Once upon a time, before Ingress added new badges, the Guardian Badge was a key component of getting to higher Ingress levels. I wasn’t uncommon to see players with pile of AP above and beyond what was needed for the next level while they waited to achieve another gold or platinum badge in order to qualify. But then, Ingress started handing out badges like candy. I got a platinum Innovator Badge for free by being Level 13 on the day it came out. I also got Gold for several of the new Ingress badges by having already achieved the amounts before they were even invented. But, last summer, before all of this happened, I was going to need a Platinum Guardian Badge as soon as possible, and I would have needed black eventually.
How I Got My Guardian Portal
I got my gold Guardian Badge before I really knew what the badge even was. If you play in a lot of areas, you’ll eventually end up somewhere less contested than others. If you filed all of that, and then keep those fields up by recharging your portals, you’ll get a 20-day portal without much effort. (You’ll get your Recharger Badge pretty easily as well.) But, my gold Guardian badge was a different story.
I got one portal to 87 days before someone smashed the Denver Botanic Gardens and took my portal with it.
I got another to 89 days before Guardian hunting players from across town made a special trip for it.
After that, every time I thought I had a good Guardian portal, it got dropped, usually after 70 days. It’s just tough to keep a portal unnoticed for three months.
Then, I had an idea.
As a parent, I got season passes to the local amusement park, Elitch Gardens. There were new portals inside the park too far from the outside to be hit by even an L8 XMP. So, I watched the Intel map, and as the final days of the park being open went by, I ensured that I owned a few of the inside portals, every one of them with just 7 resonators so I couldn’t accidentally link them and lose the keys.
Sure enough, when the park closed last fall, I had a portal safely inside. Now, all I had to do was avoid spoofers.
The platinum badge came in January, and a few months later, black (or onyx, if you prefer). It lasted until 191 days when the portal was taken down by someone at the season pass sneak preview evening. By then, it was too late. I already had what I needed.
Best of all, that means I don’t need any more badges, ever, for Ingress, unless they make new levels. I’ve got 4 Platinum and 2 Black for L16. I’ll just need the AP. Which is good, because I really don’t care about a lot of the new stuff, like glyph hacking or missions.
The other fun piece, is that the only reason to hide your stats is to keep enemy players from seeing how close you are to a Guardian. Now that my stats say 191 for longest portal held, I can show my stats again. Not that it matters, I just like being open about who I am and how I play.
More importantly, there is no reason for me to find a portal in the middle of nowhere and remember to charge it for six months anymore.
My Ingress Manual 
Yes! Also, as I detailed on my last blog post for ingress a few months back – there are cemeteries, state parks, region parks & private clubs that close their grounds in seasonally in many states (I’m in MN). We have a group in the local area that goes to clear out any portals on official closing day to suppress this tactic 🙂
I genuinely don’t understand why people don’t like glyph hacking. It perplexes me. It’s one of Ingress’ most active components, and people seem to avoid it. A proper active challenge that goes beyond standing in the right place and idly tapping the fire button. What exactly is wrong with it?
There is nothing “wrong” with it. I think it may depend on where you play. I play a lot in a downtown area, so there are literally hundreds of ports around in walking distance. I’d rather keep going that wait for a glyph hack, especially on anything that isn’t a L8 portal.
This might also work in areas in the mountains that are only accessible by roads that are “closed in winter”. If you happen to be in one of these areas in late Autumn (and have reception), grab as many portals as possible and don’t use the keys.
I randomly got lucky with my guardian. It went onyx when I’d only been playing for about 9 months. The portal was on a main road in a major city (Houston) near my house and somehow remained mine for 158 days, even when under attack!!! One of my fellow players is trying to pick the perfect guardian and has had an unfortunate number killed right around the 87-89 day mark (one was only accessible by boat!!!) Sometimes you just never know.
I got Onyx Guardian from a portal right behind my building in a densely-populated urban area—Simply because it’s by itself in a spot just a tad inconvenient from many other portals. I have another guardian I won’t need for the badge that I just might hang on to for years. My parents live in a gated community with a public golf course. There are two portals on the course. Anyone can drive up to the gatehouse and say they’d like to go to the clubhouse restaurant but it appears no one ever tries. The other portal is owned by another agent whose parents live in the community. Fortunately, we’re both Resistance!