Sup.
'Tis been a while since I brought you guys something interesting enough to post on the forum since my old 15 Minutes of Disco stuff was getting rather samey, but since this new series I am doing on my YT channel is going rather well so far in terms of both rating and views, I think it might actually be good enough to post here as well for once.
INTRO
What is Hardmode
Let's face it, Freelancer as a game was never really all that challenging, even here with Disco. Most of the time a failure on your part did not cause more damage than the loss of whatever you paid for your cargo. Whenever you bought something, you could keep it no matter how horribly you screwed up and this, by extension, enabled people to act rather brashly in a roleplay environment, without thinking about consequences they would otherwise think about.
The point of Hardmode is to offer a much more challenging environment, which also impacts your RP on that character, reinforcing the notion of "Space is Dangerous" and where the wrong choices both IRP and OORP might lead to a huge loss on your part.
This is not for everyone. This is for people looking for an extra challenge and something to spice up their regular gameplay with more danger than usual. A warning though, this sort of extra challenge may be rage-inducing, especially when dealing with ship and credit loss solely due to oorp mistakes or rule-breaking players.
HARDMODE RULES
Hardmode gameplay revolves around placing additional rules on ingame actions, thus mimicking a few certain game systems that Discovery Freelancer otherwise lacks. Below is the list of rules I personally use for the let'splay. These can be made harder or easier, depending on the level of challenge you are looking for in Hardmode.
1. One Account Only
Player can make up to five ships for one character. IDs for the various ships must follow the character's RP. For example- you cannot have the character become an Outcast while retaining his lawful trading ship.
2. No Renaming
In order to prevent avoiding roleplay consequences, the renameme command is off-limits. Ships, however, can be ''discarded'' by selling them off to an NPC station for scrap price. In the event of doing so, armor and other equipment must be sold with the ship.
3. Closed economy
Characters must earn money on their characters only. No money transactions can be made from outside the account. The character, obviously, can transfer money between their ships if they have obtained more than one.
4. Money must be made through player interaction (Or actions with possible interaction)
Making money in Disco is easy. Due to this, obtaining credits through NPC cargo piracy and Destroy Station missions is forbidden. Money must be made through bounty contracts, trading, mining or wreck looting.
5. Ship Death Rules:
One of the biggest additions to Hardmode is the ability to lose your ship and equipment upon death with a slight chance of losing your character itself. These are the rules I personally use in my let'splay:
5.1 Upon ship destruction, you must respawn and use the /dice command. If you roll a 1 or 6, your character is considered dead and the RP ends. If the character survives, you must use the /conn command. 5.2 Once in Connecticut, you must purchase the Camera Ship. Sell off all of your guns and armor as well as other equipment and ammo. The money you receive in return is the ''salvage price'' you get for the remains of your ship. 5.3 Once you have done the above, you can /return to your last docked station or planet, after which you must buy a ship. Due to server rules and the fact that Connecticut only sells the Camera Ship and not the Stargazer, you must not partake in RP until you get a different ship.
And most importantly:
6. Follow all of the rules above
Yes, this is the hardest rule of all. Hardmode only works when you actually follow these limitations and there will be times when you lose your ship due to utterly retarded reasons even beyond your control or due to accidents. Perhaps even a rule-breaking player will kill you without warning. If you choose to ignore the death ''this one time'', you will find yourself avoiding other results as well. As such, follow the rules above to the later, otherwise there is no point to it.
Anyone is welcome to try this gameplay if they feel like Discovery is getting a little bit dull. If anything, I find the overall ingame RP change quite a bit if you use Hardmode. Especially if you are used to playing a rather loose-lipped character. You tend to make your choices a lot more carefully if you risk losing a ship you spent a few days obtaining.
Spazzydragon's Hardcore Let'splay
Follow the progress of my character: Emmet Osborn on the Ro.Sham.Bo
A switch in ships and a rather too-close-for-comfort encounter with gunboats.
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PSA: If you have been having stutter/FPS lag on Disco where it does not run as smoothly as other games, please look at the fix here: https://discoverygc.com/forums/showthrea...pid2306502
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