The cobweb is a nice way to maximise the number of fields you make, if your portals come in three neat lines.
If you see the cobweb as an example of the general algorithm for maximising fields (see • A Fully General Ingress Maxfields Algorithm ), you can overcome the weaknesses of the cobweb - you can bring portals into the field that are not on the arms of the cobweb, and you can devise a link order plan that works well for a single agent working alone.