Ingress General Discussion: we're all BRTD now

[Bacon King]

I told you years ago if/when I ever got an Android I would download Ingress and give it a shot. You may not remember, but I am a man of my word so I have just downloaded it on my new HTC Desire EYE and joined the Resistance and now it's telling me to walk two kilometers down a country road to go visit a church that probably uses snakes in its worship services

is this functioning as intended

[Bacon King]

also Ingress General Discussion thread if anyone else plays this

[they don't love you like i love you]

Welcome!

The answer by the way appears to be yes. When you start out it asks you to go to the nearest portal. You appear to live out in the middle of nowhere, so said church is the nearest portal. Don't worry though, even exurbs and rural towns have plenty of portals and playing opportunities in their downtowns and centers, so you'll get more of a chance later.

Let me know of any other questions you might have! Also good time to sign up since there's an AP bonus for creating links and fields this week.

(BTW it's on iOS too now)

[they don't love you like i love you]

Oh and by the way if you can make the drive or find a ride, there's an anomaly event being held in Charleston, SC on the 13th. The guys from Google will be there and it'll be really awesome!

[Bacon King]

Do I really have to walk the entire way or can I just drive to the parking lot? How long will I have to be at this church?

[Lief 🗽]

It's on iOS now?! I'll download it once my exams are over.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Do I really have to walk the entire way or can I just drive to the parking lot? How long will I have to be at this church?

1-You can drive the whole way. It asks you to walk because most people who start playing have portals in walking distance.
2-You have to be within 40m of the portal to interact with it. So whether the parking lot is enough depends on where exactly the portal is located, but I've found usually that parking lots are close enough (unless it's a megachurch or something)
3-Unless your service is bad and the game lags, you only have to be at a portal for a couple seconds. I drive into church parking lots and head out all the time.

It's on iOS now?! I'll download it once my exams are over.

Has been since the summer actually. You'll also have a much easier time playing in NYC.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Far as I can tell, there's about 25 portals in BK's hometown (the actual town limits), another dozen or so scattered around it, and about 30 in the closest town to the southwest. And the whole area seems to be a stronghold of the Enlightened, which actually is a benefit when starting out since it gives you more level up opportunities.

Also there's about 8000 in the Atlanta city limits and immediate vicinity.

[Bacon King]

Far as I can tell, there's about 25 portals in BK's hometown (the actual town limits), another dozen or so scattered around it, and about 30 in the closest town to the southwest. And the whole area seems to be a stronghold of the Enlightened, which actually is a benefit when starting out since it gives you more level up opportunities.

hometown = Auburn
town to SW = Dacula?

or do you mean Braselton/Auburn? or Winder/Auburn?

I'm living in Braselton at the moment but will be moving soon to Athens where I assume there is also a buttload of portals. Where can I find a complete list of them?

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hot diggity daffodil I'll be sure to whip this game out next time I go to the city

[they don't love you like i love you]

Far as I can tell, there's about 25 portals in BK's hometown (the actual town limits), another dozen or so scattered around it, and about 30 in the closest town to the southwest. And the whole area seems to be a stronghold of the Enlightened, which actually is a benefit when starting out since it gives you more level up opportunities.

Also there's about 8000 in the Atlanta city limits and immediate vicinity.

hometown = Auburn
town to SW = Dacula?

or do you mean Braselton/Auburn? or Winder/Auburn?

I'm living in Braselton at the moment but will be moving soon to Athens where I assume there is also a buttload of portals. Where can I find a complete list of them?

Yeah I was looking at Auburn and Dacula. The actual Braselton town seems to have around 60. Athens has over 1000.

A list isn't possible, but check out www.ingress.com/intel to see the state of literally anywhere in the world. Won't give you exact numbers though, I'm getting those with a tool that only level 9 and above has access to.

[Flake]

I got the game last February I think and I think I got some park ride at universal and then I gave up because I got too confused on how everything works.

[Bacon King]

BRTD most of the portals in my area appear to be linked together by the Enlightened in some sort of network that turns its interior green on the map. Will this affect my gameplay? Will the people who established this network notice when I start disconnecting their nodes, and come try to stop me? What happens then- will someone break my kneecaps?

[they don't love you like i love you]

BRTD most of the portals in my area appear to be linked together by the Enlightened in some sort of network that turns its interior green on the map. Will this affect my gameplay?

You're talking about fields. Short answer is no. Making those is basically the point of the game and what they cover is each side's score, but playing under them is unaffected. It does mean though you can get more points if you destroy them.

Will the people who established this network notice when I start disconnecting their nodes, and come try to stop me?

Yes.

What happens then- will someone break my kneecaps?

Nah, they'll just try to put the fields back up. Assuming they care enough or are from the area, if not they might not get a chance and might not bother. All depends on one's individual play style and one very active player can make a huge impact in an area. Those fields (on both sides) go up and get taken down constantly in my neighborhood FYI.

[Bacon King]

Cool thanks for the help BRTD I guess I will go capture rural churches for the resistance now

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

RIP Bacon King.

[they don't love you like i love you]

To put things into perspective btw I've visited 5945 portals.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Well, because BK did it, I'm now interested in this. But I don't have a smartphone. I'll try it out if I end up getting one soon.

[they don't love you like i love you]

BTW one of the top Resistance players in the world (can't remember his exact name but it's something Batman related) lives in Atlanta.

[7,052,770]

How do you choose between the Resistance and Enlightenment?

Sure seems like fearing the aliens would be a very Tea Party-ish thing to do, which makes me really surprised BRTD picked it. Do you just ignore logic like that and join whichever team your friends are on?

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Huh, I didn't realise that Ingress involved the real world. I for some reason assumed it was a Second Life type game, and BRTD was at koala/Bushie levels of inactivity

[they don't love you like i love you]

How do you choose between the Resistance and Enlightenment?

Sure seems like fearing the aliens would be a very Tea Party-ish thing to do, which makes me really surprised BRTD picked it. Do you just ignore logic like that and join whichever team your friends are on?

I thought the Enlightenment ideology sounded very heretical and blasphemous, and the whole "the foreign powers are good and just want to help you less advanced civilizations!" is basically imperialism and colonialism all over again. Also if you read any of the plot tie-in material it becomes clear the Enlightened leader is a lunatic.

Huh, I didn't realise that Ingress involved the real world. I for some reason assumed it was a Second Life type game, and BRTD was at koala/Bushie levels of inactivity

Ugh yuck. The thought of living a Bushie-esque lifestyle itself makes me pretty sick. I've walked 1722 km playing it by the way.

[Bacon King]

How do you choose between the Resistance and Enlightenment?

Sure seems like fearing the aliens would be a very Tea Party-ish thing to do, which makes me really surprised BRTD picked it. Do you just ignore logic like that and join whichever team your friends are on?

The prompt to pick a side was basically the first thing it asked when opening the game for the first time, and it gives you a warning that the choice is permanent. The choice was something to the effect of "The Enlightenment who are working with advanced aliens to uplift humanity" versus "The Resistance who are fighting to prevent those aliens from enslaving humanity". Basically just enough information for you to allow yourself to paint whatever "insider vs. outsider" division you want to, without the game inherently making one side good or bad itself.

I viewed the decision in the paradigm of colonialism, with Enlightenment being the local elites co-opted by the colonizer and the Resistance being the people fighting for self-determination, so it was the better choice I think.

[7,052,770]

I looked around on the Internet and most people said "pick whichever side is weaker in your area. It's more fun that way and the backstories don't matter at all."

But aliens were here and real life and wanted to help us, I'd be all for it, and I'm sure the Tea Party types would be trying to shoot them. Then again, I am a sci-fi fan.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I looked around on the Internet and most people said "pick whichever side is weaker in your area. It's more fun that way and the backstories don't matter at all."

But aliens were here and real life and wanted to help us, I'd be all for it, and I'm sure the Tea Party types would be trying to shoot them. Then again, I am a sci-fi fan.

The Enlightened fundamentally could be considered neoconservatives. Think of Bush's Iraq invasion and how it was supposedly going to make things better for everyone in Iraq and wasn't an imperialist venture.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Might I point out that where BK lives is basically teabagger central and Enlightened dominated, while in the progressive stronghold of Minneapolis this happened.