@crystalwizard , as with others, you assume too much about the buses. At least some who spent time on the bus also walked 8+ miles for the anomaly. It's not as though having players in vehicles is unprecedented; we just used it to good effect at a larger scale then before. And with the exception of four individual RES agents, no RES agents spent their entire day on a bus.
FWIW, the first time I heard of a large group of agents spending their entire anomaly day in a large vehicle, it was the ENL's party limo at Via Noir Chicago. I heard their primary task was drinking mass quantities of alcohol, which is a goal I understand and have pursued many times... just not during an anomaly.
My step counter was at 12.5 miles at the end of the day.
Yes, the 30 minutes or so on the bus was great just to get off my feet. It went by quick. But then you had to get back on those sore feet and keep on trekking.
It was a great strategy for the rules of this specific anomaly. But every anomaly has it's own rules and it's own Calvinball. So would it work again? Who knows.
Thank you for all of your hard work. 💙 I get so giddy every time I open my agent profile and see the blue osiris badge.
Has anyone from the bike squad commented about not riding the busses? Gotta be honest, I was a bit upset when I was informed of this. Most of the anomaly, I was alone, wandering around for UPHs and media. There were a few times when I was instructed to help at a specific area. I can't help feeling disconnected from my teammates. I know this Chicago was way out in left field compared to other anomalys. Therefore the strategies would have to be "out there " as well. Any comments?
I did have an absolute blast biking all over the playbox. Humble brag: I had 155 UPHs, 96th percentile.
Also, this entire platform is a nightmare without threads.
@GreatNorthern , dear, ADA! Can we stick to yes/no questions? This is deep!
I think the ruleset was good. The fact that the event score differentials for this series were relatively narrow leads me to believe that the balance is appropriate. (Please don't assume that we weren't doing our utmost to recruit RES players to attend Chicago; I personally outright begged people to show up. I've said it in private and I'll say it in public: Kudos to the Chicago ENL orga for their sustained and effective marketing and recruitment effort; I was in awe.) I think narrow wins will actually help get people to show up because they will feel they can have more of an impact as an individual. I think wins by outnumbered factions will help encourage people to show up to the events even if the conventional wisdom says that their faction will be outnumbered.
I oppose #paytowin in Ingress. #moneyball is quite the opposite of #paytowin. Please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moneyball (And read the book, too!) I think I can put it this way: Moneyball is about finding the best way to use limited resources against an opponent with more resources. In that sense, our genius (and anonymous by request) strategy team for this one played brilliant moneyball.
(a) Budget? Maaaaaaan, we should've thought of that. Want to buy some swag? http://shop.chicago.willbe.blue/ *cough* (b) Based on the smiles and joy of my fellow Resistance agents, ABSOLUTELY. (c) LOL, are you asking if I wish we'd just bribed Niantic for points? That's awful and would be obviously ruinous to the the game, so I guess the answer to that question is: No, I would not accept similar advantage by paying Niantic money.
@Sonicgott , Hank was certainly around quite a lot at Niantic HQ before and after the anomaly; it's unfortunate that you didn't get to meet him. He's very enthusiastic!
Indeed, it was a great anomaly. 3.02 points! So crazy. (And, yes, unexpected.)
@GibsonGirl71 , well put. I was on a dedicated Zello channel all day, so I didn't hear the cheerleading on the main Zello. I hear it was quite the rallying cry. Things looked very dark before the dawn, didn't they? I'm glad everyone stuck to the plan!
@Jayrocky , I was prepared to congratulate ENL for a win. There are many ENL who have congratulated us in public and in private. I think it is healthy to learn from a loss and adjust and move forward; it's what I did after the loss at Helios Chicago (for which I was POC) and the hard lessons learned there guided future successes.
If you Recurse again, I hope you stay RES! Your never-say-die, gung-ho approach is the positivity that Ingress needs! It was a pleasure chatting with you on Sunday morning after the anomaly. Keep doing what you're doing! :)
@nealw , "Remember that which unites us as Ingress Agents is far greater than that which divides us as Agents of a faction." I will freely admit to not being a good cross-faction agent early on, but I quickly grew tired of the spats and sniping. There are several people on this thread who I've barely interacted with in the last five years but still bring up comments I made way back then. I wish they'd just let it go, but whatcha gonna do? (You know who you are. I'm @chibri on Telegram; first round is on me if you want to chat and put it behind us.)
I do think elimination of the Guardian badge was the first step towards improving cross-faction relations, but some of the scars run deep and some of the -- ahem -- factionalization is nigh impossible to overcome. Its removal is a big success story for the people who run Niantic.
@nealw , my next thing is planning the overdue honeymoon for my wife and I. (It'll be a few months yet, but I'm sure we'll have plenty to share on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chibrisnaps/ )
It's for Niantic to decide who might replace me in the Vanguard program, but I encourage anyone who has a positive attitude about Ingress to apply. :)
@Ishira , I have a very unique view of the use of NPC for gameplay effects during an anomaly, of course. I have lead a charmed Ingress life in many ways, and being Hank's chauffeur on anomaly day was a real cherry on top for my last anomaly. I hope Niantic finds more ways to add twists like this to the game for anomalies because it is something new and something different. That said, it is unfortunate that Hank had to basically be kept hidden during the event for strategic/tactical reasons. I'm not sure how to reconcile those two competing forces. I'm sure Niantic is thinking of something though!
@ThePrevaricator , all questions and answers about Hank were handled via the POC Slack. Both factions had equal opportunity to ask questions. I don't know what Niantic's procedures actually were for adding information to the FAQ, so I can't opine on if they had difficulty following them or not. If ENL wanted more specificity on what "guide and direct" meant, they could have asked.
Laura and I guided and directed Hank during the anomaly day. He was enthusiastic about our plans when I shared them with him. If Niantic or Hank had objected to any of it, we would have respected their objections and made alternative plans.
It was clear that your team fought for every point, which is as it should be.
Thank you! We had a great team working on this one! We fought for every point, as did the ENL in Chicago. It was a very challenging day. I'm very happy RES won. I knew it would be close. I was fully prepared for the opposite result.
Assuming that artifacts stay as part of anomaly play, do you feel should they be given out for one time per anomaly use?
If so should each side get the same or should there be a choosing of weapons or random distribution?
I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean media artifacts? Or the special devices/abilities? Either way, I think they are both interesting new twists on the anomaly game, so I hope they both stay.
@ThePrevaricator There was no additional clarification about how the special items worked for the Vanguards (and if there would have been, it would have been available to both RES and ENL).
As a matter of fact, we (Chicago team) only heard the most important details 30 minutes before the anomaly (Not sure if @chibri got them from Hank or from the PoC slack) and it meant that we had to completely revise our original plan for the Hanktifacts that close to the start of the anomaly. The final details only became clear when Hank was actually in the playbox and the artifacts were being hacked.
@chibri thanks for the reply. I do want to clarify, as I feel that what you've assumed are my assumptions are actually my reflections from being on the ground and talking to others that were. However this thread less forum is a nightmare on mobile so I'll have to wait until I got a pc to compose my thoughts better.
I've reread the analysis you refer to and it agrees with me that the buses gave you the edge, that's what gave you the 65 points and allowed the come back from being 62 points down. It's not the only thing and didn't give you the win in isolation, but that was never my assertion. I find the comparisons with other sites misleading as there are too many variables to directly compare so freely, e.g. size of Playbox, density of portals, ease of travel.
Anyway all this has served to do is ramble some more and not ask any more specific questions so I'm going to go away now... But thanks for the chance to AYA and I'll return later!
@mcwebtree , it seems many ENL who were on the ground in Chicago still have some wildly inaccurate beliefs about what RES actually did in Chicago. (Though, yes, I did make the assumption from your comments that you were not in Chicago for the anomaly; my mistake.) Please do ask your questions. This is a good conversation. :-)
Comments
@crystalwizard , as with others, you assume too much about the buses. At least some who spent time on the bus also walked 8+ miles for the anomaly. It's not as though having players in vehicles is unprecedented; we just used it to good effect at a larger scale then before. And with the exception of four individual RES agents, no RES agents spent their entire day on a bus.
FWIW, the first time I heard of a large group of agents spending their entire anomaly day in a large vehicle, it was the ENL's party limo at Via Noir Chicago. I heard their primary task was drinking mass quantities of alcohol, which is a goal I understand and have pursued many times... just not during an anomaly.
My step counter was at 12.5 miles at the end of the day.
Yes, the 30 minutes or so on the bus was great just to get off my feet. It went by quick. But then you had to get back on those sore feet and keep on trekking.
It was a great strategy for the rules of this specific anomaly. But every anomaly has it's own rules and it's own Calvinball. So would it work again? Who knows.
@DisasterRawr , aw, buddy. It's a brave new post-G+ world. Let us start anew.
@PhaseolusV , we aim to please! :)
@DLKoikingu , teamwork makes the dream work! :)
@JorgeLoco , I do hope people stop weaponizing the Flag feature. I responded to @DisasterPyrite , though it probably didn't qualify as an answer.
@Cornwuff , sigh, indeed. Ingress: Weaponizing Everything In The Room Since 2012!
Assuming that artifacts stay as part of anomaly play, do you feel should they be given out for one time per anomaly use?
If so should each side get the same or should there be a choosing of weapons or random distribution?
Thank you for all of your hard work. 💙 I get so giddy every time I open my agent profile and see the blue osiris badge.
Has anyone from the bike squad commented about not riding the busses? Gotta be honest, I was a bit upset when I was informed of this. Most of the anomaly, I was alone, wandering around for UPHs and media. There were a few times when I was instructed to help at a specific area. I can't help feeling disconnected from my teammates. I know this Chicago was way out in left field compared to other anomalys. Therefore the strategies would have to be "out there " as well. Any comments?
I did have an absolute blast biking all over the playbox. Humble brag: I had 155 UPHs, 96th percentile.
Also, this entire platform is a nightmare without threads.
@GreatNorthern , dear, ADA! Can we stick to yes/no questions? This is deep!
@Sonicgott , Hank was certainly around quite a lot at Niantic HQ before and after the anomaly; it's unfortunate that you didn't get to meet him. He's very enthusiastic!
Indeed, it was a great anomaly. 3.02 points! So crazy. (And, yes, unexpected.)
@GibsonGirl71 , well put. I was on a dedicated Zello channel all day, so I didn't hear the cheerleading on the main Zello. I hear it was quite the rallying cry. Things looked very dark before the dawn, didn't they? I'm glad everyone stuck to the plan!
@Jayrocky , I was prepared to congratulate ENL for a win. There are many ENL who have congratulated us in public and in private. I think it is healthy to learn from a loss and adjust and move forward; it's what I did after the loss at Helios Chicago (for which I was POC) and the hard lessons learned there guided future successes.
If you Recurse again, I hope you stay RES! Your never-say-die, gung-ho approach is the positivity that Ingress needs! It was a pleasure chatting with you on Sunday morning after the anomaly. Keep doing what you're doing! :)
@a21schizoidman , cranberry orange muffins are the BEST
@nealw , "Remember that which unites us as Ingress Agents is far greater than that which divides us as Agents of a faction." I will freely admit to not being a good cross-faction agent early on, but I quickly grew tired of the spats and sniping. There are several people on this thread who I've barely interacted with in the last five years but still bring up comments I made way back then. I wish they'd just let it go, but whatcha gonna do? (You know who you are. I'm @chibri on Telegram; first round is on me if you want to chat and put it behind us.)
I do think elimination of the Guardian badge was the first step towards improving cross-faction relations, but some of the scars run deep and some of the -- ahem -- factionalization is nigh impossible to overcome. Its removal is a big success story for the people who run Niantic.
@nealw , my next thing is planning the overdue honeymoon for my wife and I. (It'll be a few months yet, but I'm sure we'll have plenty to share on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chibrisnaps/ )
It's for Niantic to decide who might replace me in the Vanguard program, but I encourage anyone who has a positive attitude about Ingress to apply. :)
@Ishira , I have a very unique view of the use of NPC for gameplay effects during an anomaly, of course. I have lead a charmed Ingress life in many ways, and being Hank's chauffeur on anomaly day was a real cherry on top for my last anomaly. I hope Niantic finds more ways to add twists like this to the game for anomalies because it is something new and something different. That said, it is unfortunate that Hank had to basically be kept hidden during the event for strategic/tactical reasons. I'm not sure how to reconcile those two competing forces. I'm sure Niantic is thinking of something though!
@ThePrevaricator , all questions and answers about Hank were handled via the POC Slack. Both factions had equal opportunity to ask questions. I don't know what Niantic's procedures actually were for adding information to the FAQ, so I can't opine on if they had difficulty following them or not. If ENL wanted more specificity on what "guide and direct" meant, they could have asked.
Laura and I guided and directed Hank during the anomaly day. He was enthusiastic about our plans when I shared them with him. If Niantic or Hank had objected to any of it, we would have respected their objections and made alternative plans.
@TheRedSeven , this might be off by a minute or two, but 11 days, 4 hours, 19 minutes as of now.
@TheRedSeven
is it possible to quote the question you're responding to? Kinda hard to follow now that the post is on multiple pages...
... darnit. Yes, I should do that, I guess. I wasn't expecting so many pages.
@d0gboy
I just wanted to say kudos on a job well done.
It was clear that your team fought for every point, which is as it should be.
Thank you! We had a great team working on this one! We fought for every point, as did the ENL in Chicago. It was a very challenging day. I'm very happy RES won. I knew it would be close. I was fully prepared for the opposite result.
@JudgeBearl
Assuming that artifacts stay as part of anomaly play, do you feel should they be given out for one time per anomaly use?
If so should each side get the same or should there be a choosing of weapons or random distribution?
I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean media artifacts? Or the special devices/abilities? Either way, I think they are both interesting new twists on the anomaly game, so I hope they both stay.
No threads but yes always. You are a great leader and a good friend. Enjoy retirement if you come back you will be welcomed with open arms.
I meant the special devices/abilities
Modern problems require modern solutions
It's like people have never met someone through ingress and then just been driven around for hours (or vice versa).
I'm curious how many hats did you end up with / lose?
Boy are there some serious technical difficulties with this forum software.
I am now only able to post from Chrome mobile. wheeeeeeeeeee
@ThePrevaricator There was no additional clarification about how the special items worked for the Vanguards (and if there would have been, it would have been available to both RES and ENL).
As a matter of fact, we (Chicago team) only heard the most important details 30 minutes before the anomaly (Not sure if @chibri got them from Hank or from the PoC slack) and it meant that we had to completely revise our original plan for the Hanktifacts that close to the start of the anomaly. The final details only became clear when Hank was actually in the playbox and the artifacts were being hacked.
@chibri thanks for the reply. I do want to clarify, as I feel that what you've assumed are my assumptions are actually my reflections from being on the ground and talking to others that were. However this thread less forum is a nightmare on mobile so I'll have to wait until I got a pc to compose my thoughts better.
I've reread the analysis you refer to and it agrees with me that the buses gave you the edge, that's what gave you the 65 points and allowed the come back from being 62 points down. It's not the only thing and didn't give you the win in isolation, but that was never my assertion. I find the comparisons with other sites misleading as there are too many variables to directly compare so freely, e.g. size of Playbox, density of portals, ease of travel.
Anyway all this has served to do is ramble some more and not ask any more specific questions so I'm going to go away now... But thanks for the chance to AYA and I'll return later!
@mcwebtree , it seems many ENL who were on the ground in Chicago still have some wildly inaccurate beliefs about what RES actually did in Chicago. (Though, yes, I did make the assumption from your comments that you were not in Chicago for the anomaly; my mistake.) Please do ask your questions. This is a good conversation. :-)