Some might ask, “What is Ingress?” That is surely what I said when I first heard about this “game”. After a little research into it and a couple of weeks playing, it has changed the way I look at everything around me. Is that a portal?!?
WARNING: THIS GAME CAN BE SUPER ADDICTIVE
Ingress is a game that isn’t a game created by Niantic Labs at Google. They describe Ingress as “Ingress transforms the real world into the landscape for a global game of mystery, intrigue, and competition.” I like to think of it as a mixture of Geocaching meets Capture the Flag meets FourSquare. If you have ever done or played one of those (or all) then this might make a bit of sense. I will have to admit that it took me a little while to understand this game and I am still learning strategy but it is a lot of fun. Let me break it down some of the parts a bit for you.
Scanner: This is basically your Android device (coming soon to iOS). You download the app from the Play Store and launch it to see a world you never knew existed. Using this scanner, you will be able to see portals, links, control fields and much more. It is your basic tool to do just about everything in this game.
This is the main view from the scanner. The triangle is you and the amber ring it the range of where portals need to be in to be worked on. All the white dots are XM which will be automatically collected when low and within the amber circle.
This screen shows the world-wide rankings between the ENLightened and the RESistance.
This shows the details on a specific portal. You can see an image of what it is, who owns it, the level of the resonators and the power level left in them as well as the options of what you can do with it. You get this screen from selecting a portal on your screen.
Faction: There are 2 sides to this competitive game. There is the Resistance (Blue) and the Enlightened (Green). Ingress has a big back story that you can look into if you to understand why things and teams are called what they are but I am not going to get into that. After you pick a side, you get to start playing.
XM: Also know as Exotic Matter. This is the stuff that is all around and is needed to do basically anything. Think of it like XP in many other gaming scenarios. Depending on what level you are will depend on how much XM you can hold. You use XM to deploy resonators, throw out links and build control fields…but we’ll get to that.
AP: These are the points that you gain from doing all of the following. As you gain AP, you level up. Currently there are 8 levels for each player. As you gain higher ranks, you are able to deploy stronger and destroyer more easier. KEEP ON GAINING AP!!
Portals & Resonators: All around there are things called portals.Usually they are by public parks, post offices, churches and so on. The capture the flag aspect comes into play here. To capture the portal and make it your own, you deploy a resonator with your scanner. A maximum of 8 resonators per portal can be deployed onto it. Once it is full, you can then link and build fields.
This is the view of the Deploy portion. We can see the deployment of resonators on a portal. Some can be upgraded based on your level.
Portal Keys: These are acquired from hacking a portal. They are used to remotely recharge a portal or create a link.
Hacking: This is what you do to acquire items (portal keys, resonators, XMP…) With a press of a button on your scanner, this feat is accomplished.
Links and Control Fields: This is where strategy comes into play. If you are at portal A and want to make a link to portal B, first you need a key for portal B. Then there are lots variables that come into play. For instance, both portals need to be apart of you faction and have 8 resonators on them. Then depending on your level, this will base how far of a link you can make…granted there isn’t anything else blocking the link. When a triangle is completed, that is considered a control field and those are what makes the biggest difference in this game. When a field is created, MU’s (Mind Units) are captured and count towards your overall team score.
XMP: These are the items that are used to destroy enemy portals/links/control fields. Different levels have different ranges and strength but you need to gain that AP in order to achieve higher levels.
Here we can see a portal getting attacked by an XMP. The red percentages show the damage to the resonators. The red lightning is the damaged sustained to you from the attack. Damage takes away XM from you. Gain more to fight back. This being a L1 XMP, it has the lowest range and lowest damage.
Other: There are a bunch of other mods that you can add-on to portals. More are getting developed as the game progresses.
Here we can see some mods being applied to a portal. There are different types with different capabilities.
If I were to sum all that up in a nutshell: Open up your scanner app and walk around to collect XM. Find a portal. When you are in range of it, hack it. Take those item and use them to destroy enemy portals and claim them as your own. Or build up your own team’s portals and create links and control fields. All gains you AP to level up. The best advice I got from the veterans is hack, hack, hack. When you level up, link and build control fields. When you run low on XM, just walk around some more to gain it back. Don’t worry about your work getting destroyed because this is a back and forth game. Just look at is as another opportunity to gain more AP! The game never goes stale because your portals lose their power over time and you have to recharge it. That way it keeps you in the game or the portal dies and someone else can claim it as their own.
The game gets fun and competitive. After you build up something, you might get an opposing faction member to come and tear it down and build up theirs. You go back another time and do it over but with other team members and make it stronger this time. It’s a back and forth game so it always going on. Never a dull moment.
Don’t let all of this discourage you from playing. It seems like a lot to take in…and it is. It is only some of the game rules. After a couple weeks of hardly playing, I was able to pick it up. This is a very social game and gets you out of the house and around your cities to explore places you might not have known existed. There are local groups of team members that you can get in touch with to help you out. That is what made all the difference to me. SHOUT OUT TO THE UNITED CHICAGOLAND RESISTANCE!! The high level players are usually willing and able to help out the noobs to level up quickly…and you will. I have a ton of fun playing this whenever I get the chance. It has to be one of the most social games I have ever played and I have been introduced to so many locals which in my eyes is the definitive “Social Network”.
Get on your phone or tablet and download this “game”. Go out and have some fun and meet some new people. Join the movement!
