Hardmode
Hardmode is an artifact. You start with it on Hard difficulty and up. When hovering over it, it shows you the effects of the difficulty you currently have selected.
Effects
Hard
- Events are harder (less forgiving outcomes)
- Start combat with a Weak cockpit
- +1 Basic Shot in your starting deck
- Less pre-upgraded card offerings (chances are halved)
- -1 max hull
Harder
Same as Hard, but with the following changes:
- +1 Corrupted Core in your starting deck, a trash card which cannot be permanently removed
- -3 max hull (instead of -1)
- 1 less Max Hull gained from boss kills
- Elites nodes only offer 2 artifacts after battle
Hardest
Same as Harder, but with the following changes:
- Take a downside on boot sequence
- Start combat with a Brittle cockpit (instead of Weak)
- Start with 50% of your hull missing (after Max Hull reduction)
- Most enemies are harder! (different behaviors, altered vulnerabilities, etc)
Strategy
Good luck! :)
In all seriousness, here are some detailed explanations of each difficulty level's effects, and how to best deal with them.
Hard
One of the most impactful effects of Hard difficulty is that your ship's cockpit becomes Weak. This makes it more important to protect your cockpit from damage, either by moving so that a different part gets hit instead, or hiding behind Midrow Objects. It may also be preferable to just tank the additional damage with enough Shield if you wish to conserve your Evade, or if staying in place is simply the better position for your ship. If you're ever offered the Tridimensional Cockpit boss artifact, it's a more enticing option on Hard since it will effectively nullify this penalty!
The other changes on Hard difficulty are also important to mention. Many Events are "harder", meaning that their positive effects may be less beneficial, or their penalties may be more extreme. This varies for each Event, and some Events go unchanged, but in general, a lot of Events tend to be more risky to go for, and need to be more carefully considered.
The additional Basic Shot in your starting deck might seem nice, but more often than not it just serves to clog up your deck, making it a little harder to get to your better cards. Its A upgrade is a rare example of a 0-cost attack, which is nice, but since you already start with 2 Basic Shots normally, it's usually not a benefit to have a third. However, if you have the Initial Booster artifact which specifically improves Basic Shots, this can actually be a slight benefit!
The other downsides of Hard, those being -1 max hull and reduced chances of pre-upgraded card offerings, are fairly negligible. While the reduction in pre-upgraded cards is fairly drastic (Zone 2: 50% -> 25%, and Zone 3: 100% -> 50%), it's generally not a huge deal--especially in Zone 1, where you can't get any pre-upgraded card rewards in the first place. This does also lessen the chance of a situation where you might find a card you like, but with an upgrade that is undesirable for your build.
Harder
Harder difficulty adds some more penalties on top of the previous ones. One of the most impactful is the addition of a Corrupted Core to your starting deck, which is effectively a Trash card that cannot be permanently removed from your deck in any way. Like a regular Trash card, you can play it to Exhaust it for 1 energy, so it's not quite as bad as it sounds. Still, this does mean you'll have to waste a point of energy each combat on this card if you don't want it clogging up your deck. It's best to exhaust it as soon as possible (especially if you're going for an infinite loop), though it can often be better to skip doing so if the energy is necessary to play other cards that are more important at that moment. Also, if you're confident in your ability to destroy the enemy ship before Corrupted Core shuffles back into your draw pile, then exhausting it may be unnecessary.
The penalties on maximum hull are much more punishing on Harder difficulty, with -3 max hull to start with compared to Hard's -1, along with the reduced max hull gain from defeating Bosses (only +1 max hull instead of +2). Your limited hull is therefore more important to protect, especially on ships like the Tiderunner!
The last penalty is that Elite battles only offer a choice between 2 Artifacts instead of 3, which makes it less likely that you'll come across the artifacts you want. Relatively small compared to the other penalties, but still impactful nonetheless.
Hardest
On Hardest difficulty, you will immediately notice that you must take a downside during the Boot Sequence. The three options you can take for the downside are always the same:
- -2 max hull. If you're confident in your survivability, this is likely the best downside to take. It can be risky if your ship already has a low max hull to start with, however. Do note that this won't reduce your current hull, since your hull only starts at 50% of its maximum on Hardest.
- -1 max shield. On runs where you won't be relying heavily on your Shield, this can be a good downside to take. Though, if you have Dizzy in your crew, don't take it. Even if you don't have him, this option can be risky if you're using one of the ships with only 3 max shield to start with (Jupiter or Tiderunner).
- Add a Debris to your deck. This is like Corrupted Core, a 1-cost trash card that does nothing but exhaust itself, although it can be removed from your deck. You'll likely have to use a Repair Yard to get rid of it though, which could've been used to remove/upgrade another card if you didn't choose this downside. Only pick this if you really don't want to lower either of your ship's stats, or if you just want to get Debris for the Codex (since this is the only source of it in the game!)
The other major penalty you will notice quickly: your cockpit is now Brittle rather than Weak! Any damage it takes is now doubled, which is far more punishing than just +1 damage, and makes it much more important to protect the cockpit at all costs, especially against high damage attacks. Strategies from the Hard section earlier still apply, but do note that it's much harder to tank a high damage attack to your cockpit with Shield alone. If you cannot avoid the attack entirely, at least move your cockpit out of the way so that you don't take a major hit to your hull.
Another penalty that makes the earlygame harder to survive is that your hull starts off damaged, down to only 50% of its maximum. This is after the -3 max hull reduction from Harder, which means you have very little to start with, and may need to heal at a Repair Yard. This does also mean you can encounter healing Events, since your hull starts below the 70% threshold in which you can encounter them. Though, if you take the -2 max hull downside on Boot Sequence, that may put you above that threshold depending on your ship.
The last effect of Hardest is that many Enemies are now harder in some way. Their stats, layout, and/or behaviors may be altered. Generally, they are more difficult to deal with, and some will even present new and unique challenges for you to face. Not all enemies are affected, but a lot of battles are made a little harder, especially when all the other penalties of Hardest are brought into account!
General strategies
Infinite Loops are a powerful strategy that can help to beat harder difficulty levels.