Today, we’ve got an intel analysis of the Enlightened’s target city of Rotterdam, a recap of #5 and 16 from Japan and the full story of “Operation KARAAGE (deep-fried chicken) DELIVERY”!
It has been recently announced that the shards are going to start jumping 6 times faster and move at the top of the hour, every hour from 00:00 Friday UTC until the final measurement of the Shonin anomalies. It will be interesting to see how tactics change from here on in.
Enlightened Shard Target: Rotterdam – Analysis: Is it really greener on the other side?
Shards #5, 16 – Story (Res): Operation Long trip from Côn Sơn to Shikinejima to Hawaii
Shard #11 – Story (Res): OPERATION #11 KARAAGE(deep-fried chicken) DELIVERY
If you would like your report added to tomorrow’s update, submit it here: http://fevgames.net/wpgforms/shonin-shard-stories
The shards have moved a combined 5,316.44 km in the past 24 hrs (up to 26/03 12:01 UTC) making it a total 339,032.44 km so far, almost equivalent to eight and a half laps around the earth.
Enlightened Shard Target: Rotterdam – Analysis
By JohnsonSmith
Is it really greener on the other side? – A breakdown of the environment surrounding the ENL shard target.
Rotterdam has always been a nexus of ingress activity. Where long ago, the Enlightened ruled the region. The Resistance have long since taken a firm grip on the playing field where local agents have been very active during the previous Ingress events. In August 2014, Rotterdam was the location of a satellite anomaly where the Resistance out-edged the Enlightened 498 points to 444.4 points, winning by a margin of over 10%. The Enlightened certainly put up a fight, they tried to secure a win through control of the Volatile portals and links. The Resistance, quickly noticed, taking out their links and stole the anomaly underneath the Enlightened with a massive 123 points coming from links in the fourth measurement.
More recently In December 2014 Rotterdam held their first IngressFS, which reflected the hold the Resistance had in The Hague, with a turnout of 26 Enlightened players and 44 Resistance players. Even though Resistance earnt more AP overall in this event, the Enlightened earnt more AP per agent. Onto the analysis of the past 20 septicycles of the cell that covers Rotterdam.
This is another metric that tells us the same story, albeit in another way. The Resistance have managed to control 13 of the past twenty septicyles, with the Resistance gaining 20% more MU on average than the Enlightened. It’s interesting to note, that the Resistance have managed to pull off four megafields whereas the Enlightened haven’t managed to do that. Is it because the Resistance have more agents at strategic areas or more agents able to travel? The Enlightened have been putting up a fight, slowly gaining an average of 300k MU in the 5 of the last 6 septicycles. The Resistance have heavily ramped up their effort dropping the latest Enlightened Setpicycle score by over 80k MU.All in all, the Resistance control the MU game in Rotterdam.
This isn’t the first time Rotterdam has encountered shards. The local Resistance love their shard game, and have controlled the previous Helios and 13Magnus shards that have passed through the area. In the face of all odds, the Enlightened in Rotterdam are very motivated to get even. With the Enlightened having continuously maintaining numbers at Rotterdam whilst clearing blockers and holding the target portal in the hopes that a shard will arrive home. The resistance edge in this region will certainly make it extra challenging for ENL to deliver shards to their target.
Check back tomorrow for an analysis of the Resistance target in Washington.
By Kogorou Kitamoto
Operation Long trip from Côn Sơn to Shikinejima to Hawaii
Sudden consultation to me came from abroad. “I know you have Côn Sơn keys. Can you link?” I thought “What?! serious?!” They are ready to buy a ticket to Côn Sơn(that’s not a cheap ticket.) In Japan, there were hard days with #11, So I thought no one would want to help but 5 people gave me the answer and could participate. One of the members, Lu maco, is the one who’s birthday is 16 May. I thought Goddess of fate chose Lu maco.
Next problem is possibility.
Because of the 6 hours jumps, we can not hold the shard in Japan’s mainland, so we had to keep it at the little island. Blocker links are our main enemy, we have to check and cut all blockers. There were so many links in and out of Japan. Finally, we found and selected the path that had the least blockers and we asked the communities to cut them down.
We found agents who cut blockers in Amami City, Philippines and Taiwan but the blocker from Iriomote island to Ishigaki island remained. No one answered the call out for cutting the blocker but the operation had started, so I mentioned @maichama @MANTATIN @captainsexy via COMM. Then there was a reply! I can not say any words about that but great thanks to COMM!
Another blocker came from Taiwan to Orchid Island but then I got a great message: “We found the Agent who cut the blocker.” We were already in Shikinejima, so if we could not cut the blockers, we could only go sightseeing.
Final countdown started.
At Côn Sơn island 2 agents arrived and combined the two Shards and moved to the Airport Portal. Shikinejima had a strong wind, so the portal which was planned was dangerous near the seaside. So I decided to change the portal near the hotel that fortunately we found quickly. 30 minutes before the Shard Jump, I received the message that the Taiwan links had been cut. So immediately we made a P8 portal, installed 4 VRLA, confirm the link…
Yeah!! The link appeared!!
@10969 is the agent who linked from Shikinejima to Côn Sơn. 20 minutes later, 21:00(JST) Shards #5 and #16 arrived, we were so excited! I checked the situation, there was some bad news. The link information from Japan to Côn Sơn had spread through SNS(2ch, Twitter, etc). I thought when ENL saw that, they would make cross links, so there was no time to lose.
We do not want it to stay any longer, so we linked to Hawaii as soon as possible. @Lumaco is the agent who linked from Shikinejima to Hawaii. Over the next 6 hours, we kept checking our scanners. 3:00(JST), Shard#5 and #16 shipped to Hawaii.
By Yusuke Yamaguchi, Kogorou Kitamoto
OPERATION #11 KARAAGE(deep-fried chicken) DELIVERY
See the original report in japanese here
Opening
The last of Shonin Anomaly series will be taking place in Kyoto. While the agents all over Japan were getting ready for this Anomaly, NIA made an announcement on Shards. According to them, the Shards were to emerge in 11 hours. 11 hours ?! As usual, NIA’s events start unexpectedly. We rushed to organize our headquarter.
After several hours from the announcement, we figured out the locations where Shards were to emerge. One in Fukuoka, and another in … Tokyo ?! A Shard in such area with densely populated agents and portals ?! Moreover that, the portal was located inside Tokyo University. We quickly got in contact with an agent inside the university, and this is how our long, long battle began ..
3/6 03:00, Shard emerged at portal ‘Hippocrates’s Tree’
More than 10 RES agents gathered around Tokyo University. About 3 ENL agents were spotted. Tokyo University is located in the most central part of Tokyo. Nearby are some of the most portal-dense areas in Japan such as Akihabara, Ueno and Asakusa. The Shard was #11. Coincidentally, Artifact which emerged in Kamikochi during Helios series was also #11.
3/6 06:00, Interval which the Shard travels was clarified
Even though we succeeded in creating a link to Kuramae area, the Shard did not move. It was soon after this that we found that the interval was not 1 hour, but 6 hours.
3/6 09:00, Moved the Shard to ‘ONINO KARAAGE’ (RES)
We tried to create the same link as we did at 06:00, but lots of blocking links were created by both RES & ENL during this morning rush hour. Bicycle team went around destroying many links, but we were unable to create the link we intended. However, we had a chance to create a link to portal ‘ONINO KARAAGE’, and maintained it until the Shard moved.
3/6 15:00, stayed at ‘ONINO KARAAGE’
As a result of a fierce battle, both factions could not move the Shard. There was a long queue at ONINO KARAAGE (deep-fried chicken) store to buy the KARAAGE. It was a decent KARAAGE.
3/6 21:00, stayed at ‘ONINO KARAAGE’
More than 120 RES agents had gathered. We placed them in a wide area to destroy all the blocking links. It was a magnificent view on Intel to see the links disappearing in such a dense area. We were able to create a link to the target portal HIRAI twice, but were unable to maintain the Shard portal. As a result, the Shard did not move. KARAAGE store was doing good business with all the agents lining up for KARAAGE.
3/7 03:00, stayed at ‘ONINO KARAAGE’
Just when we were ready to create a link to the target portal, many blocking links were created by RES. We had to change the target since the portals were tolerant to Virus. The link was successful, but we were unable to maintain the Shard portal. There were many disappointed agents since the KARAAGE store was closed.
3/7 09:00, stayed at ‘ONINO KARAAGE’ random jump
Due to overwhelming number of ENL agents, all we could do was to interfere with them. ENL was able to create links, but we were able to destroy them resulting in Shard not moving. There were agents who stayed and waited until the KARAAGE store opened. Since the Shard stayed here for more than 24 hours, there were many agents who participated at this location. This became the most impressive portal for this operation, so the nickname of #11 became KARAAGE; hence this operation name KARAAGE DELIVERY.
3/7 15:00, Moved Shard to ‘BIG YELLOW KASHIWA YOUNG BOWL’ under truce
Since the portal which the Shard jumped to was in front of an elementary school, there was a concern about agents gathering. After a discussion with NIA Kawashima san and ENL, we agreed to cooperate and move the Shard to a safer portal – BIG YELLOW KASHIWA YOUNG BOWL. We called this operation ‘#11 Strike’. RES made the link for jump, and ENL created the supporting links. We also made an agreement not to send the Shard to residential area where it may cause issues.
3/7 21:00, stayed at ‘BIG YELLOW KASHIWA YOUNG BOWL
Operation NAUMANN part 1. Because the Shard left the downtown area, the main mobile power changed from bicycle to cars. We were able to destroy the blocking links to our target portal, ‘NAUMANN ELEPHANT in FUTAGO PARK’, but were unable to maintain the Shard portal.
3/8 03:00, moved to Matsudo Mabashi West Post Office (ENL)
Operation NAUMANN part 2. We had sent the automotive team to Miyazato to link further from NAIMANN ELEPHANT but could not maintain the Shard portal, allowing ENL to move the Shard.
3/8 09:00, Moved to ‘Matsudo Mabashi Station Water Fountain’ under truce
Since Matsudo Mabashi West Post Office was in a residential area, RES and ENL discussed about moving the Shard to a safer location. The Shard was moved to ‘Matsudo Mabashi Station Water Fountain’, and it was reconfirmed that the Shard should not be moved to a residential area.
3/8 15:00, stayed at ‘Matsudo Mabashi Station Water Fountain’
We were in a bad situation where no one was available at the headquarters to give orders. Intel team members took over.
3/8 21:00, moved to Kawa-no-Ichirizuka (RES)
From ENL’s move, we guessed that their target was Mizomoto Park. We sent 2 agents to destroy the portals in that area to avoid linking. Later it was reported that there were several ENL agents who were there to create the link. If ENL had made the jump here, they would have had great advantage over us.
3/9 03:00, stayed at Kawa-no-Ichirizuka
Since not many agents were available due to the time, we gave up taking control of the portal and decided to create as many blocking links as possible. Agents in 2 cars and 2 bicycles went around creating links. Agents who were on foot stayed by the portal to attack and destroy AXAs.
3/9 09:00 – 15:00, moved to and stayed at Sakagawa Chisui Kensho-hi
The only agent there decided to just attack a little and concentrate on destroying AXAs.
3/9 21:00, stayed at Sakagawa Chisui Kensho-hi
By this time, we had established a structure for intel team to provide orders to the teams. 19:55 RES used a JARVIS on Shard portal → 20:55 used ADA. But the portal was taken by ENL and linked to a nearby P5.
3/10 03:00, stayed at Sakagawa Chisui Kensho-hi
An alert for strong wind had been announced in the area where the Shard portal was. At 3/9 22:00, RES suggested a truce to ENL. The Shard was moved by RES to Kasai Shrine which ENL had suggested.
3/10 09:00, moved to ‘Kasai Shrine’ under truce
Moderator traveled 60km in early morning and moved the Shard 2km.
3/10 15:00, stayed at Kasai Shrine
13:55 ENL used an ADA against Shard portal → 14:56 JARVIS. RES made as many blocking links as possible and kept the Shard from moving.
3/10 21:00, stayed at Kasai Shrine
19:50 RES used a JARVIS on the Shard portal. It was a P7, but luckily ENL upgraded it to a P8. 20:50 ADA and we started the battle with the advantage. The target was Lawson. However, after about 5 minutes, the Shard portal was taken by ENL. It was linked twice to ‘Tora-san Museum’, but we managed to destroy it and kept the Shard from moving. There were not enough resources for intel team, causing confusion.
3/11 03:00, moved to Kasai Shrine (ENL)
We were controlling the portal immunity, but at 01:52 ENL took the portal and used an ADA. It was clear that JARVIS will be used at 02:52, so we decided to concentrate on blocking. We placed no agents at the portal. We created blocking links at 02:46. ENL arrived to destroy them at 02:57, but we were able to keep the blocking link. As a result, we were able to block the long links, but ENL moved the Shard to a nearby portal.
3/11 09:00, stayed at Kasai Shrine
We abandoned the portal since there was only 1 RES agent available.
3/11 15:00, moved to Tora-san Museum (ENL)
We watched silently as there was only 1 RES agent at the site. They tried to create a blocking link, but was not able to collect the keys on time.
3/11 21:00, stayed at Tora-san Museum
Our target was Satomi Park in the southeast. We used ADA at 18:30, JARVIS at 19:30, then ADA at 20:30 to start. ENL’s target seemed to be in the southwest. We were able to defend the portal for 30 minutes and succeeded in creating links a few times, but the links were destroyed before the jump. The number of agents at the site were 25 RES vs 15 ENL.
3/12 03:00, stayed at Tora-san Museum
We kept the Shard from moving by destroying ENL’s target.
3/12 09:00, stayed at Tora-san Museum
We had a strategy, but agents could not travel as planned due to heavy traffic. Since there were almost no counterattacks when we attacked the Shard portal, we probably could have moved the Shard if our agents were not stuck.
3/12 15:00, moved to portal ‘Ito Hakucho Haiku Monument’ (ENL)
We attacked the Shard portal while blocking the west side. ENL moved the Shard to Satomi Park, which we intentionally left opened. Thanks to ENL. But we were deeply disappointed when we could not destroy the resonators with intense recharge by ENL.
3/12 21:00, stayed at Ito Hakucho Haiku Monument
Blocked southwest side and destroyed ENL target. The Shard stayed as we intended. The agents at the site may not have had so much fun. We guessed that ENL’s target was somewhere around Koiwa station.
3/13 03:00, stayed at Ito Hakucho Haiku Monument
Lag with the server caused the flip & link to be valid at 03:01.
3/13 09:00, moved to Lawson Funabashi-Fujiwara (RES)
Active agents moved the Shard east. Thanks to them.
3/13 15:00, stayed at Lawson Funabashi-Fujiwara
Started with JARVIS at 14:59. We could not destroy it, so it stayed.
3/13 21:00, stayed at Lawson Funabashi-Fujiwara
Started with ADA, but lost the Shard portal to ENL. Since ENL linked to a portal in front of an elementary school at 21:01, we sent a reconfirmation on previous agreement. Counter attack by ENL was less after this reconfirmation. The Shard moved east and number of ENL agents at the site started to decrease. Our remote recharge started to take good effect.
3/14 03:00, moved to Lawson Funabashi-Kanasugi-Hatchome
ADA at 2:57. Succeeded to create a link without losing a resonator, and we were able to move the Shard. Complete victory. The remote recharge went well.
3/14 09:00, stayed at Lawson Funabashi-Kanasugi-Hatchome
Used ADA at 8:58. We were able to keep the Shard.
3/14 15:00, stayed at Lawson Funabashi-Kanasugi-Hatchome
ADA at 14:55. Could not create any links due to numerous blocking links by ENL. Defending the Shard portal was not a problem.
3/14 21:00, stayed at Lawson Funabashi-Kanasugi-Hatchome
Since there were too many blocking links by both RES and ENL, we gave up on moving the Shard and decided to keep it from moving. The heavy traffic and the narrow streets were also a factor of miscalculation. Although we weren’t able to move the Shard, efforts of car and bicycle agents who ran around are greatly appreciated. As for the Shard portal, we were able to defend it with not much effort.
3/15 03:00, moved to portal ‘Lawson Misaki Yonchome’
There was great confusion since the Shard portal was covered by a giant RES field. However, ENL destroyed the field and we were able to move the Shard as planned.
3/15 09:00, moved to portal ‘Lawson Funabashi Toyotomicho’
We placed the agents at several target candidate portals. 8:55, we made a blocking link in the western and northern area of the Shard portal. At 8:59, we used the ADA. Instantly, there were attack logs from more than 10 ENL agents. On the log screen, we saw that ENL blocking link was created right after we created our link and they were crossing each other on intel screen when we checked. It was that close.
3/15 15:00, moved to portal ‘Lawson Yachiyo Yonamoto’
12 hours after 03:00, the Shard portal was covered again by a RES CF; this time it was multi-layered. We rushed the agents to go destroy them. As a result, this field helped us defend the Shard. Later we heard from ENL that they were watching the Lawson stores, but missed Yachiyo Yonamoto because it did not stand out…so our question is, which Lawson stores are the ones that stand out??
3/15 21:00, moved to portal ‘Naumann Elephant in Futago Park’
We didn’t have much option for moving the Shard since RES links were all extending southeast. So we decided to go with ‘Naumann Elephant in Futago Park’. Since this was our target portal back when the Shard was at BIG YELLOW KASHIWA YOUNG BOWL, it raised the morale of the agents who were involved from then. It turned out to be a good choice. (We also came back here and took a group photo after moving the Shard to Hawaii)
3/16 3:00, moved to portal ‘Shisui Station – Shisui Sta.’
We were planning to make the Shard stay this time, but decided to move it since there seemed to be no ENL around. We used ADA at 2:59:30 and tried to make the link. We were afraid we couldn’t make it on time, but with the help of local agents, we succeeded.
3/16 9:00 – 15:00, stayed at ‘Shisui Station – Shisui Sta.’
STAY, because there were not many participants
3/16 21:00, moved to portal ‘Ouma-san’ (The Horse)
We used ADA on the Shard portal at 20:55 and defended it until the Shard moved to our target, ‘Ouma-san’.
3/17 03:00 stayed at ‘Ouma-san’
Since there were only 2 RES agents, 1 ran around creating a field over the Shard portal as a defense, while the other stayed at the portal. But ENL used ADA on the Shard portal at 1:51, which meant that they would use JARVIS at 2:51. It wasn’t looking good for us. But for some reason, ENL destroyed the blue portal and took it back… So the RES agent used ADA on it at 2:51. It was 1 RES vs 6 ENL at the site. Even in such unfavorable circumstances, these 2 RES heroes defended the portal. After the battle, they had a friendly chat with ENL agents.
3/17 09:00, stayed at ‘Ouma-san’
The only participant was the hero who ran around and created the field last time. So we abandoned the Shard portal and destroyed all ENL P7s in every direction which could become their target. As a result, ENL could not create a link and the Shard stayed (the link which the Shard came from was there, but the Shard would not go back the way it came). Just 1 RES vs numerous ENL agents, and ENL not being able to move the Shard must have had a big moral hit to ENL agents who traveled a long distance. After this battle, there were no ENL agents who came a long distance, which is one of the important factors that enabled us to send the Shard to Hawaii.
3/17 15:00, moved to portal ‘Lawson Yachimata east’
ADA was used at 14:00. This is not the usual timing, but the hero had done it and left the site.
The local agents started to destroy the blocking links in the area, getting ready for the last jump which was to happen in early morning. Shard portal which the hero had flipped was upgraded to P7. No sign of ENL. We easily created a link to target portal and moved the Shard.
3/17 21:00, moved to portal ‘Lawson Narutou west’
Many agents were gathering to see the last moment, but we tried to be less conspicuous and let the local agents do the activities. As a diversionary tactic, we destroyed the portals in wide area. The intel team and voice support team all started to move towards the portal while continuing their support. Agents in cars played an active role in moving the Shard to the last portal, which we were to link to Hawaii.
3/18 03:00, moved to portal ‘Ocean View Post Office’
More than 40 agents had gathered. We left only several guards by the Shard portal, and the rest were holding our breath at a distance. Intel team was constantly checking ENL’s movements. Destroying of links were done only by the local agents so ENL will not realize the huge scale of this operation. These local agents, who took a very active role in this operation, should have had the privilege to send the Shard to Hawaii. But we had to rely on them for destroying the blocking links efficiently, for they were the ones who knew the area well. And we felt a little guilt for letting the visitors take care of the Shard instead, but all was for the Hawaii link. Our supply of VRLAs, which we need for linking to Hawaii, is low. We could not fail. 2:40, all clear. No sign of ENL. We decided to create the link to Hawaii. Everyone hurried to the portal, and we carefully set the 4 VRLAs. The scanner showed that the linkable distance was 6877km. There was a stir in the crowd. The leader created the link to Hawaii. Link successful. Everyone prepared to defend the portal. Time was passing slow. Every cars passing by seemed to us like ENL. 3:00, we confirmed that Shard #11 KARAAGE jumped to Hawaii.
If you would like your report added to tomorrow’s update, submit it here: http://fevgames.net/wpgforms/shonin-shard-stories
Thanks to Thrakazog for the Shard tracking map and Marwan Sbitani for collecting the data for the map.