It’s been more than a month since I last blogged. One of the reasons for failing to update is because my office was relocating and a few weekends were actually spent in the office. I fell sick after that, and immediately after I was off to Phuket for a short vacation. But the main reason was that I have been playing Ingress so I have been spending a lot of time after work walking around.
For a better idea of what Ingress is about, you can read it up here. In summary, there are two factions in the game – the Resistance (blue), who believe they are protecting mankind from Ingression of the Shapers, and the Enlightened (green), who are helping the Shapers infiltrate the Earth. Who are the Shapers? Well, the very alien beings who created the portals which both sides fight to control in the game. The Resistance and Enlightened referred to their opponents as “frogs” and “smurfs” respectively and that’s pretty straightforward which requires no further explanation.
If you ask me which side are the good guys… I will only say that the side I play (the Resistance) are the good guys.
A player can find portals in most parts of the world, since I was able to find a healthy number of them in Phuket when I was there about a week ago even though there are not as many portals as Singapore. The number of portals generally depend on how aggressively active players take photo of interesting locations – generally sculptures or statues or even buildings – and submit it to NianticLabs to put them in the game. It’s pretty straight forward because it can be done in game, but how soon NianticLabs will actually approve the creation of a portal is another matter entirely. Also, a player may find more than one portal being created in the vicinity of same place of interest, or at some distance away from the actual location. If a player is really unhappy about it, he can then submit a request to move or remove the portals and that again is subjected to the approval at NianticLabs.
Some pointers for the game. For new players, forget about taking down portals or control fields at the early stage until at least Level 4. Even at that level, it doesn’t mean one can now take on the opposing faction’s portals of all levels. So, find a more advanced (i.e. higher level) player in the vicinity using the faction chat and seek his assistance in the beginning. My experience is that most advanced players (from both factions) are more than willing to help their own newbies advance in the game. Most of the time these senior players will also give pointers on proper deployment of resonators during capture of portals, and linking portals and creating fields. After all, more players means a more even distribution of the “work load”, because there is no way one single player can try and dominate in the game. For example, a Level 8 portal can only be created by the co-operation of a few Level 8 players.
The state of control between the factions
in Singapore as of April 21st, 2013
In-game equipment (such as portal keys, resonators, bursters etc) are obtained by going to physically location of the portals and “hacking” it in the game. So a player who has wheels has advantage since it is more convenient for him to travel to different portals. A portal can be “hacked” once every 5 minutes and up to 4 times within 15 minutes before it is “burnt out”, which means it will not be yielding any more equipment for the next 4 hours. A player can also drop equipment for another to pick up but everyone is encouraged to “farm” for their own equipment. Some of the best locations to do so in Singapore are along the banks of the Singapore River, or near Millenia Walk near Suntec City. It is not very advisable to hack a portal under the control of the opposing faction even though it gives a player 100 APs. The disadvantage here is that it takes 3 times as much XMs (aka Exotic Matter) to hack an opposing faction’s portal, and the portal will “zap” the player resulting in a loss of XMs. With too little XMs a player will not be able to perform any more in-game action except to walk around and accumulate them again. So, remember to check the intel map before proceeding to an area. As of now, the in-game equipment are not purchased, and if the day comes NianticLabs resort to that to get revenue it will be the day I quit playing.
The objective of the game is control, and that it is not limited to the control of a portal. When a player link 3 portals and form a triangle, a control field is created and it is considered that all the people (known as mind units [MU]) in that area are thus under the influence of the faction which controlled the field. Currently, MUs are basically meaningless in the game other than a nice looking number and it gives no advantage to a faction so there is no need to rush to create humongous fields spanning the whole of South East Asia to make a point.
The game comes with some checks and balances which prevents a single player from being too powerful. Basically, there are 8 levels in the game (for now), and as I mention earlier it is possible for a Level 8 Player to take control of a portal and but not create a Level 8 portal all by himself. Advancing through the levels quickly is important because a player cannot use equipment of a level higher than his own even though they are still obtainable from “hacking” a portal. The reason for “leveling up” to be able to use higher equipment is self evident, and I will not go into further details here.
Although it is easier for a high level player to capture an opposing faction’s portal and take down control fields, there is also far less APs (Action Points) from doing so. In other words, it is better to simply create control fields. The Resistance players in Singapore generally frown on those who only takes down the opponents’ control fields and not capture the portals, and they strongly encourage fellow players to get the necessary pre-requisites (i.e. portal keys, used for creating links between portals) first and create control fields instead. In other words, it is better not only to take down control fields of the opposing faction, but also to capture portals and then create control fields for your own faction as it brings far more APs and allows a player to level up quickly. However, there is nothing to stop a player from just taking out a hub portal to take down several control fields at once. My personal advice is to at least complete the capture of that portal. Leaving a portal weakened simply makes it easy for the opposing faction to fully power it up again and is generally considered as aiding a player of the opposing faction to level up in the game.
Take care when linking because no matter how far the portals are, the APs obtained are the same. A long distance link from Changi to Jurong may look very pretty, but it may cut across Toa Payoh causing portals there to land on different sides of the link. That may frustrate and annoy other players who are trying to create a control field there, because links are not allowed to overlap. Large control fields are basically meaningless anyway, since the APs are not determined by the size of control field. They may look nice and impressive, but simply a call out to players of the opposing faction to give you a kick in the jaw and take it down. Above which, it takes a lot of time to travel between portals when they are far apart, which is why many Singapore Resistance players advocate creating small control fields where portals are near one another. It is simply common sense since one aspect of warfare is the attrition of resources, which means if it takes a player more time and money to travel between portals, it is to his own detriment even though he may not feel the same way.
Lastly, I have to say that this is only a game and not a matter of life and death. There is no need for animosity against players from the opposing faction. My belief is that the creators of the game wants players to socially interact while playing this game, and that interaction should not be limited to just players of the same faction. Furthermore, active players from the opposing faction is required to keep the game interesting. If all the opposing faction’s players quit, then the game will become increasingly boring since there is very little opportunities for new players for both factions to advance in the game. Calling out players from the opposing faction in the in-game public chat is fine, but avoid quarrels and name calling. All the more so for players from the same faction. One is free to disagree politely, but work together to make the game interesting.
I have seen many social groups fall apart due to infighting and internal politics. So just enjoy the game and help each other, unless the other player insist on anti-social actions such as creating links that impede the game play for players of the same faction, or deliberately weakening portals of the opposing faction in an area where their players are known to be very active.
By the way, I currently have another activation code. So if there’s anyone who needs one, please let me know.