and knowing where the parts go.

Just keep playing your main normal save and have fun in game.

[spanki2]

Hard mode is for sure more challenging than normal mode, that's a fact. How much more challenging is another question and the answers will be just opinions. Personally I do like 'fiddling with the connections' as BonPadre said but also I totally understand people who don't.

[Llywylln]

I have been building PCs IRL for around 30 years, for myself and a few others. I was paid to do it, from time to tome, but I don't consider myself a PC building professional. However I don't consider hunting around for the place where a mouse pointer lets me connect a cable to be a 'Challenge' as much as a nuissance that consumes time. The Cable procedure is amusing with the highlighting, not challenging. The only challenge I have is because I am legally blind; I have to hunt the cables from time to time, even with the highlighting.

I am not as thrilled with the 'business' style of the game but I am still enjoying it. The idea that a shop is selling all of its components 'at cost' to its customers and not even passing on the price they pay in shipping to their clients is absurd. Also the 'labor' cost being pre-determined can be either very good for the shop or ridiculously bad. I have spent over an hour getting a job done that was worth less tahan $200 in labor but also gotten over $400 in labor for a job that took me, IRL less than 5 minutes.

There are parts of this game I really love though that are not even 'technical' at all. Oli, the kid who you help to build his pro gaming career is a great story in the game. His first letter was just a job but I found myself really caring about what I gave him to work with and how well he did. I just built his second machine for him and it was a pretty premium rig; I went beyond the requirements and stayed within the budget to make it seet because I 'care' about the kid. That part of the game is worth every screw and cable. I also got a great laugh from Hazel, the mystic who sent me a letter to pray and meditate for her machines health the day before she actually decided to ship it to me to fix it. Then, after I fixed it, she did a follow up where she cursed me because her machine still didn't work and was going to tell all the other people in her coven how bad a job I did. Then the next day I get an apology from her asking me to disregard the last letter because she has a bad power cord and now that she put in a new one it works perfectly... I also like that you occasionally get a piece of SPAM past your filter. As long as it doesn't get too frequent, they can be fun too.

I thougght 'Hard' mode would be more challenging business choices, more difficult problems to work out, maybe more jobs in a day so you really have to choose your jobs more carefully or plan them better ahead of time. But, since that doesn't seem the case, I'll just keep playing the game as I have been and enjoy it.

[PUC_Snakeman]

I'm glad you're able to enjoy the game! The story missions are the best part. :) I purchased the DLC to support the devs, even though I rarely use them.