"Let's talk gym retention"

#PokemonGO: How to keep gyms: It's been 21 hours. I still hold 11 gyms I held yesterday(1 gym for a buffer I picked up last night hoping to not need to get any gyms today. It worked). Let's talk about how I'm doing this.First some details. I'm level 29 and most of my gym defender roster is in the 1.8-2k range. I'm a bit ahead of the curve for my area but not drastically so. I live in a semi-major metro in the US. 3.25 million in my metro area. I'm team valor and the ratio here isn't far off normal. 40% mystic, 35% valor, 25% instinct (rough observation based on gym participation). This means it's not simply stacked in my team's direction.I used to spend an hour after 2 am getting my 10 gyms, often losing 2-3 during my run and needing that many more. I would never hold a gym for 21 hours. In short, this is probably a normal area for most people's experience of gyms from what I've heard of others online.But I've now had a single gym held for well over a week. On the second or third day I really took notice and began to build on the idea. After some trial and error I think I've got the recipe down. My gym turnover is incredibly low meaning most days at my twenty one hours (which is now not restricted to off hours) I have 8+ gyms so need little no more that fifteen minutes to hold max gyms. Now, I did often invest 20 minutes or more to add myself to a level 8+ gym, but those investments have paid off. Though I mention the idea of working with a crew, I do not have one myself. I just followed one in a neighborhood Thursday, watched how they worked, and took advantage of the trail of gyms they left. I still own three gyms courtesy of their work. Without further ado, here is my recipe for keeping gyms.stacked gyms are more likely to survive. Level 7+ gyms are far less likely to be attacked.too many stacked gyms for one team in a neighborhood will get the other teams to attack anyway. Sure it costs them a lot to break it down, but if it's that or not play then the other teams will attack your stacked gym anyway.because of the above you should spread yourself thin over a large city with only 1-2 stacked gyms per neighborhood.if is a good farm spot for XP, rare nest etc, don't bother taking gyms there, they'll flip too soon because the player density is too high. Gym level doesn't matter in these areas.average player level is also higher near good farming spots which makes the whole area harder to hold. It's not the 5 minute flip of a farming spot itself but these areas rarely last a day without full turnover.train your gyms up with lower CP 'mons than those you fight for 500+ prestige per friendly defeated. Build a roster of top tier attackers with a range of CPs to be able to have one or two strong choices every 100 CP. My MVP is a 940 vaporeon with hydro pump and 91% IVs but I've got 2-3 choices for every 100 CP between 600-1800 and a high IV 325 vaporeon bringing up the bottom of my team.attack gyms as a team then train them up. Put in a 1500 flareon or somesuch as the bottom tier then trounce it repeatedly with vaporeon or such strong water types. Fire is best for this because of the ease of getting top tier water attackers means everyone on your attack team can build the gym. This makes building to level 6-7 far easier both for your attack team and for any other friendlies in your area.The goal is to leave low hanging fruit (level 4 or less gyms) common enough that someone can get 10 without going more than a mile or two. Get 1-2 level 7+ gyms in this zone. Better yet make that gym level 8-9. The low hanging fruit will attract all of the players spending an hour flipping ten gyms while leaving yours untouched. Set up your gym attacks (ideally with a team) with an eye toward keeping a training punching bag at the bottom of the gym so other friendlies will level it even if you don't have a crew.What are your experiences with holding gyms for 21 or more hours. Is anyone else routinely keeping 8+ gyms each day without flips? What tips/tricks can be used to refine this strategy? via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2aMnPp9