Strategy Guides/Starting Country

The following are recommended countries and types of countries for starting a plague in. Please feel free to add a section for your favorite country with a description below:

Types

Countries with Major Seaports and/or Airports

These countries can be optimal starting countries - such as Egypt and India - unless they are rich, as most of these countries are. Places like Germany, the USA, and the UK are very wealthy and are thus harder to infect due to treatment products. However, these places are very effective in infecting many countries at the start of a game, so they may be considered by more experienced players (Unless they are the countries mentioned below, of course). One country with major seaports and airports is Saudi Arabia, one of the most favored locations for starting plagues, due to the fact that it is not rich and only has eight research facilities.

However, if playing in the Golden Age scenario, it is best to start in the United States as all the countries with major airports are all rich, however the United States is the highest-populated country of those.

Poor Countries

Poor countries, as they have little or no healthcare available to the general public, are good places to start if players want to have their starting country infected faster than normal, especially if they are in Africa, where the countries have hundreds of millions of people.

However, poor countries that have no seaports or airports can be serious dead-end points if they are not situated near other countries with outlets. Also, a plague, especially Virus and Fungus types, can be cured faster if they are in these countries.

Highly Populated Countries

Highly populated countries are great countries to start in, especially if they have dense populations. The theory behind it is that a country with a high population will give you a large amount of DNA points right off the bat, allowing you to quickly spread your disease. Both India and China are ideal countries to start your plague in. Not only do they quickly award you DNA points, but they both have ports and airports. Another huge bonus is that they're not rich countries, so you don't immediately have to worry about drug resistance. However, if they have many research facilities, you may need Genetic Hardening. Even their climate is good and balanced, taking the worry of evolving temperature resistance off your mind for the first part of the game. Of course, like all countries, these places have their disadvantages. They may not be rich, but they're not poor either. And as for the balanced climate, some players may feel this is a disadvantage. After all, if a country is hot or cold, you simply have to evolve resistance to the opposite temperature. When a country has a balanced climate, you may have to evolve resistances to both temperatures to feel that your disease is safe and able to spread effectively.

Countries

The following are the most used starting countries by the majority of Plague Inc. Players, ranked in order of most used among the general population of Plague Inc. players:

1. Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia, unlike India, does not have as high a population density, and features 8 research facilities and an extremely hot and arid climate.

However, Saudi Arabia is not valued for its environment. It is valued by many Plague Inc. Players as a convenient country in the exact center of the world with an amazing airport and seaport.

Saudi Arabia's airport is the busiest one in the game, and planes fly from it to and from every other airport in the game. It sends ships to Madagascar, South Africa, and Egypt, the latter being quite valuable to global infection as well.

The other thing about Saudi Arabia is that it is not technically rich, and although it sports eight research facilities, it has no national healthcare system of any sort in-game, making its outlets vulnerable. Also, the arid climate makes it ideal as a starting country for Fungus or Nano-virus.

2. India

India is a very strategic point, due to its high population and its density, its airport and seaport, and its lack of funding and healthcare to deal with a plague. It is the most populated country in the game.

Its airport links include Saudi Arabia, China, UK, USA, and Japan, all significant countries which provide more airports and seaports to carry to many other countries. From its seaport, ships go to New Guinea, France, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Australia. It also borders three major population centers: China, Pakistan, and S.E Asia, providing for over 2.5 billion people infected even without airports and seaports.

Its high population density also guarantees a quick full infection of the country, unlike others ranked below it.

India has few downsides, one of the only ones being that if the player is very un-stealthy and evolves lethal symptoms as soon as possible, the entire country may die within a few weeks. However, even this is not a given. Overall, India is one of the best places to start according to many strategists.

3. Egypt

Egypt is usually chosen due to its poverty, its airport, and its two ports.

Egypt is a prime location for a plague to reach Saudi Arabia, another extremely strategic point for global infection. It is also mildly poor, allowing for the disease to spread very quickly. However, Egypt has a medium amount of research money, and is the only country that can lead the global cure effort which is dubbed poor.

Its two ports are valuable due to it sending ships to the USA, India, and Spain, South Africa, the UK, and Saudi Arabia, many of these countries being either strategic infection points, major population centers, or both.

It also has an airport, which goes to only a select number of countries mentioned in the paragraph above and Japan, which is not as impressive as its two ports.

4. China

China is usually picked for its non-rich status and its high population. Although China may not be the best place to start, it still has more ups than downs.

China has a very high population density like India. However, unlike India, it has a national healthcare system in-game. When a plague is too serious, it may not spread quickly in China due to its application of antibiotics/virals to its general population. Generally, India is a better place to start due to its higher population and fewer research funds.

However, if one wants to go unnoticed, China is a great place to get a lift to major countries:

• It has airport links with Indonesia, Australia, India, Japan, UK, USA, and Saudi Arabia.
• It has seaport links with C. America, Australia, Philippines, Japan, and S.E Asia.
• It has border links with Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, S.E Asia and Korea.

Thus, it is an outlet to many countries.

5. Greenland

Greenland is usually only chosen for the Shadow Plague. They usually have their vampire kill everyone in Greenland first, go to Iceland, and continue from there. That way, players won't have to worry about Greenland when they start infecting.

It is not advised to start any other disease type because of many drawbacks. The greatest drawback to starting in Greenland is that there are very few boats that go to and from the island, so it is highly advised against to start a Pirate Plague scenario in this country, in particular. Another drawback is its sparse population, which can cause slow infection rates.

6. Norway

Norway supporters usually say that Norway is a good starting point because it has shipping routes to Iceland and Greenland while still having land borders, and so was the obvious choice.

Though there is some logic in this choice, it may not be the best choice. For example, Norway is a rich country surrounded by more rich countries, making it easier to be spotted and harder to infect the rest of the world. Also, the only country worth infecting which borders Norway is Russia, which is also the only bordering country for the other Scandinavian countries. Therefore, Russia is really Norway's only land expansion point. Even Greenland only ships back to Norway and Russia. Norway's only main selling point is really that it ships to Greenland, which isn't all that great.

Overall, Norway is really just a cheap way for new Plague Inc. players who don't know how to infect Greenland.

7. Indonesia

Indonesia is mostly used for the Simian Flu. This is used because it has the second highest number of apes (after Central Africa). The reason this is preferred is because it has a seaport and an airport, while Central Africa has neither.

8. Central Africa

Central Africa, used primarily for the Simian Flu DLC, is a great place to start if one wants to infect the majority of the world's apes at the beginning of the game.

However, Central Africa also has many bordering countries which also have high ape populations, which it easily spreads the disease to, and the poverty in this area makes for quicker transmission and a smaller chance for the disease to be detected early on.

However, when starting here in non-Simian Flu games, one should probably evolve at least Cold Resistance 1. Starting a plague in this area also tends slow down the time it takes to get to the Americas. For whatever reason, it usually takes most of Africa and parts of Asia covered in red before the first infected plane or ship makes its way to Brazil or the USA.