Great work guys! #nianticproject #ingress #ingressreport

Great work guys! #nianticproject   #ingress  #ingressreport 

Originally shared by Sean “FROSTY” Scott

Operation Blue Birthday

Africa's first level 8 portal: National Art Gallery
Date: 30.03.2013
Start time: 12:04 PM
End Time: 13:00
Portal Count: 21 Level 8 portals

This #ingressreport  has been written from jason du toit  view.

 I joined the Resistance in Cape Town, in January. Superjase had arrived. But from day one of my time playing, there was an ever-present shadow looming over my time out in the field: Wombat. His green presence seemed to be everywhere. I would valiantly try to attack a portal with my pitiful low-level bursters and he would appear, brutally recharging and ruining my efforts. I would be off to farm a newly hard-won collection of portals and he would be there moments before me, erasing the precious blue life that I was in need of in order to replenish my depleted reserves. I didn't feel so super at the time.

He seemed all-powerful to me, but I slowly caught up with him. I was able to become a small thorn in his side, and I felt the tide begin to turn. Even though he reached level 8 before anyone else in Africa, I felt as if we had a chance. Alas, there arose his progeny: a host of powerful players and even though I duly arrived at level 8 I was soon outnumbered by a fair number of Enlightened level 8s. There were nearly always large areas of Greater Cape Town that were swathed in green, and farming was a nightmare. Stellenbosch was a gold mine for the Enlightened - a never-ending source of high-level items for them to plunder.

But we had a trump card. The Resistance in Cape Town was gelled together by none other than Frosty, a great leader who was able to unite the strange collection of Cape Town Resistance fighters. dEE4dog took charge of purging Stellenbosch of the green infestation (with heroic assistance from Activated). I coordinated Century City. nicgibson rallied the CBD with flair, and kinggs was never far from his side. HackSlashBlue and JefafarZA owned the southern suburbs. PapaSmurf was a miracle of resilience in the face of overwhelming odds in the Northern Suburbs. Frosty worked tirelessly to strengthen the faction, frequently forsaking his own personal gain, and very soon we had five level 8s. The Enlightened appeared to us to be unaware of the fact that we had more than three. We were careful to keep a low profile. Frosty's birthday was coming up, and more than anything, he wanted a level 8 Resistance portal for his birthday - the first level 8 portal in Africa. We were determined to make it happen.

A secure chat group was set up that included only the eight who would be level 8s, and a handful of select others who would be supporting us on the day with filming and photography. I nearly blabbed the secret mission to all and sundry in the Resistance, but my comment was well-spotted by Frosty on the G+ page and I was able to delete it quickly enough. But would we have enough level 8s on the day? Would the Enlightened beat us to it?

With three days to the deadline, Frosty scored himself a near-miraculous 120k AP in a single night by means of links and upgrades alone - there were no Enlightened portals for him to target. The Cape Town CBD had never seen such a well-worked network of links and fields before. Ever. Our final two level 7s, HackSlashBlue and JefafarZA, worked tirelessly over the final two nights, tracking Enlightened activity and painfully defending portals in a heroic effort to level up. They succeeded.

And so, on Easter Saturday, the scene was set. Almost. My phone had been stolen two nights previously and I had to borrow another device (from a helpful MrsDroplet). After a little research I was able to log into my borrowed device's Ingress App as superjase. The National Gallery was the location. Loxsie, who was filming for us, set up a portable Wi-Fi hotspot for me, as I was not able to use MrsDroplet's data. FangVV had his array of photographic equipment set up. Kinggs was there. And Frosty. PapaSmurf, dEE4dog and JefafarZA were there. The Two Oceans Marathon caused a little havoc, but eventually, HackSlashBlue and nicgibson fought their way through a traffic nightmare to get there. We were set.

The usual collection of tourists had a few puzzled expressions on their faces as we all stood facing the center of the portal, backs to the sun. Each of us had our octant to upgrade. I upgraded East and within a minute, it was DONE! The first level 8 portal in Africa! There was cheering and the obligatory group photographs. There were plenty of goofy smiles and much satisfaction. We had finally managed to cement our dominance over the Enlightened in Cape Town. But we couldn't stop there. The Company's Gardens and Wale Street became the scene of eighteen level 8 portals. A worthy prize. And finally the ability to farm in a meaningful way for level 8 resonators!

Frosty, from all of us, this was for you!

Thanks and congratulations
jason du toit 
Nic Gibson 
Kenny Inggs 
Dougan Johnson 
Giliomee Jacobs 
Reon Rich 
Dirk Cilliers 
Sean Scott 

Photographer
Hayden Scott-Williams 

Audio Visual Producer 
Video is still in production and will be shared shortly.
Anton Pretorius 


Brandon Badger 
Anne Beuttenmüller 
Joe Philley 
#ingress  
#ingressfieldreport  
#southafrica  
#capetown