Strategy Guides/Nano-Virus

The following are strategies for the Nano-Virus disease type. Please feel free to add your own strategies, tips, and Q&A here:

Strategy by V3 (270-350 Days)

Genetic Code:

Catalytic Switch (allows us to keep our momentum going in the lategame) OR Metabolic Jump (always useful)
Genetic Mimic (crucial if you are playing mega-brutal, but still recommended)
Aquacyte (GET TO GREENLAND)
Extremophile OR Hydrophile (Extremophile is probably better, but both work)
Sympto-Stasis (Absolutely Required)

Note: Unless the symptom is overly lethal (Necrosis, Haemorrhagic Shock, Total Organ Failure, etc) do not devolve. This is only applicable before you have a presence in all countries. Also if any filter events happen deal with them first.

Steps:

Start in India

Wait until you have 9 points and evolve Code Fragment Interception followed by Code Segment Interception.

Evolve the following (in this order, and as soon as you can):

Rash
Sweating
Skin Lesions
Coughing
Sneezing
Pneumonia
Cysts
Abcesses
Hypersensitivity

The moment your cure progress reaches 70% or you’re done upgrading everything, Go to abilities and evolve Radical Elements Stabilised

You will probably be noticed pretty soon, but it doesn't really matter because every country is already pouring their full resources into curing you. Here's where we actually go for Transmissions. Evolve the following:

Water 1
Water 2
Insomnia
Paranoia
Seizures (Note: You can evolve Insanity right after this too, but it doesn’t matter in the end)
Air 1
Air 2
Bird 1 (optional, a bit of land transmission doesn't hurt, evolve this at any point in the game)

Here's where you need to be careful. Evolve these rapidly and posthaste:

Cold Resistance 1
Cold Resistance 2
Drug Resistance 1
Drug Resistance 2
Drug Immunity
Insanity
Heat Resistance 1 (optional, you can evolve this later if you're having trouble in Africa)

Now, Evolve Extreme Bioaerosol and after about 10 days game time, follow that up with Replication Factory Overload. Very soon all countries will be infected.

The moment you see that there is at least 1 person infected in every country, evolve the following:

Necrosis
Haemorrhagic Shock
Pulmonary Fibrosis
Total Organ Failure
Coma
Paralysis

Congratulations! You win! Now, the cure will be at roughly 75% once you are finished, which isn't great. Might get us four biohazards, but we're better than that! So, here's where we save up every last point until there are less than 1 million people left alive in the world and after that, pause the game and evolve the following:

Genetic Reshuffle 1
Genetic Reshuffle 2
Genetic Reshuffle 3
Encryption Breached
Cure Interceptor Overload
Kill-Switch Stasis

You will now set the cure back to the stone ages, and can enjoy your 5 biohazards on Mega-Brutal.

My Success Rate:

Using this strategy I have won 100% percent of the time (on mega-brutal) and got 5 biohazards in 9 out of the 10 games I played. In one game I forgot to evolve Extreme Bioareosol and that cost me some time, not letting me finish in a year. It was kinda embarrassing but I played it as part of the tests so, yeah. More or less 100% success rate. Some things to note:

Sometimes you have to evolve cold/drug resistances early because of a lucky spread to Russia/Canada, which is absolutely fine, just remember to evolve everything eventually.
The symptoms Cysts and the follow-ups are optional, but I sometimes do it just for fun. It helps, but it's not that important.
It is HIGHLY recommended to have Sympto-Stasis for this because with Sympto-Stasis the symptoms Insomnia, Paranoia, Paralysis, Coma are all free, and Seizures and Insanity only cost 7 points total. VERY Important for saving points, especially on mega-brutal when Genetic Drift kicks in.
I have tried this without genes (except Sympto-Stasis) and it works on Brutal, with a roughly 70% success rate on Mega-Brutal. Maybe by modifying some orders I might be able to make it work, but not sure right now

Strategy 1-2

Genetic Code

DNA Gene--- ATP Boost Travel Gene--- Aquacyte (to get those pesky places like Greenland, Iceland and New Zealand). Evolution Gene--- Sympto-Stasis (because you'll get a lot of symptoms) Mutation Gene--- Genetic Mimic (because the cure starts right away). Environment Gene--- Any that you have helps but if you have Extremophile definitely use it. If you don't have these genes, that's okay, just use the ones you have.

Before starting, because you have ATP Boost, buy Code fragment interception (to slow down the cure), and get the symptoms Cysts, Abscesses, Coughing, Insomnia and Paranoia).
Start in India.
Buy Code segment interception, Nausea, Vomiting, Drug Resistance 1, and Genetic Hardening 1 and 2. The cure may be filling up quickly, but if you follow along everything will be okay.
If there are sterilisation air filters, buy Air 1 or Water 1, whichever corresponds to the filter. If not, continue.
Buy Hyper sensitivity, Paralysis and Coma to slow down the cure.
Buy Air 1 and 2 and Water 1 and 2, and Extreme Bioaerosol.
Buy Seizures, Insanity, and Radical elements stabilised.
Buy Drug Resistance 2 and Cold Resistance 1 & 2.
Buy Pneumonia, Sneezing, Rash, Sweating, Anaemia, and Haemophilia, (every remaining Tier 1 & 2 symptom), then Skin Lesions and Diarrhoea.
Buy Encryption breached and Drug immunity.
If you need it, use the Replication Factory overload for extra infectivity.
Wait for total world infection, and at this point you should have saved over 150 points which can be used to buy every remaining symptom (prioritize lethal symptoms).
To slow the cure down in the end, buy Genetic ReShuffle 1, 2 and 3 (killing should allow you to get enough points).
When there are only a few million people left, for some extra points you can buy the Broadcast Interceptor overload to slow down the cure. Almost 100% chance of success on Brutal, works on Mega Brutal with some modifications (getting Radical elements stabilised before Extreme Bioaerosol).

This strategy has been tested by administrators, and has been proven to work on Mega Brutal difficulty.

Risviltsov's Strategy (200-400 Days)

Risviltsov here. This is my favourite plague to play with, since you don't have to worry about the cure (Seriously, by the time they've cured you, they've spent more than $500 million)

Genetic Segmentation:

ATP Boost
Genetic Mimic OR Darwinist (In this guide, I used Genetic Mimic)
Aerocyte OR Teracyte (In this guide, I used Aerocyte)
Xerophile OR Extremophile (In this guide, I used Extremophile)
Sympto-Stasis

Phase 1 - Symptom Overload

Start your plague in Saudi Arabia!

Before you infect Patient Zero, evolve the following!

Insomnia
Paranoia
Seizures
Cysts
Hypersensitivity
Paralysis
Coma
Insanity (after you collect Patient Zero's DNA point)

Now, just evolve the following in order:

NOTE: Once another country gets infected, grab Air 1 and Air 2! After Saudi Arabia is fully infected, evolve Water 1, Water 2 and Extreme Bioaerosol!

NOTE: Once the infected population reaches 1.25 billion, trigger Replication Factory Overload!

Abscesses
Nausea
Vomiting
Anaemia
Haemophilia
Coughing
Rash
Sweating
Skin Lesions
Code Fragment Interception
Code Segment Interception
Sneezing
Pneumonia
Diarrhea

HINT: Evolve Total Organ Failure, Haemorrhagic Shock, Necrosis and Dysentery as early as possible after the above symptoms have been evolved.

Phase 2 - Abilities Stock-up

Evolve the following to make your plague more effective.

Drug Resistance 1
Drug Resistance 2
Drug Immunity
Cold Resistance 1
Cold Resistance 2

Phase 3 - Extinction

Collect as much DNA as possible, while evolving lethal symptoms. Do not go for tier 3 symptoms (except for Internal Haemorrhaging) and collect DNA points. Save them and once there are 1 million people still alive (but stuck in holes, dying and observing the last days of humanity), evolve the following:

Radical Elements Stabilized
Encryption Breached (R.I.P. SCP Foundation)
Cure Interceptor Overload
Genetic ReShuffle 1
Genetic ReShuffle 2
Genetic ReShuffle 3
ANY SEVERE SYMPTOMS

HINT: Devolve any non-lethal symptoms, any transmission, and the cold resistance to get extra DNA points.

HINT: Slowing down the time compression will increase deaths per week. :D It also extends the time that the Replication Factory Overload and Cure Interceptor Overload are active.

Enjoy the massacre! And hopefully, this took less than a year for the human race to die off! PATHETIC BIGOTED HUMANS! :D

WARNING: At times, you may get unlucky and miss Greenland, the Caribbean or the Philippines.

Suggestion from someone else: In the event you miss any country but have enough points, evolve all three animal transmission until you get the tier 3 where it allows cross-country transmission. They have a high chance of getting those last countries you missed even with the airport and ships being shut down.

~Risviltsov, Plague Inc Wiki's statistician

Tips

The bigger a country is, the smaller the chance is of spreading your disease. If the disease 'leaves' a country, it is connected to the percentage of infected people.
If you're worried about the government trying to stop your disease from spreading, just evolve (for example) insect 1, then evolve insect 2, then devolve insect 1. If you don't get the tier 1 transmissions, the government cannot do anything against the tier 2 ones.

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