robbing strategies and mechanics

Robbing is now in game for all players! Even my rackets account (which still has rackets) can log in and start robbing. Now that I've gotten to play with it some, here is what I have noticed:


1) The amount of Mafia you can use during a robbery attempt depends on which type of property you try to rob.

For example, look at the Dockyard picture above. The "50" number next to the mafia icon shows how many mafia members I can use during my robbery. What this means is that I will only be able to use my 50 best weapons, armors, and vehicles during a robbery attempt on a Dockyard, even if I have a bigger mafia and more weapons. You will be capped at the number indicated on each robbery.

The more expensive the property, the more Mafia Members you can use. For example, you can only use 2 mafia members to rob a flophouse but you can use 50 to rob a dockyard.



2) Equipment stats and stat points are somewhat additive. This picture was taken on my energy account, which has zero extra stat points in attack, yet I still had a much higher attack score than my opponent. It seems that the total offensive score is calculated by:

(Stat points in attack + score from equipment) * a random multiplier (anywhere from 1-3 it would seem).

Sometimes, I will rob a property with an attack score of 15,000, and then rob the same property and have an attack score of 5,000. The "random" element means that anyone at any point can win a robbery (and also lose one!), no matter how much attack, defense, or equipment you have.


There are a few practical results of this:

1) If you want to rob one of the smaller properties (ones where you can only use a few mafia members to help out), such as a flophouse, the fight comes entirely down to who has the most points in attack (or defense).

2) If you rob one of the larger properties, your equipment score vastly outweighs your stat point score.

3) "Special" loot pieces, especially job mastery rewards and Bangkok faction items, now weigh heavily into robbing.

4) Having a full set of good (but not great) loot is only important in robbing larger properties.

5) Attack boosts help out significantly in small robberies and mean nothing in large robberies.

6) Due to the random multiplier, even the weakest accounts will win some robberies, and even the strongest accounts will lose some robberies. While a lot of people don't like the randomly losing, I think the randomness is a good thing as it allows everyone to progress through robbing (i.e. there won't be so much whining from bad players), and since there is no penalty for losing, it doesn't matter too much if you lose once in awhile.

Here is how this comes into play:

1) My "fighting" account will win every small robbery attempt that it makes. Since I have been slacking on finishing content with it, it loses most larger robbery attempts! Missing out on Bangkok faction pieces and job mastery rewards will significantly impair your robbing ability, even if you have 1000 or more points in attack.

2) My energy account will lose every small robbery attempt it makes, but wins most of its larger robberies (where you can use 100+ members), since I have every special item, tons of faction loot, and all the job mastery rewards.


In short, your ability to win fights does not predict your ability to win robbing events. If you want to win all your robbery attempts, you need 1) all the job mastery rewards 2) about 25 of the Yakuza Assassin Bangkok faction items 3) a lot of stat points in attack.


There are no shortcuts here and it is fairly balanced. They did a good job in my opinion in that regard. I will post again later today with more info on the rewards and other robbing information.