Difficulty and modes: costs, reputation and new-game options

Choose difficulty for the economic pressure you want. Cozy gives more retail margin and gentler reputation losses; Normal keeps the standard balance. Hard and Challenge remove retail markup, increase bills and make mistakes more expensive. Specialization and traits still determine your initial equipment and cash separately.

Main costs and reputation

Rule	Price Gouge	Mark Up	Thin Margins	Red Ink
Retail markup (%)	20	15	0	0
Rent increase per payment (%)	2.5	5	10	10
Business permit (credits)	500	1500	2000	3000
Power bill multiplier	1	1	2	2
Insurance multiplier	1	1	2	3
Initial power surcharge	0	0	3	3
Initial cleaning surcharge	0	0	3	3
Initial insurance surcharge	0	0	4	5
Appraisal membership multiplier	1	1	2	3
Wild upgrade multiplier	1	1	1.5	2
Reputation gain multiplier	1.5	1	0.75	0.5
Reputation loss multiplier	0.5	1	1.25	2
Appraisal progress gain multiplier	1.25	1	1	0.75
Appraisal progress loss multiplier	0.5	1	1.5	2
Trade favor rate (%)	10	5	0	0
Wild service favor refund (%)	75	50	25	15
Favor from network introduction	300	200	100	0

Rent rises by 2.5% / 5% / 10% / 10%. Cozy’s menu rounds its rate to 2%, but the applied multiplier is 1.025. For example, 200 becomes 205 before further modifiers. Multipliers apply to their own bill or benefit, rather than every transaction. Starting surcharges are added amounts, not the entire nightly bill.

Suppliers and property

Rule	Price Gouge	Mark Up	Thin Margins	Red Ink
New-customer discount (%)	75	75	35	10
Supplier markup multiplier	1	1	2	3
Inventor markup (%)	0	15	50	100
Retired supplier markup (%)	0	15	30	45
Merchant discount (%)	10	15	20	25
Scalper starting markup (%)	0	15	25	25
Scalper markup added per day	0.5	1	2	3
Property starting price	12000	12000	24000	36000
Property daily increase	25	50	50	100
Property increase cap	3000	5000	10000	20000
Mortgage interest (%)	25	50	75	100
Mortgage term (weeks)	8	12	16	16
Mortgage down payment (%)	20	15	12.5	20

Assistance and Aug pressure

Rule	Price Gouge	Mark Up	Thin Margins	Red Ink
Landlord grace initially available	Yes	Yes	No	No
Aug presence removed per kill	25	25	10	8
Aug presence added when spared	10	10	15	16
Aug warning	Yes	Yes	No	No
Full Aug presence ends run	No	No	Yes	Yes
Wild bailout	Yes	Yes	No	No
Wild reminders	Yes	Yes	No	No
Display-case tip	Yes	Yes	No	No
Event-end countdown	Yes	Yes	No	No

Skip Intro and Endless Mode

Skip Intro advances past the opening lessons and grants their basic documents. Except for Rock Bottom, it also grants the Magnifying Glass, Labeler, Topical Medication Bandage and Fanny Pack. Fence, Rock Bottom, Gunsmith and Chemist force this option on. Keep it off for your first Apprentice run if you want the guided lessons.

Endless Mode changes scripted content. It disables the scheduled Georgio, Officer Lun, Eleanor and Serpico character-line checks, minor scripted visitors and several timed marketplace requests. It does not make rent or stock free. Leave it off when you want to follow those stories; choose it for a run focused on shop systems. The two checkboxes are independent of difficulty.

• Starting traits: all 48 perks and opening choices
• Shop guide: rent, Business Permit and buying the shop
• Probably Stolen specializations: 9 starts, equipment and playstyles