Dear readers of this blog, the following post concerns the augmented reality game Ingress which my husband and I have been playing for the past 4 months or so. It is somewhere between geocaching and capture the flag. It’s really fun. If you are interested in playing, let me know and I can send you an invite. Choose Enlightened( green faction). It’s more fun.



New items are always shiny and fun. I have been yearning for an MFUG capsule ever since they were announced. So of course, with my luck, I’ve hacked a grand total of 4 Softbank ultralinks and 0 MFUG capsules instead. Chndrk, on the other hand, has hacked a grand total of 3 MFUGs and 4 ultralinks. Such bounty! Of link amps on steroids.

Now what to do with our haul?

Initial field testing results reported at fevgames indicated that the ultralinks were more powerful than anticipated, in that their linking benefits stacked linearly, without diminishing returns. That means that it would be possible for a single portal to support 40 outgoing links instead of the usual 8.

Hmm. Would it be possible to find a place in Baltimore City where we could throw 40 outbound links… and make pretty fields in the process? Imagine Chndrk’s excitement when he realized that Greenmount cemetery’s plethora of portals were almost wholly unclaimed, with no linkage or fielding obstacles within the grounds themselves. Its short and inconvenient hours (not open Sunday, limited weekday hours) made it a perfect canvas for a weekday morning build.

The Plan

Forty links from a central anchor point meant that we would need to claim (and link, portal-to-portal) forty portals along the periphery of the cemetery, and then claim, mod, and link from the central anchor to each of the peripheral portals.

Chndrk pulled up intel, and found the appropriate portals, choosing as the interior anchor Pensive Figure with Anchor, in the northwest quadrant of the cemetery. We also tried to avoid claiming portals on the periphery bordering on North Avenue, which could be seen and attacked easily from the busy road.

The before picture, complete with errant link.



The plan was to arrive at the cemetery at opening, going in dark (always the hardest part). We would then park the car in an inobtrusive spot, and walk the periphery of the cemetery, hacking the unclaimed peripheral portals for keys, hoping that we would at least get one copy of the key between the two of us. Once we had copies of the keys, we would then walk the perimeter a second time, this time, in addition to hacking the portals to get additional keys, also claiming and connecting the peripheral portals. Once all had been claimed and linked, we would then drive to the central anchor point and throw the 40 links from the center.

We did not get a screenshot of the plan as drawn on intel before execution; this gives the gist of what was drawn. Also intel truncates after 40 links.



Again, to keep the op as low-profile as possible, the idea was to claim each peripheral portal at L1, in the hopes that it would look like we were trying to level a lower level player. In order to make sure that the portals had the range needed for linking, we modded each with two regular link amps. As Chndrk says: “I didn’t want to deploy to level one and then find out that both portals have to see each other (I’ve seen reports if both ways, will field test that). But if the exterior portals are deployed as shown, they have a range of 640 m, which is safe within Greenmount.We were trying really hard not to be noticed until we were done.”

The Execution (and obstacles)

Fortunately, Chndrk checked intel one last time before leaving the house. If he hadn’t, we would’ve been surprised by the big green link that someone had thrown through the middle of the cemetery. With a slight revision in order of portal claiming and linkage, we were able to make it to the outside corner and ADA the offending portal, offering its owner a beer as an apology for portal wreckage.

We arrived at the Greemount gate at around 9:30, a half an hour after they opened. As we pulled in, I noticed the sign that proclaimed that “proper attire” and “proper behavior” were required for entry to be granted. I looked at Chndrk in his bright green running attire and he looked at me in my very casual shirt and shorts. Uh-oh. This might be a short visit.

The first people we met upon entry were a pair of groundskeepers on golf-carts. They were really friendly, and helpful and pointed us towards the front office, where we were required to sign in. When asked about proper attire, they laughed and said that they’d had trouble with people (of both genders) running through the grounds shirtless. As long as we were… attired … we would be fine

We chatted briefly with the woman in the office as we signed in (first people of the day! Woot!). Even though Greenmount has a plethora of portals, she had never encountered Ingressers before (at least those who talked about it). Armed with a map and further rules about decorum in the cemetery (Don’t lean on gravestones, they’re old and might break or fall over; kids are welcome, as long as they aren’t running all over the place) we set off to park the car and start our first loop: hacking grey portals for keys and L1 resonators.

Greenmount is an incredibly historic cemetery, with lots of ornate crypts, vaults, and headstones to admire. Add to that the name recognition as you wander through, and it can take a while, even when not distracted by potential Ingress glory. At one point, after hacking “Girl Strewing Flowers” and “Greenmount Cemetary”, Chndrk looked up and said “Look, there’s one of the Ouija board headstones.” I nodded in agreement as we wandered around in circles looking for the grave of Elijah Jefferson Bond… which happened to be the gravestone of note. As an aside, the groundskeepers in general were really helpful (and very knowledgeable) about the cemetery and its history. John Wilkes Booth’s family plot is here, along with lots of Baltimore families of note.

This is an example of how most of the peripheral portals were modded. Gives just over 600 m range with L1 portals. Also, the portal we walked in circles to find after standing on top if it to claim the adjacent portal.







Things were humming along nicely (if a bit more slowly than anticipated). By around 11:30 or so, we had completed our first loop around the periphery and grabbed as many keys for the peripheral portals that the random number gods would allow. And other than me biting my nails as a smurf sailed by us on North Ave, there had been nary a sign of interference. Things were looking good.

After ADA’ing the offending link through the middle of the cemetery, it was looking as though we were going to be relatively obstacle-free. And then I happened to take a look at the far end of the cemetery as we were linking portals back. “Hey Chndrk, there weren’t any green portals inside the gates when we started, were there? Because there are now.”

Crap! Looking at Comms we realized that Mytzar, a green player was happily claiming and linking away in the opposite corner of the cemetery from us. Chndrk commsed him, and then took off like a streak, blatantly ignoring the no running in the cemetery rule. I jogged briskly after him. It turns out that a bunch of grey portals are very enticing, and Mytzar was just claiming uniques at lunch hour. He affirmed that his heart would not be broken if we broke his field, and we affirmed that claiming portals would not interfere at all with our plans. Two ADAs and one broken field later, and we were back on track.

Until ¾ of our way through the second loop, Chndrk’s phone went low-battery, and he realized he left his cord for his Anker in the car. 5 portals from completing the exterior rim of our plan. Fortunately, at that point we were really close to the car, so it was merely a minor inconvenience.

After claiming and linking Greenmount Cemetery Mausoleum to Horatio Wyman Preston, the circle was complete! We hopped in the car and drove to Pensive Figure with Anchor for the moment of truth. Two ultralinks from me, and two from chndrk. Portal deployed to L6 for simplicity’s sake.



Central anchor point with 4 Softbank Ultralinks.







And then we each started throwing links. The original plan had been for us to alternate, but that proved to be a bit too complicated, so Chndrk started throwing counterclockwise, and I threw clockwise till we met in the middle. We were missing one key, and I accidentally threw to a portal that the other player had claimed (which gave us the “no linkable portals” message proving the 40 link limit). One more ADA (which gave me the amusing alert of me having attacked and destroyed my own link) and the vision was complete!



My oops.



Final starburst. 40 outgoing links.





The numbers

Chndrk threw 36 links for 19 fields and 244 mu.

Anonyrat79 threw 45 links for 21 fields and 214 mu.

That makes 40 fields in total, 81 links (including my oops link) for a total of 458 mu.

There was slightly more mu in the graveyard than expected. Zombie mu!

Agent stats said each of us got around 90,000 ap, but may have counted the fields incorrectly.

We used 4 ADA’s in total. One for the link going through the cemetery on the diagonal. 2 to clear the lunch hour field, and one to fix my oops link.

One last link with satellite showing cemetery geography.



Chndrk’s Takehome and summary:

It took longer than planned

But we planned for that ☺

Lessons learned: hack only what is on the list

Plug in to anker from the beginning

Plan the work, work the plan

But there was NO Smurf interference.

Also, @anonyrat79 got her engineer of a link app. #heextends

Four hours and fifteen minutes

Connector and field stats lagged. We each threw about the same number of links as each other and field, trying really hard to alternate when we did the perimeter

Too difficult to alternate when throwing from the center

Last lesson: we did bring water, but should have packed lunch

Green mount is excellent. Hours are short and inconvenient. Get there early.



Thanks to imseethru, Raidboss and Lutong for the screenshots of the op in action. And to Mytzar for being so cooperative. Also apologies to Alcavo. We owe you a beer for messing with your portal.

