Steam Community :: Guide :: Invisible Strain Infection Prevention Guide

Store Page

Survivalist: Invisible Strain

All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews

Survivalist: Invisible Strain > Guides > Red riding hood the third's Guides

65 ratings

Invisible Strain Infection Prevention Guide

By Red riding hood the third

Description about the fifth infection called the 'Invisible Strain'.

Award

Created by

Red riding hood the third
Offline

Category: Gameplay Basics

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

12 Jul, 2020 @ 1:02pm

26 Jan, 2021 @ 10:43am

3,850	Unique Visitors
72	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Invisible Strain description (IS for short)

How to avoid getting infected

How to detect Invisible Strain

Infected Survivor gets Interrogated

Infected Survivors growling

Infected Survivors get too excited

Dealing with infected survivors

Invisible Strain Outbreak

Interrogation Cynical

Interrogation Skeptical

Interrogation Smart successfull

Interrogation Smart unavailable

Interrogation Smart Unsuccessful

Author Notes

Comments

Invisible Strain description (IS for short)

The invisible strain is an infection that turns survivors into zombies with the ability to camouflage as humans.
When one of your survivors catch the invisible strain or already had the invisible strain when recruited then your base is in grave danger.
There exist methods to identify infections early as well on how to avoid recruiting infected survivors.
If you fail to contain the infection then all your save files will be wiped and it will autosave upon the outbreak.

How to avoid getting infected

The leader or first survivor cant catch the invisible strain. If you plan to visit new settlements use your leader to scout it out.
Keep your survivors away from strangers unless the player (you) is present.
Keep your doors closed when travelling merchants arrive. They like to wander around your base and if they happen to have the IS they WILL focus on stray survivors and infect them while no one is watching.
If you recruit new survivors keep close watch on them. If you happen to hear growling or snarling then it means one survivor caught the IS. Either kick out the new recruit or try to use the methods in this guide to snuff them out.
If you own a brainscanner then only recruit survivors with 0% infection chance. The brainscanner only picks up on suspicious personalities. A survivor with 90% isnt guaranteed to have the infection similiar a survivor with 20% could possibly have the infection. IS will never have a 0% so they're safe to recruit.

How to detect Invisible Strain

Observe and listen

If you hear groaning or snarling without zombies around then the IS is present.
Survivors that groan will have a wide open mouth. They're guaranteed to have the IS
Keep watch on the community tab or the health of your survivors. If they get random injuries while inside the base then that means they got infected.
IS will bite survivors to infect them similiar to zombies. They'll always avoid detection but sometimes you can see a glimpse of it happening.
Take suspicious survivors on a stroll and listen to groaning or snarling to confirm if they have the IS.

Interrogate your survivors

You can unlock 3 interrogation options to identify infected survivors.
They require the survivor to have one of the three personality traits: Cynical, Skeptical or Smart.
To unlock each interrogation talk with other factions and eventually an unique dialogue will show up which mentions not trusting other survivors.
The smart interrogation require both parties to be smart to be unlocked.
Once you have the interrogation unlocked use your leader to talk with base members.
Infected survivors will have an evil grin when interrogated.

Infected Survivor gets Interrogated

Evil smile

Shifty eyes

Infected Survivors growling

Infected Survivors tend to growl a lot once they're 'excited'.
Survivors get more excited through fighting.
There exist exception to this rule.
Infected Survivors can have the 'subtle' attribute which makes them growl less or not at all.
If an infected Survivor gets too 'excited' they will turn on the spot and start attacking indiscriminately.

Survivor not growling

Survivor growling

Infected Survivors get too excited

Dealing with infected survivors

(Work in progress)

Invisible Strain Outbreak

The outbreak turns every survivor in your settlement into invisible strain zombies.
Once it happens all your saves will be wiped and a new autosave will be placed instead.
Make a copy of your save folder to avoid losing all your progress.
Invisible Strain zombies are super zombies. It is advised to not engage them in combat.
If you have to fight one but dont know your chances of winning, visit the weapon guide.
It showcases how effective each weapon is and how much health they have.

Interrogation Cynical

Unlocking Interrogation

Interrogating Survivors

Interrogation Skeptical

Unlocking Interrogation

Interrogating Survivors

Interrogation Smart successfull

Unlocking Interrogation

Interrogating Survivors

Interrogation Smart unavailable

Interrogation Smart Unsuccessful

Author Notes

I figured out that there is no actual warning or proper description on the invisible strain outside of the discussion tab.
I updated the guide with images of confirmed infected survivors and how to unlock the interrogation options. It's purely random on wether you get the interrogation dialogue, simply continue talking.
Will update in the future.

22 Comments

< >

Morleond the Mystic 15 Jul @ 5:52pm

i just recruited some refugees and started hearing growling, it was a group of 3 but i haven't unlocked any interrogations nor have i found a brain scanner. one of the survivors is a 5 star fire arms so i don't want to just banish all three, any tips on how to get the interrogations faster.

abdrfy 9 May @ 9:24am

My character has neither cynical, nor skepticl, nor smart - has street smart. Am i locked out of interrogation ? Also I tried with f8 and editing my character's trait to have smart and un-checked street smart. Did alot of whats up in tent city and fema, no interrogation yet, Any 1 got clues ? :P

Power Button 20 Apr @ 8:19pm

I love how you strip the IS infected survivor before you killed her, it's not written but the picture says all. Should be added in the "Dealing with the Infested" section.

TheHandsomeAlbertMan 6 Jul, 2022 @ 5:06am

Some infected survivors have the "subtle" type and won't turn when killed.

DusK 6 May, 2022 @ 11:18am

StonarLogic, u are rly lucky :) Cuz i had destroyed looters camp in to the 5 day. I had capture that. And i had taked 3 workers in the friendly villages. And after 13 day outbreak - they all attack me :)
I was survived... I had visited again all villages, where i taked my ppls. And in the 1 village i found 5 ppls from 12 with IS :)
It's just 13 day...

Aliashock 22 Jan, 2022 @ 7:34pm

... I didn't realize turning it off was an option. Also, this explains why a community near me fell apart and I was able to take it over after a few people killed each other.

ItchyTwitchy 12 Nov, 2021 @ 12:36am

Ok, I've put over 1300 hours into this game and never had an IS in my community, and I'm not exactly careful about who I recruit either, a couple days ago I recruited a girl and then I got the brain scanner and it said 94% so I thought for sure that she had it and I saved the game then took her to start a fight with some looters to get her killed on purpose but she didn't turn, I've also talked to a lot of people and told them the IED story but nobody has done the evil smile yet, the settings are on default, IS is not disabled or lowered and I have seen IS happen to other communities, guess in this regard I'm just really lucky or something.

Jolly 10 Oct, 2021 @ 11:18pm

Radical Q. If you're that concerned about these to go thru such extreme steps and all...why not just turn it off instead of all the cheese?

George William Frederick 7 Jul, 2021 @ 5:19pm

The 1st survivor can catch IS.

Shenji 18 Mar, 2021 @ 10:27pm

Splendid work.
Now I feel more anxious than before...

< >