Great work guys!

Great work guys!
#13Magnus   #OperationNightstalker   #Unight8  

Originally shared by Gavin Treadgold (rediguana)

Operation Loading Data… aka True Blue New Zealand

Background
For some time now, plans have been developed to make use of three remote outlying portals in New Zealand, where a single large field would be possible to cover a large percentage of the country. At the same time, the intention was to link across the Tasman Sea to create the first Trans-Tasman fields of significance.

Initially, agents planned on using a known RE stronghold portal in Te Anau (Southland), and link to two portals at the eastern and northern extremes of the North Island. In the east, the East Cape Lighthouse was utilised.

To the north, Cape Reinga proved too difficult to capture and deploy at this time, due to the effect of terrain and distance on mobile communications. An alternate portal called Kupe’s Landing, in the small township of Taipa, near Kaitaia, was chosen.

Back to the south, agents began expressing concern at the choice of Te Anau, as a new Enlightened agent had begun operating in the area. An alternate location was identified, and planning resumed.

Days out from the event, close analysis of blocking links was made, with a view to organising agents in key areas to take out blocking links, green and blue alike. A troublesome link in the Marlborough region was identified, and it was looking less likely to be able to be removed, so yet another option was identified for the southern node that would “thread the needle” up the South Island through to East Cape.

Saturday 16th November
On the day of the operation, a significant set of blue blocking links in central Otago still required removal, and no agents were available in the area with the required number of Jarvis viruses at their disposal. With this in mind, one of the agents scheduled to travel to the southern portal made the spontaneous decision to take a daytime roadtrip to remove the offending links.

At the same time, there still existed a blocking link near Blenheim, at the top of the South Island. An agent agreed to make the travel, if it was still required, that evening to take the link out.

These events meant that the originally selected portal was still in prime position to be used.

Late Saturday afternoon however, Enlightened agent Chevron7 paid a visit to a couple of portals in Tapawera at the top of the South Island, and started spraying 8-10 blocking links around the top of the South Island - green links that would block any blue links from the southern portal to East Cape. This drew a lot of concern as it appeared that the EN may have been well aware of an upcoming operation, and were doing their best to spoil it. 

At this point, it was decided to tentatively change the linking portal used for the South Island. The agent that was originally committed to Blenheim, would now have a shorter drive to a juicier target.

Dunedin agents hit the road, taking a final break at the fork in the road to check Intel and Comm, finally committing to the usage of the Cardrona Hotel portal. Upon arrival at the destination portal, preparations began to make the portal high enough level to have the link range (with one Rare Link Amp required). The new flip card 1 hour cooldown threw a spanner in the works here! 

Once the Nelson-Tasman agent assigned to the Tapawera portal reported he was 15 minutes out from his destination, go ahead was given to the Northern teams to set up the secondary “Plan B” field. The link from Taipa to East Cape was made, and two links from Otorohanga were placed, creating the internal field (456910 MU) that encompassed Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city.

Then, as soon as link breaking agents were in place across the country, the call was made to clear the way and the first link to East Cape was made. Another agent, local to the southern portal had been dispatched to take out some blocking links in Arrowtown, allowing the creation of the third and final link to Taipa. Much jubilation was had as the ~820000 MU field was created, and what is probably the largest field by area created over New Zealand to date.

Stage 2 of the operation was to add three more Rare Link Amps to the P8 portal, and create outgoing links to Tasmania and Eden, New South Wales, in Australia. These links were created with ease, and created 2 large curved fields across the Tasman Sea. The new “Long Distance” linking UI in the Ingress Scanner app made this a snap, and is a huge improvement - no large pile of keys dropped near the portal or incredible wait times!

Not long thereafter, the Taipa portal received incoming links from Port Macquarie, Australia; and New Caledonia, to create a fairly significant Fish Unit fields between three countries - Australia, New Caledonia, and New Zealand.

Back at the Cardrona portal, some time after the New Zealand and Trans-Tasman fields had been established and were still standing, the Dunedin agents decided to call it a night around 0030. They headed back through the Crown Range towards Queenstown and briefly stopped at an area of mobile coverage only to find that local Enlightened agent smizmo had been lying in wait not far down the road, hiding, ready to destroy their efforts. Suffice it to say, the New Zealand and southern Trans-Tasman fields no longer stood.
 
Upon seeing the destruction, it was decided that they would wait it out, sight the local Enlightenment agent passing by on their way back home, and go back to Cardrona to rebuild. The Enlightened agent briefly stopped at their current hiding location, and all agents immediately slumped down in their seats and turned off their bright device screens in order to avoid being seen by the Enlightened agent. Unstoppable laughter ensued. After a short while, the Enlightened agent departed down the Crown Range for home and the Dunedin agents headed back to Cardrona to rebuild.

Upon arriving back at the Cardrona portal, the New Zealand field was re-established to great fanfare; however, the Australian fields were no longer possible as the portal did not have enough range. The previously prepared secondary portal nearby had been flipped and destroyed by the Enlightened agent, resetting the virus cooldown, making reinstatement too time consuming in the early hours of Sunday morning. From there the agents hit the road and arrived back in Dunedin around 0500 Sunday morning.

Operation Nightstalker/Unight8
As it turns out, New Zealand was unwittingly part of Operation Nightstalker. We had little idea of the scale of the event, especially that it would occur on a global scale. We were also unaware of the objectives, especially capturing mind units and building P8s. Had we been aware of these, our planning would likely have been significantly more involved. As it was, the plan to cover a significant proportion of New Zealand in a single field came together fairly quickly - it was less than a week. The pre-existing blocking links, as well as the personnel requirements, made it a challenge to go much further than what we successfully delivered.

We have since made contact with the Unight8 organisers, and I fully expect New Zealand to be actively involved in future planning and operations from early on, so you can expect to see a far greater effort from the New Zealand Resistance (NZRE) next time around.

Very Rare Link Amps
It is worth noting that the links across the Tasman Sea are near the limit for a P8+4RLAs. We are very excited to see the upcoming introduction of VRLAs, as we will greatly appreciate extra range. It is a little concerning however to see reports that VRLA links may only be used for shard travel over oceans, and may be unstable when fielding or used over land. I hope at a minimum VRLA links will permit the transmissions of keys to speed up international fielding projects, and to reduce the amount of fuel required to move keys internationally. Eventually I hope the technology will stabilise to the point where use over land and fields will be possible.

Summary
All up it was a successful project, and we had a lot of fun. There was also a lot of effort required to make it happen, as the rather long list of credits below indicates. With the increasing number of agents and portals, fielding projects in an existing landscape littered with links and fields is only going to get more complex for everyone. Bring it :)

Credits - New Zealand
arcrider (Key Couriering)
bitsprayer (Cardrona Portal, Link Clearing) 
BlackWiddow Nz (Link Clearing)
CEOMong (Link Clearing)
chook (Link Clearing)
Drynyn (Link Clearing)
Eknz (International Liaison, Key Couriering)
Elm0 (Link Clearing)
Gliss (Link Clearing)
GreatScott (International Liaison, Intel, Planning, Cardrona Portal, Link Clearing)
Hipmonlee (Taipa Portal)
kirjava (Taipa Portal)
Kiwi001 (Key Couriering, Link Clearing)
mexcnz (Link Clearing)
mjb (International Liaison, Intel, Planning, Cardrona Portal, Link Clearing, Strategic Blockers)
Moneydork (Key Farming, Key Couriering)
MrsGliss (Link Clearing)
Nickspoon (Link Clearing)
Reptizzle (Link Clearing)
RePete (Link Clearing)
rjb (Link Clearing)
rediguana (International Liaison, Key Couriering, Key Farming, Planning, Link Clearing, Strategic Blockers)
salphine (Key Couriering)
sting1606 (Link Clearing)
strandloper (Cardrona Portal)
tharrin (Key Couriering, Waitomo Portal)
Wolfric (Waitomo Portal)

Credits - Australia and New Caledonia
Aladrin (Key Couriering)
dude1 (Key Farming)
gravity2202 (Key Couriering)
lox (Key Farming, Key Couriering)
maiestia (Key Couriering)
maorismurf (Key Couriering)

#Ingress   #SitRep   #IngressReport   #NewZealand   #Australia   #NewCaledonia   #Resistance   #VivaLaResistance   #NZRE   #13Magnus   #OperationNightstalker   #Unight8  
cc: Ingress Joe Philley Brandon Badger Anne Beuttenmüller Brian Rose John Hanke Nihal Mirpuri Tzafrir Rehan Jens Spaniel