How to Take Over the World | World Takeover Guide

This is a guide to World Takeover Simulator, our free browser game where a comic villain wins the world over before the heroes of the Agency stop the plan. We tested the advice below with a bot that played 1,000 seeded runs on each difficulty, plus bots with worse habits, so the tips come with numbers.

Want to try it first? Play World Takeover Simulator free.

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The short version

1. Start in a big region with many neighbours (Brazil, China, South Asia, Central Africa, the United States).
2. Buy Pirate Radio, Gift Shop Chain and Funny Videos first: one route of each kind.
3. Buy Fake Moustaches early. A quiet world wakes the Agency later.
4. Add Free Ice Cream and Warm Socks so hot and cold regions join at full speed.
5. Tap every gold bubble. Tap teal bubbles once the Agency is awake.
6. Send agents to islands that close their ports.
7. At 60% of the world, buy a Finale upgrade and race to the end.

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Why the alarm matters most

The Agency wakes up when the alarm passes a line, or after a set number of weeks, whichever comes first. A higher alarm also makes it work faster. In our tests on Normal, a bot that bought spread routes and Cunning early won about half its runs. Bots that rushed only routes, or only loud Lure upgrades, won about one run in ten. Same game, same luck: the difference was the alarm.

So, mix in Cunning early: Fake Moustaches and Paperwork Pile are cheap and pay off for the whole run. Lure upgrades such as Catchy Jingle and Free Gadgets are great, but buy them once your routes are in place.

Picking a first base

You spread to neighbours by TV, so a region with many land borders gets going fastest. Big populations also pay more Schemes as they join. Islands are the slowest start: the Daily Scheme never starts you on one.

The four routes

• TV (Pirate Radio, Villain TV, Satellite Show): next-door regions and short sea crossings.
• Internet (Funny Videos and up): jumps to regions with good connections, and gets stronger as more of the world joins.
• Trade (Gift Shop Chain, Cargo Airline): links the big ports. Closed ports block it unless you own Secret Tunnels.
• Agents: tap any region you have not reached and press Send agents. Each use costs a bit more. Henchman School makes them cheaper and lets agents slip into regions by themselves.

Reading the Agency bar

The Agency bar shows roughly how many weeks it needs at its current speed. It slows as you win over rich regions (they do the research), and it speeds up when the alarm is high. At 50% and 80% the Agency sends teams into a few regions, which slowly win people back; Double Agents sends them home.

The Finale

At 60% of the world the Finale opens. Each Finale upgrade starts a 10-week Grand Reveal: people everywhere join much faster and unreached regions get pulled in, but the Agency also works much faster. Buy one when the end is in sight, not when you are far behind.

Beating Hard

On Hard the Agency wakes sooner and people join a little slower. Our sensible bot won about a quarter of Hard runs. What helped most: Cunning in the first ten upgrades, never leaving gold bubbles, and sending agents early to big unreached regions rather than tiny islands.

Villains

Win a run to open the next villain: the Tycoon (trade and more Schemes), the Influencer (strong TV and Internet), the Inventor (cheap agents), the Mad Scientist (fast but loud) and the Cat Boss (bigger bubbles). Each villain has a star for Easy, Normal and Hard: 15 in all.

Looking for more games like this? See our list of games like Plague Inc you can play free in a browser.