How fast does XM regenerate?

Question

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) ?

BanditoBunny · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-13T22:09:39.290

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There are 2 types of XM found:

Portal XM - XM thrown out of portals
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.

edited Feb 13 '13 at 22:09

answered Dec 10 '12 at 10:44

BanditoBunny

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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 '12 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 '12 at 04:35
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 '12 at 09:33
Is it just me, or do cellular provider stores (Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc) also generate a lot of human XM? – rwyland Jan 07 '13 at 06:28
This observation confirms the conspiracy theory :-) – BanditoBunny Jan 07 '13 at 11:25
My local SafeWay has tons of XM along its isles most of the time, and some around the parking lot (most closest to the entrance); I think your speculation about cell phone data gathering is likely to be accurate.
I have found no reason to believe XM data is shared among players, or updates on the server when you "consume" it, especially as I can fill up on XM without a network connection on my Nexus 7 tablet - which does not have cellular connectivity, and only hooks up with wifi networks I trust.
– ecmanaut Jan 28 '13 at 21:23
Xm is definitely shared and online only, but for the rest thanks for the info. – BanditoBunny Jan 29 '13 at 15:43
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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 '13 at 17:24
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And it looks like XM from a portal is respawned after 20 minutes. – Jul 09 '13 at 17:54
I'm pretty sure the "human XM" is spawned by google searches on position enabled devices. – gnarf Jul 27 '13 at 09:30

score 9 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 10 '13 at 11:58

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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!

edited Jul 10 '13 at 11:58

badp

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answered Jan 31 '13 at 01:21

Highwind888

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How big is the window of opportunity? – kotekzot Jan 31 '13 at 01:49
We have noticed that too, it is probably related to the network latency of both players. – BanditoBunny Feb 22 '13 at 18:44
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They announced this in one of the Ingress Report videos recently. – James Moore Jun 17 '13 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 '13 at 20:55

score 5 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 08:59

There are 2 types of XM found:

Portal XM - XM thrown out of portals

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.

How fast does XM regenerate?

3 Answers3

Portal XM

Human XM

Linked