Best Of
Re: [Discussion] Operation Chronos
I was in the process of making a ton of overclock portals in my area until suddenly my phone couldn't do scans anymore. It was getting old so I replaced it with a brand new phone which apparently also can't scan.
Re: Chronos - Impressions from Day 1
If Lightship is saying "VPS activated - experimental", it means it's not activated for Ingress.
The Wayfarer app shows some details, the website's Geospatial Browser shows some more exact details. The only thing I hate is that it's not mobile friendly. https://lightship.dev/account/geospatial-browser/
That's a direct link to the website view. Its default views shows VPS activated portals. Enable desktop site mode which change the agent view to desktop. You can click at the bottom right of the map "Not Activated" to show all of the portals in the area.
Chronos - Impressions from Day 1
So it’s less than 24 hours into the Chronos global challenge. I’m currently on about 1670 - so about a third of the way to 5000.
To start with, it’s great to see Global Challenges back. They are one of my most favourite parts of the game - taking this sandbox game and tweaking the rules to turn gameplay upside down.
It’s unfortunate that there are only two tiers, the past few years have set a precedence for three. A tier that everyone can attain, one for most people and a challenging tier for those who work for it. In future, it would be nice to see a return to 3 tears.
The artwork isn’t particularly special. It looks like something you will see in an FS media, just a generic blend of green and blue. A stack isn’t really going to make me think of this event, unlike the characters from the Nemesis series: (Aurora, Didact, Optima etc.)
I like how there are multiple ways to earn points, than the event based on one specific metric. This helps people play the event in a way that suits them and their resources.
This event also gives a very long time window, rather than the conventional 10 days. This will help more people find the time to play.
Now for the main part, Overclocking.
if I was to summarise, I would say that the network is not ready.
We’ve recently had a wave of android devices no longer being compatible with scanning, so there is a large chunk of the community feeling disgruntled. I’m fortunate enough to have a high-end iPhone so these changes don’t directly affect me, I have to acknowledge that this event is significantly harder for others.
Many portals need more scans. Put simply. I live in a medium city that has had a lot of scans, people scanning for Battle Beacons, many people scanning portals for their scout controller, (uniques scout controlled) and at the start of this event, only a very small minority were actually eligible for overclocking.
I’ve had to spend my time trying to scan different portals to make more eligible for overclocking, but as familiar with the rules know, scanning, does not earn points for the event metric. Immediate feedback I would give to the team is to include a successful portal scan upload to count for a Chronos Point, it is contributing to the event, the network and is a necessity for a number of people.
The actual process of making a portal eligible for overclocking is extremely convoluted. Members of the community must scan the candidate, successfully upload the scans, then access the Wayfarer App (still in beta), create a lightship dev account to be able to see how many scans are needed and then request VPS activation.
I’ve found, and this is in my experience of about 15,000 scans, that probably between 50 and 80% of my slow, good scans are actually accepted by the database. so this would require between 15 and 20 scans to be uploaded, to meet the minimum requirement of 10 accepted scans to request VPS activation.
Even then, I have found in the field that just because a portal lets you overclock, it is not necessarily a good experience. Some simply do not want to calibrate or it can take multiple attempts.
The only reliable way I have found is to try and overclock portals I know have got upwards of 100 scans, that myself and my teammates have done.
There are wayspots that I know have been tasks in Pokémon GO, requesting scans for premium items that have 50+ scans uploaded on the wayfarer app, but then cannot be VPS activated because of the poor quality scanning.
Pokémon GO players are not scanning to build the network, they are doing it, begrudgingly for free premium items. As Ingress does not have incentives like that, only badges. Most Ingress players are scanning because they want to scan, and the quality seems to be better.
I’ve also noticed that VPS enabled portals on the lightship app I’m not showing as overclock eligible in Ingress, still wanting to receive more scans. I went to a park where the Wayfarer app said the majority of wayspots would be VPS enabled, to find only a pitiful, minority or actually overclock eligible. So instead of earning points for the event, hacking the portals with overclock. I found myself scanning.
As for the actual hacking process.
When it comes to citing the glyphs, not all glyphs are built equal. Some are exactly how they appear in 2D, but just rotated - these include: ‘civilisation’ and ‘shapers’.
Others are not clear representations of their 2-D counterparts, these include - Potential, Pure, Capture and Chaos, for example.
It is also not clear what orientation and agent should be facing to see the glyph clearly. Many people in my groups have sent videos of them frantically circling around, trying to get some resemblance of a glyph. Even for experienced glyphers, this is not interesting, fun or engaging.
Some kind of indicator of what angle you should be facing the box for the cliff to correctly resemble needs to be added to overclocking.
The box does not seem to be stationary, in my experience, and from videos, other people have shared people are trying to circle the box to see the pattern from a different orientation, and the box is rotating with them. This does not help some glyphs that have a mirror image like ‘Create’ and ‘Destroy’ or ‘Simple’, ‘Gain’ and ‘Lose’.
I have also seen a bug where the glyph appears as very thin lines and is not clearly visible.
One thing Niantic has taken on board is the timing. It is much better and actually gives agents enough time to recite the pattern. I think this is finally at a happy medium. So one thing I will say thank you for is that
This is my feedback from day one, I’m happy to have a global challenge back, but these are a combination of my thoughts and what others have shared in my communities. I hope I can take this on board and make the game better for everyone. Thank you.
Re: Devra & Akira: The Chronos File [Discussion]
Why should they improve the game?
Why should they do anything?
Come on. You're still playing it.
Re: Niantic Suppy
The lootbox style was only for X Series and if you pre-ordered for Ingress Origins for the first pack.
Re: Ingress in 2024
The addressing of grievances.
Someone has seen their share of Seinfeld.
[Discussion] Operation Chronos
Agents,
In a stunning display of scientific prowess, earlier this year, Akira Tsukasa and Devra Bogdanovich joined forces to launch an **** against the Machina Portal infection. Their experiment brought a fleeting moment of respite, only to be shattered by a resurgence of this formidable foe.
The scientific pursuit has not ended. Newly acquired intelligence unveils an audacious experiment these two visionaries have set in motion. A precarious venture—one with the potential to reverberate not only through the realm of Machina but to the very essence of our own reality itself.
Should their experiment succeed, we may find ourselves faced with transformation: Our universe transcending a boundary and propelling us, in 2024, into an alternate dimension laden with unknown perils and possibilities.
The details of this experimental operation are as follows:
From Wednesday, 6 December 2023, 00:00 UTC to Saturday, 6 January 2024, 00:00 UTC, earn the Chronos medal by accumulating Event Points through the following qualifying actions:
- 1 Overclock Hack Point = 2 Chronos Points
- 1 Portal Capture = 1 Chronos Point
- 1 Mod Deploy = 1 Chronos Point
A new metric “Operation Chronos Points” will be added to your Agent Profile for the duration of Operation Chronos to help you monitor your own progress.
The Chronos Medal is a 2-tiered medal:
- Silver: 5,000 points
- Bronze: 500 points
Overclock Hack Points function as follows:
- 5 Overclock Hack points for each successful Reality Calibration
- 1 Overclock Hack points for getting all Glyphs correct on a 1-Glyph Overclock sequence
- 2 Overclock Hack points for getting all Glyphs correct on a 2-Glyph Overclock sequence
- 4 Overclock Hack points for getting all Glyphs correct on a 3-Glyph Overclock sequence
- 8 Overclock Hack points for getting all Glyphs correct on a 4-Glyph Overclock sequence
- 15 Overclock Hack points for getting all Glyph corrects on a 5-Glyph Overclock sequence
- If an agent achieves successful Reality calibration, but does not successfully complete a Glyph sequence, they will earn the Overclock Hack points for the calibration (5 Overclock Hack points)
- If an agent does not achieve Reality calibration, but successfully completes a Glyph sequence, they will earn the Overclock Hack points for the Glyph sequence (up to 15 Overclock Hack points)
- A successful 5-Glyph Overclock Hack with successful Reality Calibration may earn an Agent 20 Overclock Hack Points
Agents, your feedback and counsel have been instrumental and continually guide our tactical approach.
Remain vigilant. In your pursuits of XM research and missions, strict compliance with local health and security regulations is essential.
For ongoing updates on Ingress field activities and strategic initiatives, refer to our official communication channel routinely. Stay alert, stay ready.
— Ingress
Ingress in 2024
What do you expect? What do you want?
We already have some Anomaly dates:
On XM Anomalies 2024
NIA Researchers have detected XM signals indicating Anomalies on the following dates:
- 17 February 2024
- 16 March 2024
- 18 May 2024
- 15 June 2024
However, none in January or April have been announced. Do you think we will have them or have some Anomaly-less months? I’m okay with that.
For 2024 myself, I’d like to see features finally fleshed out and finished.
- AgentOps - I know many link a task based system to Pokémon GO as it’s another Niantic title and they have it there. However task based systems in mobile games have been around for ages and doesn’t indicate that Ingress is becoming Pokémon GO at all for me. I’d love themed monthly tasks which would take time to do and offer some nice rewards (maybe even CMU in some cases?) and then once sorted and running well, we could look at Paid AgentOps. Pay £5, get special tasks, complete them and get a badge. This would help those who want to feel like they earned the badge rather than forked over money for a badge.
- FitRep - Now to counter everything I just said about Ingress not being Pokémon GO. FitRep is pretty pointless right now. In Pikmin Bloom & Pokémon GO, I get rewards based on how far I walk (group challenges for Pikmin Bloom & individual distance for Pokémon GO). Ingress is also meant to encourage me to get out and explore (“Time to move Agent.”) so it could give the little push with FitRep rewards which were mentioned during Q1 2022 and then forgotten about.
- Friends - Recently, Niantic has been all about “parties”. In Monster Hunter, I can form a party with Friends battle monsters. In Pokémon GO, I can form a party with Friends and do challenges which get all of us extra rewards and greater damage dealt. In Pikmin Bloom, I can form a challenge and see who walks the most & work together. Friends system on Ingress exists but isn’t used at all. I have a few ideas for Ingress but a Party sounds like a good idea to me as well. You can already boost up a Portal with a lot of Agents, but I am thinking of attacking. For example, you go out and gather up some other ENL, and form a party in game. Then your weapons do extra damage to Portals, perhaps even being able to sync up your XMP blasts to go at the same time. Then you get rewards based on number of Portals claimed or resonators destroyed etc.
It goes without saying that I’d like to see lag sorted too. As for some other rambling thoughts.
- Level 17+ please
- A reason beyond bragging rights to recurse (maybe 17+ needs one)
- Duplicating keys (sell Very Rare KCaps that do it, I don’t care)
- Months with events beyond the usual FS, SS stuff (will be an especially bare month in January/April if that’s all we have)
Anyways, I think that’s it from me.*
*I should add an addendum that if there’s a few responses I’ll probably read a few out on the podcast (probably for the 25th December episode). If you’re not cool with that, please do say.
Suggestion: The Red Seed
My interaction with Machina portals is mostly to **** them to clear bothersome links, gain stats and some portal mods. Hacking them is quite useless as it is.
My suggestion is to add a new virus/refactor-like weapon (“Red seed”) that ONLY can be obtained by HACKING a Machina portal – not by hacking any other portals or by kinetic capsule programs.
The Red Seed can then be used to introduce Machina portals to an area that does not have them for whatever reason.
(Another interesting feature could be that “Red seeds” that are kept in your inventory for some time could lead to corruption of your inventory – reducing the level of other stored items, deletion of keys etc.)
Re: Devra & Akira: The Chronos File [Discussion]
Why should they make new scanner for dead game?