Scoring Strategies/ Leveling up

I've developed some scoring strategies I think you will find useful. Using these strategies I went from a high level 2 to a level 4 in one afternoon.

Stock up
Do not pass up an opportunity to hack a portal; friendly or enemy. This is the quickest and easiest way to build your inventory of resonators, shields, XMP Bursters, Media, Portal Keys and everything you will need.

True you do not get any Action Points (AP) for hacking neutral or friendly portals, but they do yield items more often than not. I actually leave for work 10 minutes early now so I can hit a few portals to hack.

Remember higher level portals yield have potential to yield higher level items.

Do Your Homework

Spend some time looking at the area yo will be working on the Ingress Intel Map. http://www.ingress.com/intel
Be sure to zoom in all the way so that in the bottom right corner it reads "Showing All Portals." This way you can find unclaimed portals. You may be surprised how many there are out there. Waiting for you to claim. This takes patience. Zoomed in this far you don't get too see that many, if any at all, on one map. So you will have to scroll around a bit.

Also think about the places where Ingress Portals are found. Historical Markers are one of my favorite places to go. Besides being a true nerd and like reading these things, many of these are portals. And if they are not go ahead and submit it as a portal.

I live in a pretty rural area, but it is old (in U.S. historical sense) and rich in history there are many historical and Civil War Trail Markers. If you think about your area and where you see these markers you have a pretty good chance of finding a portal. Also, remember post offices (both current & former), libraries and even some municipal buildings are frequently portals. My county seems to have an inordinate number of post offices to our population so those are a good source. Knowing your area can give you a distinct advantage.

 

Love your L1 Resonators

I've seen online many people who get frustrated at the number of L1 Resonators they acquire. They call them useless, some people even write that they drop them when they get them. IMO they are really missing out. Here's what I do. When I do my homework and find the places I want to go there are some which I would have no chance, or even desire to maintain without a portal. This is where I love the L1 Resonators. I can pretty quickly score 1750 Action Points and use no more than 8 L1 Resonators, but quite frequently net using only 6. 

I find the portal and hack it. I will most likely get a L1 Resonator. I deploy my 8 resonators and mainly because my phone is slower, I then hack again after I've deployed the resonators. Boom 1750 easy points. 

Strategically Manage Your Portals

 I have 4 categories of portals I own.

1. Higher level portals I link and actively manage
2. Higher level portals I strategically manage
3. Lower level portals I strategically manage
4. Portals I don't manage. 

The first level portal I make sure the resonators are fully charged every day. These are the higher level portals  that I often link to. Keeping them fully charged and managed well yields me better items when I hack. 

The next group I "strategically manage." This takes two forms. One is higher level portals are ones that I don't link but do actively manage. What I will do is recharge the resonators individually that is all but one of the lowest level resonators. I will let that one decay all the way down. Then every 10 days after it has fully decayed, I place a new resonator. An easy 375 points.

With the lower level portals these are ones I will make only a L1 Portal. They are in areas I can manage easily enough, but choose not to because they don't seem to get any activity from other players. I do not recharge these resonators and let them all fully decay, in between their decay I go to hack them and probably get enough L1 resonators to rebuild them. So I make sure to visit them regularly enough to track. Another easy 1750 AP. 

The portals I don't manage are ones I find in my travels and may fully charge initially or not. I won't put anything higher than a L1 on and I won't place a shield. These are portals that are typically not in an area I frequent. I never recharge these and have no intention of reclaiming. 

Know Thy Enemy

Sun Tzu's war fighting knowledge applies to Ingress too. Keep tabs on your enemy's portals. It may be strategically (AP wise) better to continue to hack their portals and let them continue to decay. Then, when they are nearly completely decayed that's when you attack their resonators. You have gained 100 AP each time you go to hack, then you can use some of your L1 XMP Bursters, which have limited value to destroy their weakened resonators. You earn 75 AP for each resonator destroyed, then you can claim the portal for 1750 AP not bad at all. 

Sooner or later you will learn which portals near you your enemy likes to actively defend or not. You may also become familiar with your opponents by name. This will help you know the opponents in your area and what they typically do.

Happy Hacking!