Looks Like I Made it

I thought this moment would never get here. After approximately 14 months of learning the nuances of Ingress,  I was finally able to reach level 16 on the morning of September 17th, 2016. It was almost anti-climactic as I nudge my way up in AP until I crossed that 40 million AP threshold.  If you play Ingress you know that After you get to level 9 or so the requirements become more difficult to get to the next level.

I was actually doing pretty well up until Level 14 when I was having trouble getting my second Platinum badge. I had given myself a quota of AP to collect every day but thanks to health, weather, and unexpected Interruptions I fell a few weeks behind from my original target  of August. None the less after  readjusting my target date I was able to reach my goal a couple of weeks early.  One of my closer friends that I play Ingress with  who has not reached level 16 yet ask me what my next goal would be. I told him that I still had several Platinum badges I would like to obtain and a couple of Onyx badges that are within reach that should keep me busy for six months or so if I continue playing like I do now with the exception of concentrating on those criteria.

Level	AP Req	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Black
L9	2,400,000	4	1	0	0
L10	4,000,000	5	2	0	0
L11	6,000,000	6	4	0	0
L12	8,400,000	7	6	0	0
L13	12,000,000	n/a	7	1	0
L14	17,000,000	n/a	n/a	2	0
L15	24,000,000	n/a	n/a	3	0
L16	40,000,000	n/a	n/a	4	2

I am within two weeks of getting my Onyx Sojourner badge and A couple of months away from getting my Platinum  badge for Translator and Mind controller.  The rest of the Platinum badges I would not expect to get until 2017 and those are few. to be honest if my goal is to get Onix in all of these badges I could play this game for years. however I am not sure I have that kind of patience because some of those badges would be very difficult for me to obtain due to my less than social nature when It comes to playing games.

I would not have been able to get ahead of my readjusted target date if it had not been for a few of the enlightened agents in the area who  inadvertently helped me do so.  Oweep, Yraah , Pheridon, Txhockeyman, Roseswan, and Roedecker all took out weaker portals in the park nearby that were connected to stronger portals  that they left alone. by only taking out a weak portal They allowed me to go in and  liberate the portal they took down and relink it to the others, Allowing me to create multiple fields.  when they did this they allowed me to collect twice the AP they did. I am somewhat Limited in my playing area so their attack choices benefited me greatly. Maybe these agents didn't care or maybe they just were inexperienced making “rookie mistakes”.I don't know and it really is none of my business but I am sincerely thankful that they had a part in me reaching level 16 sooner than I had hoped.I am sure that in the upcoming months they will learn from  the other agents in the area on some of the nuances of the game play. I am sure I made those mistakes and many more while I was still learning. I am also not too proud to admit that I tend to learn new things each time I go out to play.

And to respond to a comment that was made to me,  I am not protective of any one area or portal. It was simply just too convenient to make points anytime those portals change hands. When my friend WayneA1  would get frustrated that the local portals were changing hands so frequently  I told him, “when life hands you lemons, make lemonade”. It is very easy to become attached to a specific portal or area and want to see it stay under your faction's control for as long as possible. However in Ingress that rarely happens. When the park changed hands and the portals were heavily defended I took the opportunity to earn my Trekker miles and farm the portals for higher-level gear. Farming is not all that glamorous but it is a necessary part of the game play if you want to have adequate gear to attack and defend. I'm not sure a lot of Agents understand that. I try to do my best to make the most of any opportunity I am given.