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Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord
:siren: Ingress is OPEN FOR ALL (And I will no longer be updating the OP) :siren:

The old thread is here (I will take a lot of content from there): http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3521708

Ingress is difficult to explain, moderately easy to learn, and extremely easy to get consumed by. I will be extracting most data from Ingress Field Guide to help explain Ingress, how to play it, and some story line (The title image of each section will link to the appropriate page on IFG).

e: this is a pretty cool YouTube video I found that helpfully explains Ingress in a shortened form http://youtu.be/Irk7kFPg1k4

Ingress on Google Play


quote:

This is an important question, as many people are confused as to what Ingress or Niantic Project even are. The short answer, is they are all apart of an Augmented Reality Game (ARG) that is the output of a division of Google, Inc. called Niantic Labs. Ingress is the name of the game and application hosted on the Google Play Market. The Niantic Project is a top secret project commissioned by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).

Ingress is (currently) an Android-exclusive, augmented reality game developed by Google's Niantic Labs (they also created Field Trip). In its most basic form it is a social experiment, and has been compared to a mix between virtual tag and geocaching. Your task as an Agent is to travel around your city, claiming "portals" (usually interesting architecture, statues, churches, libraries, museums) for your faction. Portals are completed by deploying 8 resonators on each portal.

What actually ends up happening is that you walk around your town/ city/ hobbit hole and look for geotagged locations ("portals") that you 'hack' for goodies. You expend energy doing this, which you can recharge by picking up 'XM' which is scattered around the world. It's sparse in the country, thicker in denser areas, and thickest near portals.

Once a portal has been sufficiently dominated by a faction, they may claim it. If a faction links 3 portals, it creates a triangular area in which 'Mental Units' are harvested. MUs appear to be the raw population data for that area, so the denser the population and larger the area the better. It's from this that the grand total for the sides are determined.

It is a battle between two factions. The Enlightened and the Resistance:

quote:

Joining The Enlightened
The Enlightened are interested in the Portals and the mysterious energy that has begun to spread across the planet. They want to research the energy and find a way to utilize it to advance our society.

quote:

Joining The Resistance
The Resistance is scared of this new energy and they want to control it to prevent others from knocking down a domino that could be the end of our existence. They see fear in P.A.Chapeau's findings and want to shut it down as soon as possible.

Ultimately you should choose which side you will take based on the activity in your area. Once you have been accepted into Ingress (or invited) you can look at a map of your local area by visiting http://www.ingress.com/intel


(These items are all acquired by "hacking" a portal)

Resonators:
Deploying a Resonator on a Portal allows you to claim the Portal for your Faction. Resonators come in varying levels from L1 up to L8. Using a higher level resonator on a portal will increase the power of the portal. Higher level portals can link with other portals at further distances and yield higher level items when hacked. It is important to note that the distance you place a resonator is how far it will be placed from that portal. XMP Bursters (bombs, basically) do AoE damage so resonators should be placed as far away from each other as possible.

XMP Bursters:
Fires off in moving wave of 360 radius. As the weapon is upgraded, the energy wave’s power and radius of effect grow larger. Like Resonators, XMPs come in varying levels from L1 up to L8. Used to destroy resonators and mods on portals.

Portal Keys:
A Portal key is a signature that can be used to link one portal to another and allow you to recharge a portal's resonators remotely. The destination portal key is consumed in the linking process.

Media:
Media items like emails, letters, pictures and videos can be uncovered through hacking portals which provide clues to truly understanding the Niantic Project. (Story items)

Shields:
A type of MOD that can be installed on a Portal to increase its defense against attacks. You can deploy up to 4 shields per portal, but each shield has diminished effect after the first one. Can be found in Common, Rare, and Very Rare forms.

Jarvis Virus / ADA Refactor:
These items can be used to flip the faction of a portal. Change a portal's control from Enlightened to Resistance or visa versa.

Power Cubes:
Power Cubes are items that contain a large amount of XM (energy used to do anything. Think mana for a Wizard) to recharge your XM reserves. They have levels from 1 to 8 and increase in capacity 1000 XM per level. Great for players in rural areas.
L1 Power Cube = 1000 XM
L2 Power Cube = 2000 XM
L3 Power Cube = 3000 XM
L4 Power Cube = 4000 XM
L5 Power Cube = 5000 XM
L6 Power Cube = 6000 XM
L7 Power Cube = 7000 XM
L8 Power Cube = 8000 XM



quote:

As you dive into the game, there are two terms that will become very important to you, Action Points (AP) and Exotic Matter (XM).

AP is earned through performing actions and is pretty much the same as Experience (XP) earned in many other games. AP is cumulative and when you earn AP, it should flash at the top of your Ingress Scanner. As you earn AP, you will pass milestones which will designate you with a higher level. A higher level is needed to use higher level items, e.g. you need to have a Access Level of 2 in order to use a L2 Resonator.

XM is collected as you travel. While looking at your scanner you will see little blue particle looking balls. As you travel towards them and they enter within range (blue circle), you will collect them to your reserves. XM is important, because it costs XM to perform actions, e.g. it costs a certain amount of XM to hack a portal.

Below are two tables that should explain these items and levels:





Ingress Global Control is a cool little chart that shows the control of each faction around the world.
Intel Map (must have an Ingress account to view)
Niantic website
IITC is an Ingress Intel Total Conversion that is not sanctioned by Niantic, was DMCA'd at one point, taken down, and now it is back up. You won't be able to download it in the play store so you'll have to get it directly from that site. [thanks cheese-cube!] (This is an unofficial modification. Don't talk about it in comms and you won't get banned for using it. Kind of like Diablo 2 Map Hack: most people use it but just don't talk about it)



Reddit Guide Pretty in-depth. Should cover anything that is not covered in this OP.
Ingress Field Guide Similar to the Reddit Guide.

This OP will remain to be a WIP.

Red Robin Hood fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Oct 31, 2013

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Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord
Version 1.30.2 - July 2, 2013
+ New Inventory sorting controls
+ New Portal Hack animations and results view
+ New Fire mode
+ Improved Health display on Portal Keys
+ New player welcome messages
+ Better support for high density displays
+ Portal Key count shown in Linking view
+ Bug fixes

FrickenMoron
May 6, 2009

Good game!
I actually find the "Improved" health display sort of hard to read. I'm glad they let you sort keys by title again though.

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

FrickenMoron posted:

I actually find the "Improved" health display sort of hard to read. I'm glad they let you sort keys by title again though.

Hard to read? What kind of phone are you using?

FrickenMoron
May 6, 2009

Good game!
I've got a Nexus 4 but I prefer the old health display, the new way they show it makes it a bit harder to see if a portal had 15/30% decay for example.

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011
The New update really slowed it down on my old nexus s 4g, to the point the phone almost freezes when hacking a buffed portal. It's just fine on other phones like my Epic 4G and newer platforms, but keep this in mind if you have an older device. I used the older phone on my bicycle to reduce crash= breakage risk.

Also FYI the Anker 10000 mAh portable battery hovers around $30 and is the portable battery of choice by Ingress :spergin: everywhere.

PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

Geirskogul posted:

The New update really slowed it down on my old nexus s 4g, to the point the phone almost freezes when hacking a buffed portal. It's just fine on other phones like my Epic 4G and newer platforms, but keep this in mind if you have an older device. I used the older phone on my bicycle to reduce crash= breakage risk.

Also FYI the Anker 10000 mAh portable battery hovers around $30 and is the portable battery of choice by Ingress :spergin: everywhere.

Where'd you find those for 30? I grabbed the 13000 mAh one because it was only 6 bucks more on Amazon (46 USD).

Queen_Combat
Jan 15, 2011

PerrineClostermann posted:

Where'd you find those for 30? I grabbed the 13000 mAh one because it was only 6 bucks more on Amazon (46 USD).

Mine was also from Amazon but it must have been one of those alternate sellers that pops up now and again, because I see that it's now 40.

MMF Freeway
Sep 15, 2010

Later!
Is the part about being commissioned by the NIA part of the ARG?

P_T_S
Aug 28, 2009

Don't start playing this game unless you have a lot of free time. I'm constantly making my 20 minute commute home into 45 minute journeys to hit close portals. It's pure, spergy, watch-the-numbers-go-up delight. So ashamed. :eng99:

Meatsicle
Sep 11, 2001

by FactsAreUseless
Having a blast with this so far. My usual 15 minute walk to the gym turned into a 30 minute walk each way. Ended up taking a couple detours on the way to work to hit up some portals. Submitted 10 new portals around my apartment (surprisingly a whole city park across the street had 0 portals). I'm a cop and my partner thought I was crazy when I told him why I was taking pics of an MTA building. gently caress it, yolo. Gonna turn my whole precinct green.

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

Meatsicle posted:

Having a blast with this so far. My usual 15 minute walk to the gym turned into a 30 minute walk each way. Ended up taking a couple detours on the way to work to hit up some portals. Submitted 10 new portals around my apartment (surprisingly a whole city park across the street had 0 portals). I'm a cop and my partner thought I was crazy when I told him why I was taking pics of an MTA building. gently caress it, yolo. Gonna turn my whole precinct green.

I always thought it would be awesome to play Ingress as a police officer, taxi driver, etc!

Keetron
Sep 26, 2008

Check out my enormous testicles in my TFLC log!

Red Robin Hood posted:

I always thought it would be awesome to play Ingress as a police officer, taxi driver, etc!

Especially with a cop, it is a matter of time until the headline comes that someone from the opposing faction was arrested for trespassing.
"This is a green town, we don't like smurfs here."

PerrineClostermann
Dec 15, 2012

by FactsAreUseless

Meatsicle posted:

Having a blast with this so far. My usual 15 minute walk to the gym turned into a 30 minute walk each way. Ended up taking a couple detours on the way to work to hit up some portals. Submitted 10 new portals around my apartment (surprisingly a whole city park across the street had 0 portals). I'm a cop and my partner thought I was crazy when I told him why I was taking pics of an MTA building. gently caress it, yolo. Gonna turn my whole precinct green.

See? Even law enforcement recognizes the Enlightenment. Stand down, Resistance. :colbert:

Fame Throwa
Nov 3, 2007

Time to make all the decisions!
I've been excited about this game since I found out about it at a geocaching meetup, but it's borderline unplayable on my phone. My LG Optimus is small, so all the buttons and text are overlapping. Is there a fix for smaller phones or am I just going to have to deal with it?

FrickenMoron
May 6, 2009

Good game!
There used to be with a modded version, but I think you have to deal with it or get a newer phone eventually.

Pile Of Garbage
May 28, 2007



Nice OP. Would be good to have some info on the new portal mods in it. Also a link to IITC would be useful: http://iitc.jonatkins.com/

stephenfry
Nov 3, 2009

I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.
I AM AN IDIOT.

PerrineClostermann posted:

See? Even law enforcement recognizes the Enlightenment. Stand down, Resistance. :colbert:

Resistance has got the unions, it's tough out there. Where I am it seems like all the public transport employees are smurf mafia because anything near stations and stops gets hit all hours of the day

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

cheese-cube posted:

Nice OP. Would be good to have some info on the new portal mods in it. Also a link to IITC would be useful: http://iitc.jonatkins.com/

Thanks! If you could write something up on those I'd slap them in there, unfortunately I don't really know much about them yet...

Added IITC!

Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!
Just keep in mind that IITC is forbidden by Niantic's ToS. Everyone uses it but I wouldn't blab in public all COMM about it unless you want to get banned.

SalTheBard
Jan 26, 2005

I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!

Fallen Rib

Maker Of Shoes posted:

Just keep in mind that IITC is forbidden by Niantic's ToS. Everyone uses it but I wouldn't blab in public all COMM about it unless you want to get banned.

Why is it banned?

Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

SalTheBard posted:

Why is it banned?

They don't allow modifications of any kind. I read an interview with one of the Niantic guys where he said that they don't actively seek out TOS breaking mods or anything like that unless they are reported or become a serious hacking problem.

e: Just don't blab about it. I think a majority of the high-level players and groups use IITC without issue.

kitten smoothie
Dec 29, 2001

SalTheBard posted:

Why is it banned?

It is a technically a violation of the rule about viewing Ingress data and game state in any way that Google didn't provide for you. They view it the same way as they do anything that scrapes their servers (as there have been a few of those, too). At some point Google sent the original IITC developer a takedown notice and he took it off his github page, and then it cropped up later and has seen continued development since so many people had already forked it anyway.

Honestly, likelihood of getting banned for IITC is minimal. I don't know what you have to do to get banned from Ingress because they seem to ignore pretty egregious cheating.

There's a few bad apples in my city who are using multiple alternate accounts. They've been reported all over the place for multiple accounts and spoofing. They continue to play dirty and evidently Google/NIA hasn't done anything about it.

If nothing has happened to them, then short of physically hurting another player out in the field I can't think Ingress actually has any truly bannable offenses.

kitten smoothie fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Jul 5, 2013

Exit Strategy
Dec 10, 2010

by sebmojo

kitten smoothie posted:

If nothing has happened to them, then short of physically hurting another player out in the field I can't think Ingress actually has any truly bannable offenses.

A player got banned for location-spoofing inside a closed amusement park around here.

Meatsicle
Sep 11, 2001

by FactsAreUseless

PerrineClostermann posted:

See? Even law enforcement recognizes the Enlightenment. Stand down, Resistance. :colbert:
When you really think about it, could it have been any other way? :cop:

Almost at level 3. Set up my first control field today and took down 2 low level portals in my mostly blue neighborhood. Feeling good.

Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!

Exit Strategy posted:

A player got banned for location-spoofing inside a closed amusement park around here.

The problem with Niantic is that they are only taking actions on things you can prove in all COMM. If you can't prove someone did something against the rules without the data in all COMM than they wont do anything. While I can't blame them so much for taking that route it means things like IRL aggression goes unchecked.

Maker Of Shoes fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Jul 5, 2013

Meatsicle
Sep 11, 2001

by FactsAreUseless

Maker Of Shoes posted:

The problem with Niantic is that they are only taking actions on things you can prove in all COMM. If you can't prove someone did something against the rules without the data in all COMM than they wont do anything. While I can't blame them so much for taking that route it means things like IRL aggression goes unchecked.
Does this actually happen?

SalTheBard
Jan 26, 2005

I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!

Fallen Rib
The Resistence in my area are hyper aggressive when it comes to this game. Any green portal is taken down almost instantly and within a matter of hours it becomes a level 8 portal with 4 VR shields. Literally the Enlightened can do nothing.

Meatsicle posted:

Does this actually happen?

We have a few Resistence players that have followed enlightened players back to their homes and their jobs so they know e each persons daily routine. It's scary

SalTheBard fucked around with this message at 21:15 on Jul 5, 2013

Keetron
Sep 26, 2008

Check out my enormous testicles in my TFLC log!

Maker Of Shoes posted:

The problem with Niantic is that they are only taking actions on things you can prove in all COMM. If you can't prove someone did something against the rules without the data in all COMM than they wont do anything. While I can't blame them so much for taking that route it means things like IRL aggression goes unchecked.

IRL agression should be handled by the police, not by Niantic ops.

Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!

Meatsicle posted:

Does this actually happen?
Yes. Stuff like this happens frequently vvvvv

SalTheBard posted:

players that have followed enlightened players back to their homes and their jobs so they know e each persons daily routine. It's scary
We've got a guy here that is completely insane. Drives through parking lots at 50 miles an hour, screams at you quite literally and has a particularly nasty attitude towards women. On more than one occasion he decided to yell and scream things like "whore" and "oval office" at a good friend of mine WITH her 12 year old daughter present. Sure the cops get called but by the time they show up it goes down like "Yeah, there's this guy that goes by the name of LEETHACKER that drives badly and screams at people!"

You give them a plate number and at best, AT BEST the only thing that happens is the police call the person and they deny it. Case closed.

Me and some others in the same area as this dude have basically stopped playing because he's allowed to roam free and none of us want to be yelled at because BEEP BOOP FOURSQUARE 2.0

Meatsicle
Sep 11, 2001

by FactsAreUseless

Maker Of Shoes posted:

Yes. Stuff like this happens frequently vvvvv

We've got a guy here that is completely insane. Drives through parking lots at 50 miles an hour, screams at you quite literally and has a particularly nasty attitude towards women. On more than one occasion he decided to yell and scream things like "whore" and "oval office" at a good friend of mine WITH her 12 year old daughter present. Sure the cops get called but by the time they show up it goes down like "Yeah, there's this guy that goes by the name of LEETHACKER that drives badly and screams at people!"

You give them a plate number and at best, AT BEST the only thing that happens is the police call the person and they deny it. Case closed.

Me and some others in the same area as this dude have basically stopped playing because he's allowed to roam free and none of us want to be yelled at because BEEP BOOP FOURSQUARE 2.0
Yeah, unfortunately there isn't much we can do about that. In my city's case it's just harassment, which is a violation, which police need to witness to take any sort of enforcement action. We'll take a report, but that's about it.

Maker Of Shoes
Sep 4, 2006

AWWWW YISSSSSSSSSS
DIS IS MAH JAM!!!!!!
On the flip side I'm sure Niantic is flooded with bogus player reports from butthurt nerds. I've basically stopped playing short of maintaining the portal at my office but I've got an inbox full of warnings from Niantic for harassment and illegal game play.

wat

One of them was for trespassing. At the portal I mentioned. In the building I work at. That has no posted hours of operation. Edit: That's publicly accessible from the sidewalk.

Maker Of Shoes fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Jul 5, 2013

kitten smoothie
Dec 29, 2001

Maker Of Shoes posted:

The problem with Niantic is that they are only taking actions on things you can prove in all COMM. If you can't prove someone did something against the rules without the data in all COMM than they wont do anything. While I can't blame them so much for taking that route it means things like IRL aggression goes unchecked.

And this is also one of the ways spoofers get carte blanche, too. If you spoof to hack items but attack and deploy for real, there's zero trail in comm for anyone to use in a player report. I suppose there's a 15 or 20 minute window where you might suck up XM from around the portals, but even if a real player in the area notices that, they don't know who you are to report you.

Pile Of Garbage
May 28, 2007



So a few weekends ago my local Enlightened group managed to create a set of control fields that completely encompassed Western Australia. These fields were eventually torn down by the Resistance so we decided to think bigger and, with the collaboration of agents from all around Australia and judicious use of link amps, we have managed to cover almost the entirety of Australia in control fields:



Truly it's a thing of beauty :allears:

Edit: here's a larger view to put in perspective:

Pile Of Garbage fucked around with this message at 11:45 on Jul 6, 2013

FrickenMoron
May 6, 2009

Good game!
That is pretty awesome! Shame those huge fields give so few MU.

SalTheBard
Jan 26, 2005

I forgot to post my food for USPOL Thanksgiving but that's okay too!

Fallen Rib
You should get that on the Ingress report

Exit Strategy
Dec 10, 2010

by sebmojo
There have been reports of gang interest in regards Ingress players in the North Commons area of Pittsburgh. Last week, a professor at UIUC got mugged. Ingress players have been "apple-picked" as well, devices stolen from out of their hands by assholes. And as we've discussed, there are physically aggressive players out there.

Given that, I have a general set of cautions:

Situational awareness. The game is fun, but keep an eye on your environment. If something feels unsafe, move.
Think secret agent - Pull your phone only occasionally, to either work or check nearby condiitons. Don't keep your face buried in the scanner. Wear a Bluetooth headset for audio, or at the very least one half of a pair of headphones.
I'm a TFR goon, and I have a permit and carry a pistol, but that's not a viable or palatable option for everyone. If you're playing at night, at least bring a really bright flashlight, preferably something that has a strobe mode. NOTE: A pistol flashlight is a bad idea here - Most police will frown on someone waving a gun around, flashlight or no.
Remember that the best way to win a fight is to not get in one. Even if you have other options, ESPECIALLY if you have other options, running away is the first thing you should do.

Exit Strategy fucked around with this message at 18:28 on Jul 6, 2013

Pile Of Garbage
May 28, 2007



FrickenMoron posted:

That is pretty awesome! Shame those huge fields give so few MU.

Yeah you'll find that the population density in Aussie outback is sparse to say the least.

SalTheBard posted:

You should get that on the Ingress report

I think the players who orchestrated the whole shindig have pimped out the screenshots and whatnot to the Ingress G+ page.

kitten smoothie
Dec 29, 2001

Chicago (well, and a good size chunk of Wisconsin, too) has just gone green:



The combined score for all the fields involved is apparently around 23 million MU.

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Red Robin Hood
Jun 24, 2008


Buglord

kitten smoothie posted:

Chicago (well, and a good size chunk of Wisconsin, too) has just gone green:



The combined score for all the fields involved is apparently around 23 million MU.

It's good to be green!

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