Is there a trick to robbing?

[Whoopdido1980]

I'm currently at level 66. So far I have done very little robbing. Basically the only time I ever robbed was to complete one of the goals like "rob a rival 20 times" or whatever it was. Those goals seemed to have stopped popping up quite some time ago, so I spent all my time completing the fighting goals and doing the storyline missions. Along the way I also maxed out (level 5) like the first 10 areas. I know I'm totally done with one of the fighting goals, but I don't know if I'm done with all of them. I have 3 RPG's and 3 Exeleros. Is that it?

Anyway, for the last couple days I've started robbing hoods and I'm just not having much luck. I'm successful like 95% of the time but I'm just not seeing anything good. When I go to a hood most of the time nothing is lootable and when there actually are buildings I can rob they're laundromats, level 2 pawn shops, level 7 barbershops and crap like that. Every once in a great while I'll come across a warehouse I can rob, or a loft or a smoke shop but those scores are few and far between. Also, I've noticed that I get very little experience points from robbing. The warehouses pay out big experience, but like I said, I haven't come across many of those. When I was fighting people, I'd usually get anywhere from 7-13 experience points per fight. You can rack up a lot of experience doing that. When I'm only getting a couple experience points per robbery it's literally going to take me years to level up.

Am I doing something wrong? I mean unless I'm mssing something the only way to actually succeed at robbing is to find hoods that players have neglected or go to those hoods at "off times" when the player isn't available t collect his/her buildings. I can only assume that most people here actually have jobs so I also have to assume that most of us play at similar times of the day, so it seems like robbing would be very difficult since most people collect their buildings when they're playing the game. I'm well beyond the level where people have figured out that they have to bank their money so nobody has oodles of cash sitting there available to steal through fights. I guess I just don't see how I can make any money robbing or fighting. Am I missing something?

[Joemax]

First - yes there are more fighting goals in your future, they will come as you level up. Maybe one goal for every two or three levels.

Second - the more lucrative buildings will be more likely to show up as you level up. You are probably already missing some - I've seen lofts and movie theatres in low level players.

You should get used to spending some time 'hunting' this big prey. You'll have to tap 'rob' on opponents and visit lots of substandard hoods to find the valuable targets. You'll get to the point where you see the same opponents on your rivals list again and again. You just need to stay patient, learn all the best targets, and you'll get some big playoffs.

And if you want to hunt bank accounts, those will be there as well, you just have to remain patient and keep searching.

[Tramp Stamp]

It may not seem like it, but Laundromats are one of the highest value robberies. They have high Respect-to-Exp ratio and are frequently leveled up, which pushes the Respect payout even higher.

[xclusiv]

^ i hope your joking right

[G Wiz]

Nah he's makin sense...those laundromats get you stronger and keeps your level young

[dudeman]

So going hood to hood robbing laundromats will yield better results than robbing clothing stores and meat factories? Unless, of course, you are trying to level quickly.

[Anubis]

It may not seem like it, but Laundromats are one of the highest value robberies. They have high Respect-to-Exp ratio and are frequently leveled up, which pushes the Respect payout even higher.

This is a very truthful statment. At your level you need to be leveling up as slowly as possible. To do this you need to be robbing for respect. LM's level 8-10 are great ways for leveling up slowly. It is boring but you need to build a strong mafia for when you hit the RED zone (levels 90-120 when HL's start whacking you - thats when you switch from slow to fast exping).

You only get one chance at this game so its important you get it right. Robbing at your level is more about getting Respect points to spend on Yam bikes or Goggles. Don't worry with map goals - start farming M4's and use energy purely for that.

If you see LM's level 8-10 rob them, obviously you want to find Clothing stores or Lofts but there are other great Respect buildings - Italians, MEat Factories, Shoe stores, Warehouses to name some. If you follow Trampstamps guide on building up your hood income you won't need to depend on robbing for money. It really is all about the respect points to build a stong mafia for when you hit the RED zone at your level. Rob your heart out and build a stong economy.

[Anubis]

Up until level 90ish its all about building the foundations for a strong mafia and hood. I nearly quit the game it got so boring from 70-90 robbing LM's and leveling slowly but it all paid off for me. The game actually became amazingly exciting once I hit the HL stage because I did things right up to that stage.

[Max Power]

I'm currently at level 66. So far I have done very little robbing. Basically the only time I ever robbed was to complete one of the goals like "rob a rival 20 times" or whatever it was. Those goals seemed to have stopped popping up quite some time ago, so I spent all my time completing the fighting goals and doing the storyline missions. Along the way I also maxed out (level 5) like the first 10 areas. I know I'm totally done with one of the fighting goals, but I don't know if I'm done with all of them. I have 3 RPG's and 3 Exeleros. Is that it?

Anyway, for the last couple days I've started robbing hoods and I'm just not having much luck. I'm successful like 95% of the time but I'm just not seeing anything good. When I go to a hood most of the time nothing is lootable and when there actually are buildings I can rob they're laundromats, level 2 pawn shops, level 7 barbershops and crap like that. Every once in a great while I'll come across a warehouse I can rob, or a loft or a smoke shop but those scores are few and far between. Also, I've noticed that I get very little experience points from robbing. The warehouses pay out big experience, but like I said, I haven't come across many of those. When I was fighting people, I'd usually get anywhere from 7-13 experience points per fight. You can rack up a lot of experience doing that. When I'm only getting a couple experience points per robbery it's literally going to take me years to level up.

Am I doing something wrong? I mean unless I'm mssing something the only way to actually succeed at robbing is to find hoods that players have neglected or go to those hoods at "off times" when the player isn't available t collect his/her buildings. I can only assume that most people here actually have jobs so I also have to assume that most of us play at similar times of the day, so it seems like robbing would be very difficult since most people collect their buildings when they're playing the game. I'm well beyond the level where people have figured out that they have to bank their money so nobody has oodles of cash sitting there available to steal through fights. I guess I just don't see how I can make any money robbing or fighting. Am I missing something?

Just because the goals are gone doesn't mean you should quit PvP attacks. The loot and respect points are still very valuable. If you look at most players with weak stats, they are robbers, and if you look at most players with strong stats, they are fighters. I look for buildings to rob early in the morning and use up my bullets when it is time to leave for work. During the rest of the day I just fight.

[Leetfeet]

Well actually if you are going extremely slow go for level 5-7 LM.

LM lvl 1-4 = 1 xp for 1-2 respect.
LM lvl 5-6 = 1 xp for 2 respect.
LM lvl 7 = 1 xp for 2-3 respect.
LM lvl 8-9 = 2 xp for 2-3 respect.
LM 10 = 2 xp for 3 respect.

For 'standing still' 5-7 is best, but seriously.. That requires some sort of chinese farmer-like patience. I camped by robbing everything above 5 and testing all the hidden LMs.

[Rarelibra]

Whoopdido1980 - you need to increase your attack stats to ensure a more success rob hit. Like you, I didn't rob much - I way more enjoyed PvP, and my stats reflect this:

jobs completed - 5256
fights won - 14184
fights lost - 1246
robberies won - 4247
robberies lost - 97

I've seen people at my level with over 4 to 5 times the robberies I have. However, reflecting what everyone else is saying, when you get up into the higher levels, robberies will because one of your regular hobbies. Why? You can hit a hood for $100k, $200k, even more (much more)... and add to your account (or buy the explosives/weapons/upgrade you needed/wanted).

It all depends on what you want to do... I've seen players at level 198 and 200 that I can dominate all day with stats because they focused on economy and not att/def strength. Then there are others that aren't even up to lvl 100 yet that are owning a lot of higher level players. It is all up to what you want to do. But there are several fight goals coming that will behoove you to have a stronger attack, especially when you need to defeat 100 rivals in a row (without losing). The payoff is nice, too (RPGs, Exeleros, and good RPs).

[KoolB]

And if you want to hunt bank accounts, those will be there as well, you just have to remain patient and keep searching.

Oh waaaoooowww... !!! This is awesome... I am level 79... when can you target bank accounts... can't wait to get my hands on one of those...

[whocareswhatmynameis]

Up until level 90ish its all about building the foundations for a strong mafia and hood. I nearly quit the game it got so boring from 70-90 robbing LM's and leveling slowly but it all paid off for me. The game actually became amazingly exciting once I hit the HL stage because I did things right up to that stage.

i followed similar strategy from the beginning of the game up until level 70s. i mostly robbed lvl 5-7 laundromats. i used the respect points to buy weapons. i didn't level up quickly, so i had better stats than most for my level. but now, as i get closer to lvl 90, my primary PvP mode is fighting. my strategy currently is to level up very fast for 3 reasons.
(1) i want to get through the danger zone (lvl 90?-110?) quickly,
(2) there are extremely lucrative money buildings (gold and in-game-cash) at higher levels, and
(3) PvP yields better outcome at higher levels- more respect points as well as greater chance for robbing high level buildings.

[Whoopdido1980]

Thanks guys. I've been doing it all wrong. Basically I've been trying to level up as quickly as possible. I have read the threads about how everything changes at level 90 and you start getting your butt whooped, but I guess I didn't have a plan for that. I guess the other thing is that I don't know what I want to get out of this game. I'm the type of gamer that wants to "finish" the game and not worry so much about all the other stuff ya know. So, my goal from the start was the finish the storyline missions. But then what happens after that? Like you guys have said, if I don't do it right the first time, I'll most likely be completely screwed at the higher levels because my stats will be very weak.

Again, it goes back to what I want to do with this game. I'm at an area where I need to spend some serious cash to buy items that are required for certain missions. I need to buy 20 pickups and 15 blast shields and stuff like that. If I want to continue with the storyline I'll have to use my money for that stuff, but like you guys have suggested, if I ignore the storyline I could spent that money upgrading my hood to boost my economy and of course use my energy to farm weapons instead of using it to complete missions.

I guess this kind of morphed into a different topic.

[Whoopdido1980]

I can't remember for sure, but I believe I already completed the 100 in a row. I think I completed one that was like 85 in a row against players with 500 mafia. I pretty much fought constantly just to complete those fight goals. Like I said, I don't know for sure if I completed all of them though. I don't think my stats are overly good at my level--282 mafia, 4750 attack and 5200 defense, but I just went from hood to hood looking for weaker players that I knew I could beat. I didn't take a chance that I would lose because I didn't want to start my streak over.

[Rarelibra]

Thanks guys. I've been doing it all wrong. Basically I've been trying to level up as quickly as possible. I have read the threads about how everything changes at level 90 and you start getting your butt whooped, but I guess I didn't have a plan for that. I guess the other thing is that I don't know what I want to get out of this game. I'm the type of gamer that wants to "finish" the game and not worry so much about all the other stuff ya know. So, my goal from the start was the finish the storyline missions. But then what happens after that? Like you guys have said, if I don't do it right the first time, I'll most likely be completely screwed at the higher levels because my stats will be very weak.

Again, it goes back to what I want to do with this game. I'm at an area where I need to spend some serious cash to buy items that are required for certain missions. I need to buy 20 pickups and 15 blast shields and stuff like that. If I want to continue with the storyline I'll have to use my money for that stuff, but like you guys have suggested, if I ignore the storyline I could spent that money upgrading my hood to boost my economy and of course use my energy to farm weapons instead of using it to complete missions.

I guess this kind of morphed into a different topic.

What constitutes that "end"? When you make it to level 200? When you make a certain economic level? Or when you finish the storylines? I read a good comment here recently about how a player stopped the storylines and only farms because the storylines make you spend money on junk when you could better spend it on upgrades and expansions, etc. I stopped the storylines probably 20 levels ago and have been farming M4s and Devilish Taxis since.

[Whoopdido1980]

What constitutes that "end"? When you make it to level 200? When you make a certain economic level? Or when you finish the storylines? I read a good comment here recently about how a player stopped the storylines and only farms because the storylines make you spend money on junk when you could better spend it on upgrades and expansions, etc. I stopped the storylines probably 20 levels ago and have been farming M4s and Devilish Taxis since.

See that's kind of what I'm struggling with. A game like this doesn't really have an end. Is level 200 the highest you can go? I guess the end would be to be level 200 with two of every level 10 building in the game and 500 mafia members all with 500 of the best gun, melee, armor, explosive and vehicle. There would then be a theoretical "ideal max attack" Defense doesn't seem to have a theoretical max. So, once you do all that and complete all the storyline missions and do all the jobs in each area so each area is level 5 then that would be the end of the game in theory. Or you could just say that the end of the game is once you've completed all the storyline missions because once that's done, the only thing you can do is increase your economy and attack/defense stats. Honestly, how long would it take to do everything I just described? Would anybody actually stick with this game long enough to do all that? That's why I'm thinking I might just complete the storyline and call it quits.

[KoolB]

@Whoopdildo1980...

http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=74&cat=1

Maybe it'll help you resolve your dilemma...

[Babytway]

I dont have a trick i just go in and get everything i can get. LMs and italian restaurants are my favorites cause everyone has one and respect payout is decent enough to rack up tons of respect in a day