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.
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!*.
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.
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