Ingress: From level 4 to level 5.

This is when things started to get interesting. After level 4, the AP required for each level basically doubles. From 4 to 5, it's 70,000 to 150,000, so you're going to need to earn 80k. Let's have a look at the AP breakdown.

Deploy a resonator: 125 AP
Deploy the first resonator: Bonus 500AP
Deploy the eighth resonator: Bonus 250AP

So, fully deploying a portal gets you 1750AP.

Making a link: 313AP
Making a field: 1250AP

So, making three links and a field: 2189AP. If you had to fully deploy all three portals as well? 7439AP.

So, essentially, building 10 fields from grey portals will get you almost all the AP you need to level from 4 to 5. But, as Claptrap would say, Screw that noise. Let's blow stuff up.

Damage AP:

Now, AP for destruction isn't quite as rewarding, but combined with building, it soon adds up. So, head over to the ingress intel map (google for it if you don't have it bookmarked already). You want to look for stuff like this little portal on the right. It's a level 1 portal, that's attached to 2 fields. And (if you click the mods tab) it has no mods. This is perfect. Avoid portals with shields, force amps and turrets, at least until you're level 6 or 7. Especially with shields, you'll just waste far too many XMPs taking stuff down. Although, it can be very (*VERY*) satisfying to take down a level 8 portal, it will take about 8 trillion level 4 XMPs and LOTS of power cubes.

Destroying a resonator: 75AP
Destroying a link: 187AP
Destroying a field: 750AP.

In reality

So, this little portal is worth 2661AP. Rebuild it afterwards for another 1750. And you can see how things add up quickly. With a little planning on the map before you head out, you run from level 4 to 5 in a matter of minutes.

If you're blowing stuff up like the picture here, then be prepared to use a lot of power cubes. (I'm aware I'm level 6 and using 5 XMPs, but I didn't grab any pics at level 4...)

I also found an interesting chart over at http://ingressportal.com/research/attacking/ which shows the following data:

Enemy Portal and Related Data:

Portal Level	XM Damage to you	XM Cost To Hack
1	75	100
2	150	200
3	300	300
4	500	400
5	750	500
6	1125	600
7	1625	700
8	2500	800

- See more at: http://ingressportal.com/research/attacking/#sthash.wwtAxyqY.dpuf

As you can see, a level 8 portal is really going to mess you up - at level 4 you can only carry a max of 6000 XM, so 2500 is a considerable chunk. If there are overlapping portals, and you're being hit by a couple at a time, you'll run out constantly. Pick your targets carefully. Also, watch out for Force Amps. I'll do another post on those, but essentially, they double the damage you take. Also note that as you weaken the portal, it'll do less damage with each hit.

If you remember this chart above from the previous post, you'll see that the range for a level 4 XMP is quite short, so make sure you're standing right on top of the resonators as you detonate them. Start with the level 8 ones, and work your way around.

Levelling quickly in Ingress (part 1, levels 1-4).

Hello!

I've started playing Ingress, and hit level 7 in a couple of weeks playing solo, so I thought I'd give some tips on what I did, in the hope that other players find it useful. Your level is dictated by the number of Action Points you have, which is the equivalent of experience in any other game.

First things first, I live in London, so there are lots of portals EVERYWHERE. This is obviously an advantage. I also started walking home from work, and have covered ~70km in 2 weeks. And I do it all by foot (except this one time by bus, which proved to be more troublesome than useful). I've been putting in about 3 hours per day, on average. And learning about some amazing little things I never knew existed.

Levels 1-4

You should be able to hit level 5 (or even 6) by the end of your first week, and that's also when things start to actually be fun, so for the first few levels, don't worry too much about attacking enemy portals. I did, and it just wasted a LOT of time. As you can see below, the damage from low level bombs (XMPs) is pitiful. Even a level 4 bomb is going to outperform a level 3 bomb at 50m. Don't worry when your stuff is destroyed. It happens, and it's not a problem.

image from http://ingressportal.com/research/attacking/

So, instead do the all the training missions. You can do them from your sofa, because it'll create portals for you. Then go to the ingress intel map (https://www.ingress.com/intel) and look for some unclaimed or partially claimed portals. As you can see below, even in the middle of London, there are quite often 3 or 4 grey portals very close together.

As you're walking there, hack everything, green or blue. Hacking enemy portals will give you a little AP (which is the experience) but mostly, you're doing it for gear and portal keys. You can long-press the hack key if you like, which will put you into the Glyph game. I've read various reports saying that the Glyph game isn't worth it, but I think it's fun, and it generally rewards 2-5 extra items per hack, so I do it probably 90% of the time. I generally get 2 of the Glyphs, and even without the time bonus, rewards are good. I just wish the interface ran a little quicker. But I digress.

As you're walking around, you will find portals with less than 8 resonators on them. Deploy your resonators until there are 8 on the portal. And then hack it. There's a 70% chance you'll get a portal key. If you don't, don't worry just yet. If it's a grey portal, deploy all 8 resonators to fully claim the portal, (and remember to hack).

You can hack a portal 4 times (once every 5 minutes) before it burns out. The burnout is specific to you, but will lock you out of more hacking for 4 hours. This can be reduced, but don't worry too much for now.

As you'll remember from the training, you can link two fully deployed portals if you have a key for one of them. So, now start to link. And you want to make lots and lots of little triangles.

Here's what I did in Regent's Park inner circle yesterday in about an hour. Most of them were grey, and a couple were green. I walked around all the portals in a clockwise manner, deployed 8 resonators on each. As I got the next, I linked back to the one I'd just hacked, when I had the key. After 3 loops, I had everything linked up, and did one more circuit for extra parts. It earned me somewhere around 30,000 AP.
10 fields: 12500 (1250 per field, regardless of size)
14 links: 4382 (313 per link, regardless of length)
9 portals fully deployed: 15750 (125 per resonator, 250 bonus for first, 500 bonus for last)

This is a great little cluster to fix up, regardless of level. And I'm hoping someone goes and blows it apart over the weekend, so I can rebuild it next week. That's the key here. Don't be upset when people destroy your work. It just means you can rebuild it and earn more AP.

You'll find you start to acquire shields and other mods as you hack - hang onto these for the time being. They're best saved for when your portals have a slightly better chance of staying alive, rather than wasting them on level 1 portals.

Top Tips:

Long press the hack button to win bonus items.

If you see a portal with less than 8 resonators, fill it up.

Link, link, link. Make lots of small triangles, not one big one.

If you're bombing, don't forget to long press fire (let go when the circle closes over you), to do up to 20% extra damage.

I'll post about levels 5-7 tomorrow, and then start to daily document my quest to level 8.