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Android Ingress

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Diremongoose

iSpy
I am rapidly becoming obsessed with Google Ingress. We first started talking about Augmented Reality (AR) in this thread, but Ingress really is something new and exciting. It's the first popular expression of AR in a game format.

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Three screen shots from the mobile interface. Source: http://www.techjailbreak.com/

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The browser 'google maps' interface where you can observe the game.

The game is in 'real world' locations as determined by your phone GPS (Android OS only). You go to marked areas of the map containing 'Portals' and attempt to capture them for one of two sides (Blue and Green), then defend them with the resources the portal generates/that you steal from the other sides' portals. 'Hacking' a portal, the simplest action to perform, provides loot to use in-game.

I'm really new to this game, having only downloaded it yesterday, but already I find myself taking impromptu hikes across campus to hack various portals in an attempt to level up and get more goodies! I'll update this thread with more as I find new stuff. Anyone else play this yet?

Oh, and these screenshots look awesome with the site's theme :)

Clarification: It's both an Augmented Reality game AND an Alternate Reality game. Augmented Reality imposes a digital information overlay on some part of reality while Alternate Reality is blends real aspects of the world with fiction to be more immersive. To make things difficult, both are commonly referred to using the acronym AR.

Clarification 2: Currently Android OS only. iOS in development
 
When I've levelled up I'll have some invites to give out, whenever that is.

Gyoin said:
I signed up for an invite on the website, but then I realized Android only =/
Click to expand...
I tether my google Nexus tablet to my iPhone and use that - if you ever find that you have a cheap Android tablet (you can get cheap Chinese ones for like $60) - then it's worth a look. There's an iOS version in development too.
 
I just got a beta email >_> But I do not have an android device <_< Hopefully an iOS version will come out soonish
 
This sounds really cool, thanks for posting about it!
I requested an invite (and yes, I do have an Android phone!).
Crossing my fingers!
 
Got my invite today! The town I live in is relatively small, and we only had one portal - up until I found a second one about an hour ago. I was running around town, collecting XM, trying to figure out what it is that I'm supposed to be doing when I stumbled over it. ^^

Seems like a pretty cool game!
Much like geocaching, it changes your perspective on your environment when you leave the house. Hopefully I'll be able to invite a few friends soon!

Dire, what side are you on? And what have your experiences been like in the meantime?[DOUBLEPOST=1367161383,1367160651][/DOUBLEPOST]This article is an interesting read, by the way: "Google’s Ingress is more than a game, its [sic] a potential data exploitation disaster".
Doesn't hurt to have a general idea of what might be going on in the background.[DOUBLEPOST=1367162311][/DOUBLEPOST]PS: Looking for some "raw" instructions on how to participate in this game, I found this google doc to be quite helpful.
 
I'm on the Green/Enlightened side. I play/live in a small University city with relatively few portals and even fewer high level players. There's about 4-5 particularly active players on each side of the region. The Resistance's largest player left for a week last week, turning what used to be an even fight into this:

m5U6tip.png


Over the next week we'll see some blue progress back in Armidale I expect!


Now, as for my experiences, when I started the map was blue-dominant. At L1 you can't do much other than hack portals. Each enemy portal you hack gives you 100AP, but the real way to play the game/acquire AP needs a few levels. You use XMP bursters to destroy restonators around town - higher level items require higher levels to use but do MUCH more damage. You can't even touch L3+ resonators at L1 without some help. Once you have L2, you can start capturing portals and getting some real AP - by destroying or creating fields. Fields need portal keys to create - they create a line between two portals. If a closed polygon is formed, it creates a field. Fields give you thousands of AP.
 
I have a strong feeling that once this comes out for iOS, it will most likely encourage me to go for a jog and unlock all this stuff.
 
Diremongoose said:
I'm on the Green/Enlightened side. I play/live in a small University city with relatively few portals and even fewer high level players. There's about 4-5 particularly active players on each side of the region.
Click to expand...
Sounds like we could be twin cities, I'm also in a (very) small university town, and I figure since roughly a third of the town's population consists of university students, we might have a few Ingress players here.
I'm on the Enlightened side as well (I think we're pretty much the underdog?) - it creeps me out a bit, but at the same time I don't see how upholding the status quo could contribute to humanity's future, so I'm pro-enlightenment!

Capturing neutral Portals and placing Resonators on them seems to net the most points if you're low level. I'm still level 1 (and will be for a while), but I got 1000 XP after finding and capturing a Portal. Unfortunately some higher level guy already destroyed my Resonators and recaptured the Portal for the Resistance, but that was to be expected.
I have to drive around a lot for work, so I'll be seeing (and hopefully discovering) plenty of Portals in the future, including loads of high level Resistance nodes. There's a level 6 or level 7 one right in front of my office, hah!

Bruce: This will TOTALLY make you want to go outside for a jog. I wish I had a bike right now, since I want to take a quick trip to a couple of landmarks where I'm hoping to discover hidden Portals. While I don't shy away from taking walks/hikes in the afternoons, this is definitely a new (and quite effective) incentive!
 
Diremongoose said:
When I've levelled up I'll have some invites to give out, whenever that is.


I tether my google Nexus tablet to my iPhone and use that - if you ever find that you have a cheap Android tablet (you can get cheap Chinese ones for like $60) - then it's worth a look. There's an iOS version in development too.
Click to expand...

This EVO 4G would approve of an invite.
 
Diremongoose Are you still playing? Do we have more Ingress players here at [TAB] by now?

I've reached level 7, and I'm still loving the game. Though by now I hardly bother capturing neutral portals anymore, I just seek out enemy portals with multiple links and take them down for the AP.
I like planning and coordinating large fields with other players, I feel quite accomplished when everything goes according to plan and we manage to set up a nice field over 80 kilometers (even if it gets taken down again within just a few hours), ^^

What's also nice is that Ingress is an easy way to meet new people, green and blue players alike.
The other day a blue player was trying to take down a few portals in my hometown, so I went outside to "intercept" him. After spotting him near a fountain, I walked up to him from behind and started humming the Smurfs theme - fifteen minutes later we were sharing "Ingress war stories" over drinks in a beer garden.
 
Gyoin said:
Has there been an iOS release yet? I've had an invite but no device to run it.
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I know there is an unofficial port, and that quite a few people are playing Ingress on their iPhones. Unfortunately I don't know how well the port actually works, since I haven't met an Ingress player with an iPhone yet.
 
Jia said:
I know there is an unofficial port, and that quite a few people are playing Ingress on their iPhones. Unfortunately I don't know how well the port actually works, since I haven't met an Ingress player with an iPhone yet.
Click to expand...

Ahh yeah that means jailbreak. I'm not a fan if turning the stability if my Iphone into an android :O
 
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