Mushrooms (Fungus) are a fairly difficult level in Plague Inc., especially on the Brutal difficulty. Mushrooms are difficult to spread to other countries and a cure can be found quickly. Therefore, the mission to infect all the countries of the world with mushrooms can be frustrating. To do so requires an appropriate strategy. The key to winning mushroom levels is to hide the mushrooms until everyone in the world is infected, after which the fatal symptoms are released.
Step
Part 1 of 3: Getting Ready
Step 1. Choose your genes
Mushrooms are a very difficult level, especially in Brutal mode. Therefore, choose a gene that fits your strategy. If you don't have the gene, choose genes that are close in characteristics.
- DNA Genes - Metabolic Hijack or Cytochrome Surge. Metabolic Hijack will automatically pop the red and orange bubbles. This gene is useful because red bubbles will appear immediately when the mushroom's spore ability is activated. Cytochrome Surge will give you DNA from the orange bubble.
- Gene Travel - Suppression. This gene will facilitate transmission between countries. Do not increase the level of transmission by ship or plane because the fungal gene is difficult to spread by this method.
- Gene Evolution - Patho-Stasis. This gene stops the increasing cost of DNA, which will be used as much as possible.
- Gene Mutation - Genetic Mimic or Creationist. Both of these options will make the fungus difficult to cure.
- Environment Gene - Extremophile. Mushrooms will get bonuses in all environments (environment) so that transmission on land will be easier. If you don't have this bonus, choose the starting country that benefits you the most.
Step 2. Select the starting country
There are many countries to choose from to initiate fungal transmission. China is the most popular early country because of its large population so the fungus will spread quickly.
- China is also the most reliable choice because of its large population, many ports and large plains.
- Another country worth checking out is Madagascar, or India. There are also those who suggest choosing Norway as the initial country so that it is easy to infect Greenland and Iceland.
- Saudi Arabia and South Africa are also good choices
- Choose a country with a high population and many ports.
Step 3. Devolve any mutated symptoms. If people start to notice the symptoms of the fungus, the cure will quickly be found and you will lose.
- The key to winning this level is to devolve all the randomly mutating symptoms before the mushroom symptoms are noticed by humans.
- You need to keep developing all the symptoms during the game. The fungus will continue to develop new symptoms, so keep an eye on it and quickly devolve when new symptoms appear.
- Consider using Translesion + genes if you have issues with moving costs. This gene stops the cost increase when devolved.
Step 4. Increase transmission capability and durability
At the start of the game the focus is on increasing the durability and transmission of the fungus. Evolve the following abilities and transmissions to help spread your disease:
- Water and Air Transmission 1.
- Bird 1 will help spread through bird droppings. However, this transmission is not really needed.
- Drug, Heat, and Cold Resistance 1.
- Once all of these abilities are at level 1, shift focus to Spore Burst before moving on to level 2.
Step 5. Improve your Spore Burst ability
Spore Burst is a mushroom's special ability, and makes it easier to spread the fungus to other countries.
- Continue to evolve Spore Bursts until the Spore Hardening ability is acquired.
- Every time Spore Burst is purchased, a new country will be automatically infected.
- Save some Spore Bursts at the last minute to infect hard-to-reach countries, such as Greenland.
Part 2 of 3: Infecting the World
Step 1. Increase the resistance of the fungus
Now your job is to wait for the fungus to spread. The Spore Burst ability will take over the task of infecting the world so you can simply focus on increasing the resistance of the fungus. Evolve the following abilities:
- Drug, Heat, and Cold Resistance 2.
- Environmental Hardening.
Step 2. Improve transmission
Once the mushrooms are strengthened, you can increase the transmission ability so that other countries are more susceptible to infection. Upgrade the following transmissions:
- Water and Air Transmission 2.
- Extreme Bioaerosol. This transmission can be obtained after the Water and Water Transmissions have risen to level 2. This ability increases the pathogen's ability to pass through the air/water filter, and increases resistance when crossing the ocean.
Step 3. Devolve any symptoms immediately. You still have to keep the mushrooms unnoticed. Immediately devolve the symptoms that appear while raising the level of the fungus.
If the whole world has not been infected, all the symptoms found will erase your winning chances. Mushrooms that are still in the infectious stage and haven't killed anyone, the cure will be easy to find
Part 3 of 3: Wiping Out a Population
Step 1. Use the remaining Spore Burst, including Spore Eruption, to infect the last few states
This ability is useful for infecting countries that are difficult to infect such as Greenland, Iceland, and Madagascar.
- Spore Burst can be used to infect these countries without having to wait for the outbreak to spread naturally.
- Do not use Spore Burst until the possibility of these countries being targeted is high enough. You need to be patient waiting for natural transmission to hit other countries first.
- Continue to monitor the symptoms until Spore Burst and Spore Eruption can be used.
Step 2. Wait until all humans on earth are infected with the fungus
Do not evolve symptoms until the message “No one is healthy” is received and the whole world has been infected with the fungus. If symptoms are evolved too early, a cure will soon be found.
Wait until the message “No one is healthy” appears before symptoms evolve. If the world looks red and the infection gauge stops moving, but the message doesn't appear, it's likely that some people died by a natural disaster
Step 3. Evolve the most lethal symptoms as quickly as possible
When all humans have been infected, release the worst symptoms to them. Prioritize the following symptoms for maximum impact:
- Coughing.
- Pneumonia.
- Necrosis (optional if the points are enough).
- Pulmonary Edema.
- Pulmonary Fibrosis.
- Total organ failure.
- coma.
- Insanity.
- Since all humans have been infected, don't spend points on spreading the fungus. Focus on the symptoms that led to death.
Step 4. Block healing attempts
While waiting for the world's population to run out, use a number of points to block the mushroom's healing efforts. Upgrade some of the following abilities:
- Genetic ReShuffle 1, 2, 3.
- Genetic Hardening 1, 2.
- This will give you an extra score because the cure percentage is low.
Tips
- Don't allow symptoms to evolve before everyone has the fungus.
- Don't spend DNA points on unnecessary evolutions. For one thing, don't evolve transmissions that don't help the spread of the fungus.
- Don't use Spore Burst right away. Wait until the chance is good to infect a tough country. Reserve 8 DNA points for Spore Eruption before symptoms develop.
- Be patient. Fungus is a disease that spreads slowly. If hunted you will lose.
