Cart and I have wanted to participate in an anomaly for the longest time, and after weeks and weeks of preparation, it is finally here!
We could hardly sleep in excitement.
Anomalies are basically cross faction events, held in various locations around the world where agents fight to gain the most points for their faction. The rules are different for each anomaly, one day it could be the most portals captured, another it could be the most fields made, or it could be a flash shard like the one we participated in, for Obsidian Vienna.
The one that Cart and I participated in was held in the heart of Florence. We’ve already been here a couple of years ago, but instead of the relaxing stroll as we did the last time, the air was full of excitement and frenzy with so many agents from all around the world in one place.
The first thing you do is to queue up to get your hand stamped and get a pack full of codes – one for a participation medal, and the other a redeemable card – it could be XMP 8, Res 8, Capsules, Shelds, etc, it’s all at random.
Then you queue up to get your physical badge. It’s always recommended to get the registration done early as there will be a long line afterwards. There is usually a bit of time afterwards to socialise with other agents and have a quick meal. Then there will be a group photo after which the anomaly starts proper.
A good inventory is important when participating in an anomaly – Be prepared to have at least 1800 items in your inventory.
The number may change though, depending on your team’s requirements – some would play defensively while others may have an offence tactics. Your team leader will advice you on the optimal amount of gear to carry.
About a month leading to the event, you’ll have a plentiful of invites to participate in farms. Attend them! Not only will you get gear crucial to the event, you’ll also get to meet your team members. Personally, the hardest part for me is recycling some of the things in my inventory not in the list, just to fit into the requirements, especially since I’m going for the Onyx Translator medal. I had to go around and use as much as I could, tried to have someone to donate to, or carry it for me for a bit.
Apart from your Ingress inventory, there are some physical items that I recommend that you bring along with you in an anomaly.
- Power-bank / External charger
- Snacks
- Water bottle
- Raincoat / Umbrella
- Muscle rub
- Freezer bags
Most of the above are pretty self explanatory. Keep in mind that you’ll be on your feet for at least four hours. So wear comfortably and be prepared for any weather change.
(It was very cold and windy and drizzling when we reached the 4th cluster. It’s amazing how we managed to get through that!)
One tip I’ve learnt is to plug the power-bank to your phone immediately when it’s fully charged and leave it to slowly discharge. I found that the phone lasted significantly longer that way. The freezer bags on the other hand are mainly for protecting your phone and the power-bank in case that it rains, but did you know that your phone is still functional while wrapped in the bag?
How the anomaly works is that there will be four clusters made up of various portals.
You and your team are usually delegated to one portal in each cluster. You can tell the anomaly portals by the hexagon halo around them.
For 10 minutes you’ll have to capture, defend, link and field as much as possible. After which, the next 50 minutes is used to travel to the next cluster where there should be ample time to restart the phone, go to the loo, snack, strategise with your teams etc.
In theory, it sounds easy BUT with thousands of agents in the area, and with at least 30 agents from opposing sides delegated to ONE portal the level of play is much more intense compared to regular game-play. Having a good phone with a high speed data connection is advantageous. The second cluster was impossible to play for us, it took a long time just trying to deploy due to the jammed network.
Nevertheless, when it does work, you’ll find that in just a split second, the portal could flip from blue to green and vice versa. It’s total chaos. You have to be focused and continue deploying for the entire 10 minutes even if it still appears to belong to your faction.
(Note how close both the factions are with each other)
It’s always easier when you work in a team and your team leader will delegate the roles – some to deploy the resonator, some to deploy the mods, some to link. Cart and I were tasked to shield and I was stunned (but not so surprised) that in just 10 minutes, we used up at least 30 very rare shields each.
(Left with only 10 resonators at the end of the day!)
With so many agents going around in large groups, some with flags, looking intently in their phones, there will be a chance when a person comes up to you and ask you what you are doing – For some, it’s easy to multi-task, but for me, I had a simple solution of putting a notice at the front of my bag :
“Hi! I’m in a competition, for more information, please go to www.resistenzaroma.it“
After an intense 4 hours, it’s time to head to a location where the results will be known. And if you still have some juice left running, celebrate and have a party – regardless of which party won.
It was a very close call in Florence with the Green winning by just 10 points on a count of about 800 for each side, mostly due to their advantage of 400 points (200 for each cluster) on having a big field covering Florence in the second and third cluster. But adding the results of the two secondary sites, Brno and Bilbao, we won the 1st day of the anomaly by 3 points on a count of more than 2000 for each side!
All in all, I had a very enjoyable time and had lots of fun participating in my first anomaly. It was extremely memorable and I really wouldn’t mind participating in another one 🙂
Pictures by : NCC1701R / Magic74
If you liked this post, you might enjoy :
what is that sheet with 12 images near the badge and redeemable cards? 😀
This is great! I’ve not met anyone else who uses Ingress! PS: Hi hamcat!