Slice of Chaotic Life

Our agent in Birkeland is back in action. He has rebuilt his home base and claimed all the portals in Grimstad, even if only symbolically. There also seems to be another, lower-level Enlightened agent in the area, as a portal east of Kristiansand has been filled with level 1 and 2 resonators. This is good news, obviously. The more agents, the higher portals we will be able to build eventually.

At level 5, I can supply myself with appropriate gear from level 4 portals; but at level 6, things start getting harder. You can have up to 4 resonators on one portal at level 2, 3 and 4; but at levels 5 and 6 you can only add two of each, and at 7 and 8 only 1.  My portals today are (2*3+4*4+2*5)=(6+16+10)=32/8 = 4 average. But starting next level they will be (4*4+2*5+2*6)=(16+10+12)=38/4=4 (truncated). You need a sum of 40 to get a level 5 portal and get appropriate loot from hacking. Level 6 resonators drop very rarely from level 4 portals, so claiming portals will bleed you of level 6 stuff. It can be lived with if you don’t have any opponents tearing down the portals, but this is not realistic in the long run. There will always be visitors.

The whole thing changes if you have an ally.  Even at level 5, an ally would be able to upgrade two of my level 4 resonators to level 5, taking the portal from 38 to 40 points, for an average of 5. That way we would both be able to harvest a reasonable amount of resonators and bursters. Unfortunately the thumbscrew tightens again at level 7.  At this point we both need to be level 7 for it to work. Two level 7 agents would be able to make (2*7+4*6+2*5)=(14+24+10)=48, for an average of 6.

If we ever reach level 8, we will need more people to even have a decent chance to get some lvl 8 gear from time to time. The two of us would just make (2*8+2*7+4*6)=(16+14+24)=54/8=6,75=6. So that would land us mostly level 6 gear, some level 7 and level 5, and rarely if ever any 8. However, if we could get a third agent to level 8, we would have (3*8+3*7+2*6)=(24+21+12)=57/8=7, which should be enough. Getting a pure level 8 portal is another matter, it would require 8 agents at level 8. This should not be necessary, unless there is something about high-level hacking that I don’t know, but it would help people build up a reserve of level 8 gear for a lean season, for instance when their allies are on vacation. ^_^