Extendiality

Another huge field in the Ingress game, the whole San Francisco area became Enlightened.

Strange enough, global MU percentage has not changed, though there is a lot of people living in this beautiful city. Seems, stats are wrong or Niantic simply has unknown count logic.

Anyway, now we will see lots of such remarkable fields as more and more people get high levels and learn how to extablish a useful coordination between each other.

I was pleasantly overwhelmed by positive discussions in comments of the first post, Google Plus page and Decode Ingress page.

I’ve heard lots of very interesting ideas, which only show that there is a big group of enthusiastic people, who really wish to make Ingress better.

I will sort all suggestions and include them in my series of posts on this topic and will contact Niantic Labs to let them know of your concerns.

So, let’s continue:

3) WE NEED AREA (INTEL) MAP TO WORK ON THE PHONE!!

And without lags 🙂 Sorry for Caps Lock, I was frustrated. No, really, is it so hard to implement?

There is such functionality already (remember map, when you try to link something?), why not add it in the menu to use along with that fancy 3D field map? Highly anticipated enhancement.

Just imagine – zoom out field map, it smoothly transforms to the Intel style 3D and shows you the whole area around. Super.

I personally believe, it will be included as there is absolutely no reason for not doing so.

UPDATE from 02.02: Intel Map is now optimized for mobile devices as well.

Seems our prayers were heard. It is still not so smooth as could be and you still need to switch to browser, but anyway, thanks, Niantic!

4) Switch off screen, while collecting XM.

This is ridiculous, to be honest. Not only it drains battery, it also shortens the life of blue pixels on non-Pentile AMOLED screens (like the one on Samsung Galaxy S 2).

Here is a good news, as I just came across a nice app, which really ROCKS. It is called Screen Standby, needs rooted devices and has very broad set of settings.

I am using now the following settings -> Proximity sensor triggering, then Extra Settings -> Use two-stage screen off (to first start this program, then start Ingress and then “activate screen off” mode) and Wake lock (to prevent screen going to sleep).

The only downside I found is that touchscreen still active, so try not to press anything. There is an option to block the touchscreen, but it will be blocked till software is running. It will be annoying to start/stop it all the time.

At the same time it is a workaround. Would be great to have this option in Ingress app itself.

To be continued…

There are already Part 2 and Part 3 available as well.

So, folks, Ingress is already 2.5 month old (still in beta!). After playing a while I can already point out some things, which I, as a player, would be glad to see fixed or enhanced.

I am pretty sure that many of these will find their solution as the game evolves, but nevertheless..

Let’s start with the basics.

1) And here is the first catch — Ingress is… pointless at this stage.

Please hold on and don’t shoot me with a fire hose!

Yes, currently there are not many people with Level 8 and there is something to fight for. But what’s next? Perfect illustration of the game process is this one 🙂 You can find animated gif here

In my opinion, some kind of team achievements should be introduced. Game goal is to capture more Mind Units than opposing team. So, big fields should be awarded with much more “team points” than small ones.

Next, there can be some kind of recognition for keeping fields and portals in your team’s hands. For example, “defended portal for 7 days = team gets XXX points + extra points for those, who helped to recharge that portal, upgraded resonators etc.”  Or, “kept field with XXX MU alive for 7 days = teams gets XXX points etc.”

Isn’t it logical? Otherwise, I believe, most players will simply be bored as soon as they reach Level 7 or 8. At the same time, new will come and as Google needs GPS tracking data, then it does not matter, whether players are veterans or newbies.

2) Cheating.

Ok, I know it is eternal problem with almost any game. Still all these GPS spoofing bastards and account sharing players should be reported and banned quickly and with no mercy. New methods for discovering them should be implemented.

Methods should be strict, because many people will quit playing, as they do not want to spend their time and money (check Ingress costs!) competing with those sitting in front of the computers and getting 200 000 AP in one hour.

What do you think? Share in comments!

To be continued…

Another remarkable Ingress achievement, this time by Enlightened team.

They managed to cover the whole London! And London is actually a major European city, so covering it with a green field can be a bit of discouraging for Resistance.

No one is able to make any links now inside this field (except those from the corners to the inside portals), till it is crushed or decayed, but anyway, good coordination and big symbolic meaning.

This is massive thing in the Ingress game world — huge Resistance field in the middle of Russia. Seems, this field is the main reason for astonishing Blue domination. It is 79% at the moment.

If it was created without cheating, then these guys really rock. Good example of how things should be done in Ingress.