MU Calculation relating to rural areas

I live in a country town of around 6000 people & yet a single field covering the entire town will only yield around 500MU. In a decent city you can get the same MU in less than one block.

Since as rural agents have less portals & more area to cover to create fields & complexes of fields, should we not have some better weighting. I’ve not discussed this really before & I believe no one outside NIA knows how MU is actually calculated.

We don’t all live in cities &/or struggle to get to them.

What do you think?

Comments

  • sisimeonsisimeon ✭✭✭

    The benefit of rural areas when it comes to MU is that one may create much larger fields without having to worry about blocking links.

    To get my gold Illuminator I worked with my faction to get keys to send links in a large field system. With my normal city playing my largest field has been 9MU and that was during the recent event where I was throwing "big fields" on foot to get the link length medal

  • vidiconvidicon ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2019

    Each type of area has its own challenges and benefits when it comes to MU. Urban areas have a lot of MU in a small space, but also a lot of portals and agents active which makes clearing a lot more challenging - plus urban agents often don't have cars which makes it harder to go far. Rural areas have fewer blockers and agents, so it's easier to get a geographically big field up, but you don't get much MU.

    IMO, the real sweet spot when it comes to getting MU is suburban areas outside of a city, where there is fairly high population density but lower portal / player density. A field that is 5-10km on a side is easy enough to clear for solo, and can yield tens of thousands of MU per layer.

  • In Australia we call it "Roo MU", and while disappointing to create a BAF with a small amount of MU the satisfaction on completing it is still there.

    I don't think it should change however, with the same arguments made above.

  • DrThodDrThod ✭✭✭

    I think a lot of MU calculation is based on population density - and in rural areas this includes the build up area as well as the fields around it. So often you get the same MU (per square km) if you field between 3 villages or if you field over them.

    As such a 'true' BAF over a small village or town might be a lot larger as you assume.

    By fielding between larger towns (or only partly clipping them) you also have greater survival. My largest field was a mere 23K - but this still gave me 211K MU-days as it lasted for nearly 10 days. Try this above a larger town with active players and it won't survive very long - unless your portals are truly inaccessible.

  • I’ve done a number of BAFs across the area. The biggest netted me nearly a million. More of a challenge now as some opposing agents have come back to the game, while others are leveling up to create portals to convert to stops & gyms for Pogo. City peeps may not have cars, but usually lots of public transport, whe

  • OphthalmosOphthalmos ✭✭✭

    If you don't live in cities, it's easier for you to get MUs. You can just make fields up the cities.

  • Rural gameplay definitely has a different complexion.

    While I was in Iowa in early 2015 I put up a field that had anchors in Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri that took six hours of driving to throw. Each layer was ~39k MU. Back in California I threw a field that covered San Clemente and part of Dana point that took me less than half an hour to do (after clearing) and that netted about the same MU per layer. The California field lasted barely one checkpoint but the midwest field lasted for 13 checkpoints, giving me my MUxDays record that still stands.

    If you only play in rural areas it's going to be hard to get your Onyx Illuminator badge unless you get involved with a BAF. Back when Guardian was a thing it seemed to me that the rural players all had that where the urban players were all struggling with it.

  • SoylentGrienSoylentGrien ✭✭✭✭✭

    It's based on the population density but in most places the figures are many years out of date. Where I live there are some entire suburbs which didn't exist when the game was launched and still give rural MU.

  • WeyrleaderWeyrleader ✭✭✭

    Echo all of the above comments. One thing I would add is that the MU scoring is also relative to the proportions of the level 6 S2 scoring cells it covers. For example if your BAF crosses into a cell with a smaller population this will impact your MU to the point where larger fields actually return less than smaller ones, so its best to take this into account to maximise the return.

    The cell boundaries are displayed on the Intel map when you zoom out to show links > 2.5km

  • DigitalisDigitalis ✭✭✭

    if you are anchoring from portals in low population areas - do not be surprised when the field itself is underwhelming for MU.

    maybe see what happens when the three portals you use are in a higher population area...


    the portal in the woods at the end of a logging trail 30 miles from the nearest house may not be as good of an anchor as the one on the edge of town at the gazebo in front of an apartment complex.


    for what it is worth - the last time my mind controller badge levelled up was before my founders badge was applied. i am not an avid fielder.

  • Patka07Patka07 ✭✭✭✭

    @Digitalis it is little different to me. I made tons of BAFs, and MU gained from portal in the forest was bigger than from city portal. Field from forest was a lot smaller than that from city.

    Links from "forest mu" were ~15km long, links from "city anchored field" ~35, difference in MU, something about 15k.

  • CriminalBizzyCriminalBizzy ✭✭✭✭

    Hopefully the MU will be updated once the 2020 census is complete.

  • While I used to hate being in a remote area, having lived for long periods in all types of areas, and missing city life in ingress, ive come to realize that even though it seems slower and harder, it just goes to show how the game was thought out, for better and worse.

    Where there is more xm, more people flock.

    Where more flock and build, the more art and Institutions are built.

    This is just the game.

  • I fielded over a city of population 90,000 got 15k MU.

    then fielded over my hometown and a few small surrounding villages, total population under that field is about 30,000 and got 14.5k MU from that field 🤣

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