As the game mode suggests, speed run is all about finishing fast and that's all there is to it. There are no stats at the end of the game besides the number of days you finished, so hurray for no cure progression!
Be prepared to make some changes on the strategy, there are a lot of factors in-game that affect your overall success, such as sanitation events, watchlist placements, and other events. Using this strategy, I was always able to finish within 300 days--the final game I did finished at 300+ because I decided to be fancy and ended up infecting Greenland near the end.
Tips are very much appreciated, so don't be shy and post them at the comments below!
Let's get to it.
RECOMMENDED GENE SETUP:
- ATP Boost
- Aerocyte
- Sympto-Stasis
- Genetic Mimic
- Extremophile
I chose genes that would benefit me right from the start, because I want to be able to get my infectivity high right away.
1.) Start in Saudi Arabia. Evolve the following in this order:
- Coughing
- Sneezing
- Cysts
- Abscesses
- Hyper-sensitivity
- Rash
- Sweating
- Air 1
- Water 1
- Air 2
- Pneumonia
- Drug Resistance 1
- Cold Resistance 1 & 2
- Pulmonary Oedema
- Diarrhoea
Evolving symptoms early will provide the much needed infectivity to be able to infect new countries fast, while also providing more DNA from red and orange bubbles because of increased severity.
TIP: Make your own call regarding mutations, if it's good or you're about to evolve it anyway, just keep it. Otherwise, if it's bad, just devolve and get some extra DNA out of it.
2.) Continue by evolving the following in this order:
- Water 2
- Skin Lesions
- Necrosis
- Extreme Bioaerosol
- Drug Resistance 2
- Paralysis
- Coma
- Total Organ Failure
- Insomnia
- Paranoia
- Seizures
- Insanity
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Pulmonary Fibrosis
- Dysentery
All the transmissions, abilities, and symptoms above will start killing people at an okay rate for Necrosis, they will also slow down the cure and provide more infectivity. Some might argue that we don't need the cure slowing symptoms, but Insanity provides a decent boost in infectivity as well as cure slowing, and the other symptoms are...I don't know...cool?
3.) After evolving Dysentery, we'll move back to evolving abilities for a bit to give our Bacteria some time to completely overrun the world. Evolve the following in this order:
- Bacterial Resilience 1, 2, & 3
- Heat Resistance 1
These abilities will provide a little bit more infectivity in every country, especially on the African continent countries which might show a slow infection rate--I'm looking at you, Morocco. Right after evolving Heat resistance, there is no need to wait for the whole world to be infected, evolve these lethal symptoms right away.
- Hemorrhagic Shock
- Internal Haemorrhaging
- Systemic Infection
- Tumours
At this point, evolve what you want, evolve every single symptom maybe?
By using this strategy, I was able to get a high score of 267 days. Here's the summary from the last 3 games I did using this strategy.
The first game, I was still experimenting with the strategy, going for transmissions first then moving onto symptoms right after.
On the second game, I did the exact same strategy above and got my record score.
The third game, I was unable to infect Greenland right away. I was almost at the end of the game before an infected ship managed to get through to it. It was partially my fault because I neglected to evolve Water 1, thinking that forgetting it would make the game faster. Needless to say, I was wrong.
So that about does it for this guide, thanks for reading and I hope this guide has helped you guys complete Bacteria Speed Run with a 5 biohazard score. Again, tips and other advice are very much appreciated, so post them at the comments below!
