Insane Bolt achievement

[ShadouFireborn]

After struggling with the achievement for a week, I found a method that can complete this achievement, and thought I'd share it. This method works on both Casual and Normal. I haven't tested it on Brutal, but since the method doesn't really fight the cure, instead depending on killing the world before the cure is an issue, it may not work on Brutal. Your mileage may vary.

The starting position should be Saudi Arabia. This puts you two steps away from Greenland (one air, one water) and two steps away from Madagascar (two water), which is a key position to be in to make sure both of those countries are infected before the sea borders close.

Gene choices should be as follows:
--DNA Gene: Metabolic Jump is usually my gene of choice here, but in order to beat this challenge we want the faster start ATP Boost offers.
--Creation Gene: With the speed we're going to be killing the world, the cure isn't even an issue. Get Darwinist. The higher chance of getting a mutation is at least free DNA for devolving it, and sometimes the right mutation at the right time can mean at least a month of difference in completion time.
--Travel Gene: Either of Aerocyte or Aquacyte work, though I lean more toward Aerocyte. The earlier you infect Russia, the earlier you have chances to infect Greenland.
--Environment Gene: Either of Xerophile or Extremophile would work. Xerophile gives us a faster start, but Extremophile spreads faster.
--Evolution Gene: Ionised Helix. There's no real other choice here. This one plays well with Darwinist.

My Difficulty: Normal. If you can't do it on normal, it's not worth doing. :P

The key thing is we want to spread as fast and efficiently as possible. With that in mind, rushing for Skin Lesions is a good idea, but isn't quite enough. Here's my evolve order:

--Rash, Sweating, Skin Lesions, Coughing, Sneezing.
--Air 1, Water 1
By now you should be starting to spread to other countries, so we want to ramp up our severity just a little. Higher severity = red bubbles give more DNA
--Nausea, Vomiting **NOTE: This enables the possibility of Projectile Vomiting combo.
These are the symptoms we're going to sit on for a while. If you mutate any lethal symptoms or any severity-only symptoms, devolve them. Any infectivity improving mutations are good to keep, as long as it doesn't give lethality.
--Bacterial Resilience 1, 2, Cold Resistance 1, Drug Resistance 1
Due to our start in a hot country, we don't really need heat resistance, especially with the bacterial resilience. We do, however, want to spread as efficiently as possible in cold countries. Greenland, despite being close, is going to be one of the last countries we infect, so we want to hit the ground running there.
--Air 2, Water 2, Extreme Bioaerosol
For the infectivity. We want to spread hard and fast.
--Bacterial Resilience 3, Cold Resistance 2, Pneumonia
To really put the nail in the coffin of the troublesome cold countries.
By now you should really be taking off. If you're still having trouble spreading, take Diarrhea and Dysentery. They're lethal symptoms, and if countries haven't started closing borders they will if you take these, but you'll really see your spreading take off.
As soon as Greenland is infected, take Necrosis, and if you haven't taken Diarrhea and Dysentery yet, do so.
At this point, you should be on the home stretch. You have infected every country, and your infectivity should be so high the countries infect within weeks. If you think you can afford the DNA, take Cysts and Abcesses, for the infectivity. Once the remaining countries that haven't fully infected have at least 10% infect, grab your total organ failure and any other high lethality symptoms you can afford. Continue to buy lethal symptoms as you can afford them.

With this method, I've destroyed the world in as little as 347 days on normal, and 289 days on Casual (without even really trying; I'm sure the Casual can go lower). Edit: Did it again on Casual, got it down to 275 days.

[IZY2091]

Thanks I managed to get it in 334 days on Casual useing this guide.

[Barry]

I used a similar method to beat Mega Brutal in less than a year:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=244483219

[Caldy]

i guess i suck, i followed this guide twice and got 400+ days on both runs

[ShadouFireborn]

Originally posted by Caldy:

i guess i suck, i followed this guide twice and got 400+ days on both runs

This guide is a few game versions old. I may have to play through the guide's strategy again and see if it still works.

[Quendorsof]

Worked perfectly for me despite not having Darwinist. Thanks for the guide!

[Cartridge]

This method did work, but for best results: A) gotta be very efficient/quick on getting those upgrades bought so you don't waste days and B) remember to devolve things, such as the transmission genes once there are no healthy people left.

[Thunderclap]

Worked first try, thanks

[ShadouFireborn]

Originally posted by Thunderclap:

Worked first try, thanks

You're welcome. Good to know that, after 5 years of game updates, this method is still relevant.