Beginner Guide

Note: Do not edit this page because it is currently a WIP and requires more work by the creator. It is currently being developed.

Hi first time players! This guide is filled with links and tips that will help you go from nooby noob to expert pro- if you pay attention! Note- some content is only available in Premium. So, non preems, get premium.

Stuff you need to know:

• Plague Inc.- The reason you are on this page
• DNA Points- The in game currency for evolution.
• Transmissions- Evolutions that change your disease's spreading ability. 
• Symptoms- Evolutions that can hurt and kill people.
• Abilities- Allow your disease to change some of it's properties.

Tips:

• First, be patient. The game can be hard to beat sometimes. And remember, no one ever won Bacteria on Casual their first time playing. (Except for those who use strategy guides or have had past experiences or are just lucky) Check the links for more information on the concept. If you are stuck, don't give up. Keep going until you finally get it.
• Strategize. No one ever beat Bacteria by randomly tapping evolutions. Again, be sure to check out the links for strategies. Also, learn, memorize, and use anything important. For example, I know and use the fact that you need at least 47 DNA Points to get Total Organ Failure from nothing. The strategy guides have helped me beat every plague on Brutal, so you need to check them out here.
• Be aware. Some pop ups are important and ignoring them can be problematic. A notification of your plague mutating is important, because ignoring it will get your plague noticed quick. Remember: Humans can get paranoid over a disease with 4% severity, so be careful. Other pop ups include "New Airplane Sterilization Techniques" which can cripple infection rates of new countries if ignored.
• Humans will not just fall over and die. They will fight as hard as they can to stay alive. They will execute various safety methods. One example: "All Flights Banned in country" will completely stop airplanes from taking off. See Government actions for more information.

The first plague type:

• Bacteria- The first plague type. Can be made resistant to climates.
• Bacterial Resilience- Makes Bacteria more resistant to extreme climates.

Tips:

• Bacteria is very easy to use and control, and it is the most common life form on Earth in real life. This is likely the reason that it is the first plague you get.
• Bacterial resilience is important. It increases infectivity in extreme climates, which is very useful. Sometimes countries like Greenland, Morocco and USA can be annoying, but Bacterial resilience solves this problem.
• Beating a plague on Normal will unlock the next plague, so you need to prove yourself to keep going.
• My favorite gene combo for Bacteria is Catalytic Switch, Teracyte, Ionized Helix, Darwinist, and Extremophile.

Plague 2:

• Virus- The next, rapidly mutating plague which can be made even more unstable.
• Viral Instability- Makes Virus even more unstable.
• Genetic Code- Allows you to customize some of your plague properties before the game.

Tips:

• Virus mutates much faster and is much harder to control. It also costs DNA Points to devolve.
• If you want a fast game, use Virus. Virus's rapid mutation allows real quick games. My record was 547 days on Casual with no genes. (Yup, non preems, there's something you can do)
• When you beat a game, you get genes (no genes non preems sorry) that you can add to your disease before starting. There are five types of genes with five genes in them, making a total of 25 genes.
• My favorite gene combo for Virus is Catalytic Switch, Teracyte, Translesion +, Genetic Mimic, and Extremophile

These are the genes:

• DNA Genes
• Travel Genes
• Evolution Genes
• Mutation Genes
• Environment Genes

DNA Genes

ATP Boost, Cytochrome Surge, Metabolic Jump, Catalytic Switch, Metabolic Hijack

Travel Genes

Teracyte, Aerocyte, Aquacyte, Suppression, Native Biome

Evolution Genes

Ionized Helix, Translesion +, Sympto-Stasis, Trans-Stasis, Patho-Stasis

Mutation Genes

Darwinist, Creationist, Genetic Mimic, Base Hydrolysis, Base Oxidisation

Environment Genes

Xerophile, Hydrophile, Rurophile, Urbophile, Extremophile

Note: The Necroa Virus and the Simian Flu have their own genes, but we'll get to that later.

Plague 3:

• Fungus- Harder to spread by conventional methods (transmissions) but has a cool ability to make up.
• Spore Burst- Randomly infects a new country. Can be used 12 times.
• Spore Eruption- Infects multiple new countries. Can be used twice.
• Spore Hardening- Continually releases spores, infinitely infecting new countries.

Tips:

• Using the genes ATP Boost and Patho-Stasis allow you to infect several new countries at the start of the game, so genes are important. (Non preems you need premium right now.)
• Fungus can be slow if you don't use spore abilities so be sure to use them.
• Unlike the other plagues, Fungus has two identical trees, each being Spore Burst six times, a Spore Eruption, and when both trees are done, Spore Hardening.
• My favorite gene combo for Fungus is ATP Boost, Teracyte, Patho-Stasis, Darwinist, and Extremophile.

Plague 4:

• Parasite- Can be made harder to notice.
• Symbiosis- Reduces severity.

Tips:

• Symbiosis is important in two ways: First is that Parasite has a small amount of starting severity, which can be countered by this. Second, it allows you to get some low level symptoms without being noticed.
• Note that Symbiosis does not reduce lethality and the reduction of severity makes it slightly easier to cure.
• My favorite gene combo for Parasite is ATP Boost, Teracyte, Ionized Helix, Base Hydrolysis, and Extremophile.
• I recommend you devolve Symbiosis when everyone has it, for the DNA (why I recommend Ionized Helix) and for severity (to slow cure research).

Plague 5:

• Prion- A brain disease that breaks your brain. (Seriously)
• Neural Atrophy- Prion's ability that breaks your brain (I told you) making it harder to research.

Tips:

• Getting Neural Atrophy at the start is important. Once you have it, your plague will be hard to research. Combined with Genetic Hardening, it is even harder to research.
• In real life, prions actually do break your brain, but are not nearly as contagious as in game. Some real life prions include Scrapies for sheep and the infamous Mad Cow Disease that makes it impossible for cows to stand. Poor cows. A form of prion called TSE spongifies brain tissue and destroys neural passageways. Also, prions in real life cannot be cured.
• Strangely, Neural Atrophy does not increase severity, although the in-game description of NA3 includes the words,"cell death" and ,"severe short term memory loss".
• Prion is slow to react to evolution, making it possible to cure while still slowly raising it's lethality. This can make Brutal difficult, as humans will work hard and nearly always cure it before it reaches cap lethality.
• Prion also spreads slightly slower than other plague types, so transmission evolutions are important.
• My favorite gene combo for Prion is Catalytic Switch, Teracyte, Ionized Helix, Base Oxidisation, and Extremophile.
• Prion, along with Virus, tend to be hard to handle for completely opposite reasons. Virus is very fast mutating and hard to control while Prion is very slow and gives time to research.

Plague 6:

• Nano-Virus- A mechanical virus that starts cure research at the start of the game.
• Radical elements stabilised- Sets back cure by partially isolating kill switch.
• Encryption breached- Further sets back cure research.
• Broadcast interceptor overload- Renders cure useless for a short time.
• Code fragment interception- Slows cure research by a small amount.
• Code segment interception- Further slows cure research.
• Replication Factory overload- Makes Infectivity 100% for a period of time, but slightly reduces original infectivity when over.
• Kill Switch Stasis- Minimises cure effectiveness.
• Drug Immunity- Basically super Drug Resistance.

Tips:

• Nano virus cure broadcast starts as soon as the game begins, but it has a boost in most climates, likely because it is not actually alive. It is less effective in humid climates, however, likely because water and machines tend to not go well together.
• Nano virus symptom evolution is also cheaper, again likely due to cure starting immediately. In Normal and Casual, it is actually possible to get infinite DNA with Sympto-Stasis by evolving and devolving Insomnia. Note that this is not possible on Brutal or Mega Brutal because of increasing costs of devolution.
• My favorite gene combo for Nano virus is Metabolic Hijack, Aquacyte, Sympto-Stasis, Darwinist, and Hydrophile.

Plague 7:

• Bio-Weapon- An genetically modified disease that slowly releases deadly toxins.
• Nucleic Acid Neutralisation- Sorta freezes lethality raise for a few days
• Gene Compression- Slows lethality raise
• Deactivate modified genes- Reduces lethality a bit
• Unlock Annihilate gene- 30 times worse than Total Organ Failure. Goodbye, humanity

Tips:

• Since Bioweapon has increasing lethality, it can be hard to control. There is no notification telling you that the lethality raised, so regularly checking the disease menu is a good idea.
• You need to finish all three paths to unlock Unlock Annihilate gene, so you will probably have it available when it's time.
• Beating Bioweapon on Brutal isn't as bad as it sounds, but still be sure to check out the strategy guides. That doesn't mean it's easy at all, but if you're well prepared, it's a piece of cake.
• You might not need any symptoms, because of Unlock Annihilate gene's epicness.
• My favorite gene combo for Bioweapon is Metabolic Jump, Aerocyte, Patho-Stasis, Base Oxidisation and Extremophile.