Thur 082009

What a week I'm having. Mafia wars has me dazed and confused. Totally missed an ortho appt for Katie yesterday thinking it was today. Day is night and night is day. All the yos down in yoville can't be bothered to say anything more interesting than "$$$$ run". I may copy/paste but at least I make the effort to be a tiny bit entertaining. Weird dreams. And no I won't elaborate, is there anything more boring than having to sit thru a description of someone else's dream? No, nothing. Well, maybe this post. Sorry. Hey, nobody made you read it.

$$$$$$$

You need to update your wishlist. Better yet, I'll just tell you what extras I have.

sky,rose,ivory,turquoise cigars
sapphire & ruby ring
matisse & van gogh paintings
sea bird, golden miller & st simon race horses
bahama mama, mojito, rum runner, long island iced tea, cuba libra rum drinks
dragon fruit
cabaret singer
french fork beard

If anyone can guess the significance of today (to me), I will make them a smilie. It probably won't be a smiling smilie though. Perhaps a cross between the rolling pin woman and the tired one with a little bit of the twitchy one thrown in. And don't expect the answer to be any more exciting than the previous 2 posts.


Rose is probably the only one with a chance at guessing correctly, but the mob probably won't let her come back here today.

Au contraire....I'm everywhere. But a puzzle, must concentrate.

Job anniversary?

I know it's not your birthday. Or our trip anniversary. And you wouldn't bring up your wedding anniversary much less offer a prize for knowing it.

I'm still thinking job. And that it will be bam who doesn't come back around today to let me know.

Rose wrote:

I know it's not your birthday. Or our trip anniversary. And you wouldn't bring up your wedding anniversary much less offer a prize for knowing it.

See, I knew you'd get it. Think about the prize I offered up.

It's one that I didn't think I'd reach or at least I'd hoped I wouldn't.

I did! Good clue, lol. Did the bosses get you a cake? Um, cake sounds good.

Oh... the answer was right in what I quoted, even though you thought I wouldn't bring it up. I wouldn't have, but it's been weighing heavily on my mind and may be part of the cause of my current bout of depression.

Cake does sound good.

If you want that horrible smilie I described, let me know what color.

Wait, now I'm confused. Is it job or wedding?

And, grrrl, you gots too much to do to be makin me another smilie. But....you could prolly find me a mafia one. *shoots tommy gun into air joyfully*

I now have a blue poker chip, too.

I'm still not sure, it's the anniversary of your wedding but it seems like a job? Is that it?

Rose wrote:

You need to update your wishlist. Better yet, I'll just tell you what extras I have.

sky,rose,ivory,turquoise cigars
sapphire & ruby ring
matisse & van gogh paintings
sea bird, golden miller & st simon race horses
bahama mama, mojito, rum runner, long island iced tea, cuba libra rum drinks
dragon fruit
cabaret singer
french fork beard

But those things on the list are items I need to vault those collections (only two more sculptures and two more chips)

But after that, what is the deal? Do I have to get 7 of each one to vault them after that? I have one each of the paintings and heart flush collections and nearly 5 each orf the diamond flush collections but don't see an options for doing anything with them.

As far as incomplete initial collections go:

I could use Sky, Ebony, Ivory and Gold cigars
The only ring I have is Diamond
Need Arkle, Ormond, Golden Miller and Eclipse race horses
I have one and three in the Billiard Ball collection
Nothing in the daily chance collection
need head gear, heavy bag, speed bag and boxing ring
Only have two Cuba collections available at my level: tropical fruit (none yet) and rum drinks (only have LI Ice Tea)

You can only vault each collection once so unless MW changes it you can, after vaulting a collection, gift your extras to those in need or in exchange, whatever.

No one has any of the lotto items; it's a waste to put them on your wl. Stockpile untraceable cell phones, illegal transactions records, blackmail photos and computer set ups cuz you are going to need a lot of all of them.

Except, of course, for all the ITR you are going to send me in exchange for all the items above I'm going to send you.

I don't put them on my wish list anyway, but good to know. I remember you saying the ITR and untraceable phones would be important eventually (I'm only level 28 though) but how am I supposed to stockpile them when I give them to you every time I get more than 1? (Sent my extra, by the way..) Thanks!

This may be more info than you want to know but since I'm consumed with Mafia Wars I find I must share...

Quote :

How Does MW Decide the Winner in a Fight?Share
Sunday, May 17, 2009 at 5:54pm
Mafia Wars does not calculate who wins a fight in the way you would expect. And, sorry, but all that neat Equipment means little against Skill points, especially when you reach higher levels. Some of you will be quite surprised at what is important and is not important in terms of Skill points, Equipment and other factors.

IS THIS INFORMATION TOO ADVANCED?

While this looks and sounds like information for advanced players, you need to understand the formula because all decisions you make on Equipment, Godfather points and Skill points are good or bad depending on this formula. (Hint: There is a Combat Calculator online that will do all the math for you.) If you don’t like math, just skip to the Conclusions and Additional Data to see what it means to you in fighting. There is an Example to hopefully make this easier to understand. Also see the link to the mafia-wars.org thread under Credits, where you can follow the original discussion by the people who discovered this formula.

PLEASE DON'T flood the admins with questions until you've read it all and tried the numbers for yourself. Thank you for that ;)

Now, on to the secrets!


BASIC FIGHT FORMULA:

Here's the basic formula considered to be used by MW after extensive in-game testing by players on mafia-wars.org (Zynga does not publish the formula):

COMBAT STRENGTH = (MAFIA * (ATK + DEF Skill Points)) + EQUIPMENT (ATK + DEF Total Value of All Items Used)

MAFIA = Number of mafia in player’s family
ATK = Attack Skill points of player, or Item Attack value
DEF = Defense Skill points of player, or Item Defense value
EQUIPMENT = All weapons, armor and vehicles used in a fight
Total Value = The total of an item’s Attack and Defense values


Put the size of your mafia in place of MAFIA. ATK+DEF is your Skill points, then added together and multiplied by MAFIA. Add to that total your EQUIPMENT, which is the Attack plus the Defense value of each item times the number of items. Then add all up those totals for all your Equipment (weapons + armor + vehicles).


EXAMPLE:

Let's fill in the numbers...

Level 20 player: She has 80 mafia, 500 skill points in both Attack and Defense, and basically no Equipment.

(MAFIA(80) * ATT(500) + DEF(500)) + EQUIPMENT(100) = 80,100

Level 100 player: He has 501 mafia, 50 skill points in both Attack and Defense, and lots of Equipment.

(MAFIA(501) * ATT(50) + DEF(50)) + EQUIPMENT(30,000) = 80,100

These two players are equal in strength. The Level 20 has only 80 mafia and no equipment. The Level 100 has full 501 mafia, and 300X the Equipment of the Level 20 player. But the low level player has only 10X the skill points of the high level player.

The number of mafia makes a big difference until both players in a fight have 501, the limit. But Equipment only makes a difference at low levels of Atk/Def skill points.

Notice that adding only 1 more friend to the Level 20’s mafia family means she now beats the Level 100 player every time. Double the Level 20 player's mafia size to 160, and she is TWICE as strong as the other player. A player could spend $750 to be at 500/500 Atk/Def points and get 80 mafia easily in one day. You wondered why lower level players are beating you in fights? It’s the skill points.

Understanding this formula leads to some surprising conclusions...


CONCLUSIONS AND ADDITIONAL DATA:

1.) Player Level has no effect on who wins a fight.

2.) ATK and DEF Skill Points are added together, so it doesn't matter how much you put in each one. The total is always used whether attacking or defending. That may change, but for now it works this way. I suggest balancing points between the two Skills (50/50).

3.) Skill points become FAR more important than Equipment in raising your combat strength as you move up the levels. This is why a player100 levels below you can be stronger than you in fights, and why the very best piece of equipment in the game is a credit card ;)

4.) 200 Skill points is worth a lot more in a fight than all the best equipment you can have. The best equipment, if you have some excellent Limited Editions, will add up to about 70,000 points in the formula. Assuming 501 mafia, add up the value of 501 of AR-15 Assault Rifles [42], 501 of Federal Agents [40], and 501 of Armored Limousines [52], and your total equipment value is 67,134. Now, with 501 mafia, plug in 100 points each in Atk and Def skills and leave Equipment at 0. You get a score of 100,200.

5.) A piece of equipment with a higher TOTAL value is better to have than one with very high Atk but low Def (when attacking, for instance). Total value (ATK+DEF) of each equipment item is used in the calculation, not just the Atk number for attacks and Def for defending. Police Cruiser [22, 28] is better than a Humvee [26, 22]. Limited Edition items will almost always be better to have than looted items because they are better balanced in values. Vehicles are an exception, where Armored Limos rule!

6.) MW does NOT always choose the best Total Value Equipment, which would help you most. And you get a different list of Equipment depending on whether you are attacking or being attacked (defending):

When you attack, MW chooses the equipment in order of ATK value. You can see this in your fight results screen. Chain Guns [16, 14] will be listed before Tommy Guns [12, 10 because they are chosen from highest to lowest Attack value.

However, when you are “attacked” by another player (defending), it's the opposite. Then, MW chooses weapons, armor and vehicles in the order of highest DEF points. In this case, your mafia of 501 fought with 501 highest-defense weapons, 501 highest-defense armor, and 501 highest-defense vehicles. You can see your defense Equipment list by having someone not in your mafia family attack you, and then send you a copy of their fight results listing all your defense Equipment.

This is all fine at low levels using only Inventory weapons, armor and vehicles. Whether you are attacking or defending, MW chooses your best equipment, in the right order, every time.

BUT… you will soon be looting better equipment. So what happens when you have RPG Launchers and Napalms? On attack, your Napalms [25, 9] are chosen before the RPG Launchers [20, 12]. The Napalms Total Value is [34], and the RPG’s is [32]. All is good.

Now switch to defense. Logically, you want to use all your Napalms first, because their Total Value is higher. But MW doesn’t work that way. Because the Defense value of the RPG’s is higher, MW will choose all the RPG Launchers [12] first, and then choose Napalms [9]. If you had 501 RPG Launchers, your Napalms would never be used at all.


This becomes more important as you buy Limited Edition Equipment and you get large numbers of loot items. There will be a day when you have 100 Armored Limos, but aren’t using them at all because lower Total Value Porsche 911’s and Harley Davidson Fat Boys are pushing them off your list. At that point, you need to gift away 100 of your Porsches and Harleys to lower level players so your Limos will be used in fights.

BUT… you cannot Gift away Limited Editions. Most LE Equipment is better balanced between Attack and Defense and has higher Total Value. But if buying it means you will be pushing higher Total Value Equipment off your list, then it’s a bad deal. You could be stuck with lower value Equipment forever.



If it isn’t obvious by now….


*NEVER SPEND GODFATHER POINTS ON CRATES OF EQUIPMENT, OR ANYTHING ELSE BUT SKILL POINTS!*. 14 Godfather points gives you 4 skill points. If you are a fighter, then most of your skill points should go into Attack and Defense, equally.


There you go... mystery solved ;) Now, get out there and win!


NOTE ON EXCEPTIONS: This is the BASIC formula, and it works. MW may apply factors that are unknown, the most famous being the "Critical Hit", in order to balance the game and to add a little unpredictability. There are the Top Mafia fight bonuses, which can randomly add strength in fight. "Protection" on properties adds an X factor to defense. These factors alter the basic calculation in small and infrequent ways, but haven't made enough difference to warrant intensive study (not that I have found). Just realize that this basic formula does give you what you need to know in distributing skill points and obtaining equipment. The other factors don't come into play at that level.


CREDITS:

FORMULA: The formula and all work behind it are credited to the people here:
http://mafia-wars.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=216

COMBAT CALCULATOR: Use this tool to monitor your progress and see how to improve your scores:
http://www.mafia-wars.info/index.php

ALSO… Bobby Heartrate has a button that makes this even easier. Install the "Analyze" button, which saves your skill point and level values, copies your fight results and runs the Calculator for you:
http://heartrate.se/



NOTE TO ALL COMMENTERS: This is *NOT AN ADD-ME* comment thread. We have an Add-Me thread under Discussions, even though this site is not for that. There are literally hundreds of Mafia Wars groups for adding people. Your add-me comment will at minimum be deleted, and worst you will banned from the site. Please respect our intention to provide help to players in our Notes and Comments.

Mafia Wars Combat Calculator
Source: www.mafia-wars.info


Mafia Wars Combat Calculator

There was a comment after that I agreed with. The above states to use godfather points for only for the 4 stat points, however, using them for an energy fill usually gives you enough job xp to level up giving you 5 xp. I bought a crate item once and got a stupid cowboy hat. What a waste.

I can't bring myself to spend money on a free game and buy the gf pts, tho I did try the survey route which only loaded my spare hotmail acct with spam (and continues to load it) without ever actually giving my any points.

Holy crap, the day I tell you to give extras away they change the game and you can revault.

Don't give your extras away!!!!

I'm not liking the changes as I'm losing fights due to "critical hits" where I never lost before.

Hugh Manrace wrote:

I'm still not sure, it's the anniversary of your wedding but it seems like a job? Is that it?

It's the anniversary of my wedding and a reminder of my jellyfish spine.

Rose wrote:

Wait, now I'm confused. Is it job or wedding?

And, grrrl, you gots too much to do to be makin me another smilie. But....you could prolly find me a mafia one. *shoots tommy gun into air joyfully*

Here's the best two I could find:

And Gangster Rose:

Cool! Cool, cool, cool! Is there a way to post emoticons on facebook?

The only way I could see was uploading it as an image from your computer in an original comment you're making... but I really don't know FaceBook