Need help with Black Death

[Bjørn]

It's already lethal enough to kill everyone, but it's spotted and a cure started when only 150 persons are infected, even on Casual difficulty.

I like the new abilities that slow down research, but if all the ports and airports are closing down I don't see how to win this.

Is there a way of making it less visible that I've missed, please?

Thanks.

[Bjørn]

Never mind. I finally got it on normal difficulty.

I started in Greenland of all places since it was driving me nuts, never being infected (Iceland is my normal starting place). I tried Madagascar, New Zealand, and the Caribbean as well, since they were also always shutting down their ports. I also tried Saudi Arabia like our Mega Brutal guide-master is so fond of, but that didn't work either.

I balanced DNA points between transmissions first and then abilities as the cure research developed. Cure was at 95% while after a long wait I finally made it.

Used Darwinism gene and the one that gives bonus points for devolving, so I think that helped a lot. Got a lot of mutations, so probably got a couple of hundred DNA points for free by devolving them.

Maxed out transmissions and abilities (except for the Cold ones since Greenland is already very cold), and used the rest of the points in the final stages to try to kill people more quickly.

Only got 2 symbols and about 3000 points, but at least all the other custom diseases are open now.

This was a damn challenging disease, as it should be, as it probably (scientists are uncertain and will probably never know) killed off 1/3 of the world's human population. It took 150 years to recover the population (according to Wikipedia, the link being generously handed to us in the game by pressing 'more info') :)

The famous Dark Ages followed this event, for those that didn't already know. If it weren't for the Black Death, we would probably have colonized other planets in other solar systems by now... :O

[ArcaneGamer]

I strongly recommend you unlock at least Water II, Air I, and Drug Resistance I so you can infect Greenland more quickly from anywhere in the world. The only way to get to Greenland is by ship from Scandinavia. Scandinavia is cold, humid, urban and rich. The rest of Northern Europe is about the same. The sooner you infect Europe, then the sooner Iceland and Greenland will become infected as well. The first transmission vectors you should be unlocking are Water II, Air I and Drug I in all your playthroughs, unless you are playing as neurax worm or necroa.

Don't hesitate to unlock Air II, Drug II, Insect I, Rodent I and Avian I if you can spare the DNA. It's best to go for Skin Lesions and Necrosis at some point before you infected everyone though. Minor symptoms like coughing, pnuemonia and hypersensitivity. Some of these symptoms provide you with infectivity bonuses in regions like Northern Europe, Iceland, and Greenland. Countries will not start closing port and borders until you add symptoms that increase severity and lethality.

[Shahadem]

Black Death needs to be fixed so Greenland, New Zealand, Iceland, and Carribean are not hard fail states if not infected before ports/airports are closed.

[ArcaneGamer]

Originally posted by Shahadem:

Black Death needs to be fixed so Greenland, New Zealand, Iceland, and Carribean are not hard fail states if not infected before ports/airports are closed.

The scenario is winnable, but you will have to use a different strategy than what you used for bacteria. I'm new to this game myself, but I have gained an understanding from the threads and guides that the player needs to strategize differently when in different circumstance. You will also find that your plague will become more OP the more genes you unlock, and you will be able to more easily win at difficult plagues and scenarios.

For the Black Death, you need to focus your DNA in transmission, some abilities, and then in symptoms. Other than that, explore your options, employ different strategies, read guides, create threads, and keep repeating the scenario. At some point, you will find that your plague will be unstoppable in scenarios like Black Death because you will know what stategy to use and what genes to start the scenario with. Hint: Look at symptoms that increase infectivity, not just severity or lethality.

[Liquid ID]

The key is water transmission by ship to islands. Start in a country with an active port. Ideallty it has an airport as well. You need to spread across the world to different reagions and have those ports carry the disease to all the little islands before they close shop. There is absolutely NOTHING people can do to stop it spreading by land.

I start in the UK. Ships go to Europe, Iceland, Greenland, Canada, US, South Africa, etc. Planes will also hit all your other major port hubs such as Australia, China, US, etc.
THe tricky part is timing. You can't take your time with those transmissions. Once more than one country cacthes on and you get on the watch list, you should have almost all islands infected or pray they do before they close their shores.

Even with tips, it's still kind of a crap shoot sometimes.

[Aquarius]

@Psilio.............Glad to see you got this..makes me happy to see people keep at it until they figure out what works..so many are quick to ask for help without really trying..others only ask for help once they have exhausted all options they know of (which are the one's I'm quick to try to help ;-) )...I truely love this game, and love to see others keeps at it..until "HAHA, WE BECOME MASTERS" Good luck in become a Plague Inc Master