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XM (eXotic Matter) can be found everywhere in the Ingress game. Once this XM is captured/eaten by a player, how much time will it take to regenerate and can be captured by the same player (or another player) ?

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There are 2 types of XM found:

  1. Portal XM - XM thrown out of portals
  2. Human XM - XM thrown out of humans.*

Now my observations on XM generation, no hard info sources:

  • portal XM is generated pretty fast, after I cleared the portal of XM, it has new XM in about 10-15 minutes
  • XM is being constantly produced by portals and humans*
  • XM is being accumulated and after certain level no more XM is produced
  • XM regenerates the best when no player is around (it's almost like "watched pot never boils")
  • I believe several times XM was generated near the portal and consumed by me directly
  • I believe XM is user independent and can/will be consumed by any player, probably on first in first gets basis

* Conspiracy theory: I noticed that Human XM is being almost randomly distributed over the map, but when you compare it with human traffic in the same area it almost perfectly simulates it. It is not clear to me where the niantic lab takes this info, maybe they get some info from other google services, like mobile maps, gmail etc and place XM there where the most people go.

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  • Not clear what would happens if two players will turn on ingress in the middle of XM field simultaneously. Which one will get XM, is it location proximity based?
    – BanditoBunny
    Dec 10, 2012 at 12:24
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    If your theory on human xm is close to right, I'd expect it just comes from traffic congestion information you already see in google maps. I noticed it generates less before 6am, but more around rush hours, and always along roads, never in the middle of parks that are actually heavily foot-trafficked.
    – dlamblin
    Dec 11, 2012 at 4:35
  • That is true. I take a lot of public transport in the city and they also know how busy subway stations are.
    – BanditoBunny
    Dec 11, 2012 at 9:33
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    pffffft, the real conspiracy theory is that google will allow retail outlets to buy XM generators to place in their stores, thus luring players in.
    – Ian
    Feb 20, 2013 at 17:24
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    And it looks like XM from a portal is respawned after 20 minutes.
    – user51572
    Jul 9, 2013 at 17:54
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If two players simultaneously gather the same XM (i.e. gathered before the cache updates), they both get it. So it helps to go around in groups!

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  • How big is the window of opportunity?
    – kotekzot
    Jan 31, 2013 at 1:49
  • We have noticed that too, it is probably related to the network latency of both players.
    – BanditoBunny
    Feb 22, 2013 at 18:44
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    They announced this in one of the Ingress Report videos recently.
    – James Moore
    Jun 17, 2013 at 14:39
  • It's not network latency. The client asks the server for updates in its area every five seconds or so; the server doesn't "push". Update frequency is controlled by the server.
    – Matthias Urlichs
    Jul 27, 2013 at 20:55
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There are 2 types of XM found:

  1. Portal XM - XM thrown out of portals
  2. Human XM - XM thrown out of humans.
    ~BanditoBunny

Portal XM

  • Portal generates XM cca 21 minutes after consumption. The amount is up to 10% of its current energy.
  • The XM accumulated by a portal is capped at a certain amount. (probably 10%)
  • Portal will produce new XM within 2 minutes when its level was increased or decreased.
    This was especially important when there were no Power Cubes.

Additionaly:

  • XM can be consumed by more people if it is done quite quickly (within 5-20 sec).
  • You can collect XM even when your location is inaccurate.
  • You can collect XM wihtout internet connection. This will NOT remove the XM on the map for other players until you connect again.

Human XM

  • Generated in areas where people walk with Ingress on.
    Quite simple explanation: Niantic tracks your movements. Yep. You also send data of discovered wifi networks. + from several other possible sources.

note:
XM generates regardless of player presence or the daytime.

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