1

I've played five games (on relaxed) and twice my disease started in Madagascar.  Heh.  Heh-ha.  Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaa!

Except there was one problem.  The first time, I didn't know what I was doing, so I tried to build the evilness of the Madagascar Duck Wasting Flu as fast as possible... and Madagascar closed its seaport.

Before it spread.

Oy. 

The second time was the last game I played.  12 survivors, thanks to a vaccine.

Twelve.  On the entire planet.  I win (yes, I know we're supposed to wipe out everybody, but I did better: the last people get to suffer being alive.  Did I mention that there are three in China, and the rest have their own region?).

2

That's what I was wondering about. Why not start the infection there?

I may have to try this game, just for the hell of it.

3 Your starting location is selected randomly.

The island nations are always the hardest ones to infect, and Madagascar is the worst because (in the game) it doesn't have an airport.  You have to wait until a ship calls in and hope that the infection takes hold, and sometimes no ships will go to Madagascar through an entire game.

I'm wondering if choosing rodents as a disease vector helps spread the germs by ship.  There's lots of possibilities like that - sneezing coupled with an airborne virus seems to work really well - but there's no in-depth strategy guide to confirm this.