Hack, Hack, Hack and then Hack Some More.

So you're a higher level agent now and you don't need to hack every portal you see. What are you  going to do with L2 or L2 items anyway?

Really who cares about that the resonators or bursters you get from those level portals. But as a higher level
agent you should be hacking any portal you come across. Remember, hacking a portal is similar to those video slot machines.

While I do not have validated proof that this is how it works only empirical evidence. It seems that when you hack a portal it is like pushing the spin button on a video slot machine. With lower level portals the ratios greatly favor getting leveled items such as resonators, XMP Bursters and Power Cubes. But you also have the opportunity for non-leveled items including Portal Shields, Multi-Hacks, Turrets, but also items like Jarvis Viruses & ADA Refractors.

A friend in my local community recently posted a screen shot of a Jarvis Virus he had hacked from a neutral portal. I recently got an ADA from a L5 portal.

Once again I have no hard evidence (but remember this is a blog - blogs require no evidence ;) ) but it appears that the standard hack rate for items like a common  Portal Shield is somewhere in the 1:15 range. Items like Very Rare Heat Sinks and Very Rare Multi-Hacks come up in the 1:1500 range. ADAs and Jarvis Viruses seem to come up on the 1:800 range.

To put more empirical proof to this we have seen events where it is announced for X amount of time there will be an increased portal drop rate on XMPs, Power Cubes, and other items. Also, you have probably noticed on Thursdays you will hack a media item of the latest Ingress Report.

So hack every opportunity you get on any level portal. You never know what you are going to get and worse case scenario, you recycle anything you don't want or need.

Happy Hacking!

Most Valuable Commodity - L4 Resonators

If you are like me and you have been leveling up, you might be excited when you start to see that you're getting Higher level gear and you may even start to grow some discontent when you hack a portal and get lower level items.

But not so fast there ..

Your lower level resonators are very valuable, especially your L4 resonators. Think about it:

• If you are a Level 8 to fully power a portal by yourself you need:
• 1 L8, 1 L7, 2 L6, 2 L5 & 2 L4 Resonators to make a Level 6 Portal
• If you are a Level 7 to fully power a portal by yourself you would need:
• 1 L7, 2 L6, 2 L5 & 3 L4 Resonators to make a Level 5 Portal
• If you are a Level 6 to fully power a portal by yourself you would need:
• 2 L6, 2L5 & 4 L4 Resonators to fully power a Level 5 Portal

You get the picture. 

But there may be strategic reasons for building lower level portals; i.e. being able to readily hack the L4 and lower level items you need.

I can't tell you how many times I haven't been able to complete fully charging a portal because I haven't had L1- L4 Resonators. It is irritating. So do yourself a favor and be sure to hack/build lower level portals regularly so you can build your stock of L4 and below resonators.

Now, the same does not hold true for the XMP Bursters. As you move up your strategic need for lower level XMP Bursters goes down. I generally keep XMP Bursters of my level and 2 below and strategically use my lower level ones as not to waste the higher level ones. 

But don't don't just drop them or recycle them. Help an up and coming player of your faction and arrange a drop.

Happy Hacking!

Ingress Wonderland

I recently took a family vacation to Walt Disney World and naturally played a lot of +Ingress .

As I have mentioned I live in a rural area and only have 6 portals in my town which I control almost the entire time. I was amazed at how many portals there were. Unfortunately for me nearly all the portals were controlled by the Enlightened and I couldn't gain any AP for hacking them, but I could hack away, link and get some nice items. Below is a cool screen shot form Disney's Animal Kingdom showing just how many portals there were. If I could find a Resistance portal I could flip it.

I actually got my first Turret, and Heat Sink while down there.

It seemed no matter where I was waiting in line there was a portal or two ready to be hacked. Additionally, there were so many portals I didn't have to worry about running out of XM. Now, the one thing I did have to worry about is running out of battery life. Unfortunately, I did think about getting a portable charger but just too late. Even with there being very few portals from the other faction I am pretty sure I would have been able to level up from just deploying resonators and creating links. I almost never made it past lunch with any battery life at all.

So note to all heading down to such a target rich environment: get yourself a portable charger of some sort. If you are a serious Ingress player you will thank me for it.

On the down side, I left with a number of Disney World area portal keys. I tried reaching out to others on the COMM to arrange a drop but had no takers which I thought was pretty weird. Oh well I'll just end up recycling them for additional XM sometime.

Happy Hacking!

Ingress Game Evolution

While I have been on the side line for awhile because of my phone situation, I have tried to keep up with the happenings of +Ingress . One concern I have had about Ingress is how is the game going to evolve. When I got my invite there were already many who had made level 8. I wondered what would happen next? They have to introduce new things and levels to keep the membership active.

As of late they have announced and released several new things:

• Power Cubes
• Recycling
• Jarvis Virus

We have also seen an apparent lower likelihood of a hack being successful.

What will be next will we see a level 9 Agent? Will we see a new weapon?

Happy Hacking!