Desolation Mode

Desolation mode is a hardcore survival mode which limits loot to make the gameplay harder.

General[]

This optional addon is recommended for players who find the default balance of Horizon too easy. For the most part, does not affect combat itself much. It's mainly focused on loot, survival, and progression. It can be enabled during Horizon installation. To disable it, a re-installation and a new game is required. This mode does the following:

Makes survival more taxing.
Less ammo drops from containers and NPCs.
Bartering is very steep.
Illnesses and some poisons are more potent.
Crafting purified water requires a Purifier Module.
..and more

99% of Combat changes will effect default mode too but the game is mostly balanced around Desolation Mode.

Food/Medical[]

All Pre-War Food (that isn't preserved) is considered garbage Food and has high risk of Disease (not recommended to eat).
Crops/Rations and Wild Plants have a moderate chance of disease (which makes cooked food much more valuable).
All pre-war food is worth very little caps.
The debuff on Combat Stimpaks is increased to -150 rad resists (up from -50).
Doctors have much less supplies.
Doctors have a much stricter price increase per level.

Production Limit[]

Resource production and Income per Production Cycle is halfed and based on game progression:

Supply Kits - 4-16^{[citation needed]}
Purified Water - 8-20 bottles
Crops - 3-20 per Crop type
Income - 100-1500 Vendor Credits

Crafting[]

Purified Water can no longer be crafted by hand, and requires real purifiers (Workshop Technology Level 8) to process it for you. Craft Sanitized Water and buy Purified Water instead.
Some Medical Supplies require more Antiseptic or other materials.
Crafting Antiseptics from Alcohol requires more Pharmaceuticals.
Pharmaceuticals require more materials.
Cooked Pre-War Food is not available.

Loot Chances[]

These chances generally don't influence things like Hunting, or Vendors!

Skill[]

Exploration Skill is -50% as effective in terms of scrounging extra items

Ammunition[]

Ammo boxes: -90% chance
Ammo misc: -80% chance
Ammo from NPCs: -85% chance
"Full" cans of Smokeless Powder (or Energy Cells or Explosive Material), drop a lot less often than "used" or "damaged" cans.

^📟 BoS NPCs can drop enormous amounts of 5 mm cartridges (1000+ rnds) (Desolation Mode)

Supplies[]

Medical: -50% chance
Common Tools: -70% chance
Chems: -90% chance
Food/drinks: -90% chance
Bottlecap Bonus: -90% chance partial coverage of rewards and loot. This reduction usually only covers half of each reward/loot. Instead of getting the full amount, only around half or less in caps is part of loot.

Junk[]

Unique Junk: -40% chance
Rare Junk: -40% chance

Others[]

Purifier Modules: -100% chance

Bartering[]

Vendors don't trust you. All sell prices are 25% of the caps value (down from 50%)
Combat Stimpaks and Blood Packs cost more caps

Survival[]

Weakness makes you take 40% extra damage
Lethargy reduces AP regen by -75%
Insomnia also reduces your Rad Resistance by -100
Parasites also reduce your Poison Resistance by -30
Some poisons deal more damage per tick
Infection does 10 damage per tick from level 1-4
Infection does 15 damage per tick from level 5-9
Infection does 20 damage per tick from level 10-19 (this can now kill you)
Infection does 30 damage per tick from level 20+

Armor[]

Power Armor repairs are more expensive