Use Explosives, or not.

[Vile Lynn]

I'm really surprised (still) how many player do not use explosives. (I feel like a broken record.)

Sure they get used up, but how many of us above lvl100 still "use" Junkers... None.
But everyone wants each mafia member to have one vehicle & pushes to equip them.

I never see a player with no vehicles. (...practically impossible due to loot drops, I know.)
I see lots of players who I wouldn't even touch if they had explosives.

I've almost always had them at max: 500 for attack & 500 for defense even before the longer lasting, pricey explosives.
Yeah, they do last longer; not losing 10-20 when taking or giving a beating, but losing 2 or 3 anthrax now is still... ouch! I can't afford to restock anything higher for now.

So why are explosives (still) left out?
Is it the cost?
Is it because they are consumable?

And, why don't we get explosives during loot drops? Or can we?
I've never gotten one.

[schnuffler]

For me it's a question of priorities. Explosives cost money (or gold, but we'll ignore the gold ones for now). My priorites with my cash are

1. To build a better economy (build new buildings, upgrade current ones, occassional hood expansions). I know this one will reach (or more so converge) on a conclusion, where it will eventually not be possible to build and/or upgrade any more buildings.
2. Unlock Leila Johnson so I can start to strip her bare of her bus stockpile. Once this is done, I'm sure there will be other energy jobs I want to unlock.

Until I complete these goals/priorities, explosives are a continual drain on me completing them.

I am pretty keen to find out how long a handful of IED's or hazard grenades may last me though.

[Bruiser]

For me it's a question of priorities. Explosives cost money (or gold, but we'll ignore the gold ones for now).

Really??? They don't give them away for free :p

Lets take a look at the explosive i like at a decent price:
Time Bomb 2att 2def cost a whopping $250 OMG... x that by your 500 mafia for a grand total of $125k for 1000def and 1000att. I am tired of people complaining about the cost of explosives as they CAN be relatively cheap and useful for that extra boost when required.

If and when your economy is more sustainable then of course venture into the expensive explosives and reap the rewards it gives you. Butt i assure you that's a LONG way off...

[schnuffler]

Lets take a look at the explosive i like at a decent price:
Time Bomb 2att 2def cost a whopping $250 OMG... x that by your 500 mafia for a grand total of $125k for 1000def and 1000att. I am tired of people complaining about the cost of explosives as they CAN be relatively cheap and useful for that extra boost when required.


It's not really a complaint that they cost too much, it's just a decision that I don't want to spend the money.

I'm level 139, m My attack is approx 26,000 my defense is approx 30,000, so a boost of 1000 to each doesn't appeal to me as being worth it, given that it will diminish over time. The point at which I would consider it valuable enough to worry about would be at least 5att/5def, which would either be IED or Stun Grenade + Frag Grenade (I would go for the combo with it's higher yield).

The question I ask myself is, how many less people are going to attack / rob me if my stats are 1000 higher each. I don't actually think it's going to make too much of a difference.

[Bruiser]

The question I ask myself is, how many less people are going to attack / rob me if my stats are 1000 higher each. I don't actually think it's going to make too much of a difference.

The question should be how many more people can you attack being 1000 higher? Get yourself on the front foot my man :)

[schnuffler]

The question should be how many more people can you attack being 1000 higher? Get yourself on the front foot my man :)

I did think about that not long after I hit "submit". I still don't think it is going to be all that many.
If it was 10% or more of my attack, I think it would be well worth it, but it makes a difference of less than 4%. Sure, I can afford 125K (it's considerably less than my hourly income).

One thing I will complain about: I really really don't enjoy pressing "Buy" 500 times to load up on them (I actually have previously). I would really appreciate a Buy-X option.

[Swifty]

I am too poor, I cannot afford them.

Yes, it is my own fault, I am still trying to recover from my "econ-less" experiment. I did not read the forum back then.

But I still see people with no economy. How do they afford explosives? They must be able to steal enough, I guess.

[Nudie]

I use explosives to provide a small boost to my attack. I only use attack explosives, no defense explosives. That way I can decide if I want to risk losing explosives or not. Sometimes I run across a fat juicy target and having that little explosive attack boost really helps me get a nice piece of booty.

[Euchred]

I'm starting to get tempted to drop 75 mil to buy 500 land mines. It would put my defense upt to a cool 43500 which I would love. However I think I'll wait for my economy to get a little stronger. It would take me 10 days to save that up.

Thought I would share this comment I got too "you buy enough gold to get sooooo strong. and explosives. wuss"

We'll ignore the fact that I have no gold items. It seems like some players find it a little dirty to buy explosives and in turn probably won't buy them themselves.

[procsyzarc]

Time bombs may only cost 250, but do still add up especially when you rob someone and the first $250 is wasted on explosives, may not be much of an issue for people who don't fight or rob much and focus on big scores only but for those of us who do it adds up fast, not to mention at my Level I am attacked by gold buyers every hour which is up to 240 attacks per day and since they have much higher stats explosives are almost always used and even that is assuming I lose every fight by the time you add in the fights where people of similar stats attack you for quests and you can win but use explosives we are looking at up to 350 or so attacks per day to use defensive explosives and that’s not even factoring in robberies.

So yes $125,000 may not be much but when it lasts half a day to a day if you are lucky and at the end of the day only gives a whooping 1k attack and defence what is the point? Not like having 33k attack is going to make any difference to having 32k, high level gold buyers will still brush passed your defence and non gold buyers are easy to beat at 32k.

Explosives definitely have a place but in my opinion only when you are at a point with your economy where you have the money for the next building and upgrade as soon as the last finishes and still have excess money to spend (for me at the moments that would be about 20M per day income), or alternatively at low levels where a few hundred defence or attack makes a difference and you don’t get attacked as frequently.

I think it is best to put as much money back into your economy to build it to a point where you can buy the best explosives since 15k extra attack certainly makes a difference buying low – mid level explosives only increases the time it will take till you get to the ones that matter

[Tramp Stamp]

how many of us above lvl100 still "use" Junkers... None.

Maybe Tramp Stamp when he gets there. Or maybe even empty slots!

Explosives will be the last thing I buy, and I only buy stuff when I need it. When you see me buying explosives, no-bank is probably about to fail.


One thing I will complain about: I really really don't enjoy pressing "Buy" 500 times to load up on them (I actually have previously). I would really appreciate a Buy-X option.

Just got nostalgic over the original Final Fantasy for the NES where it took 20 minutes of perfect button presses to buy 99 potions, which you needed to do between every objective.


But I still see people with no economy. How do they afford explosives? They must be able to steal enough, I guess.

As I travel through the levels I come across people with economies equal or greater than mine but conclude that they must have been camping for quite some time because they have hundreds of thousands or millions in explosives.

[SupremeFaze]

ive tried this whole time bomb thing i have over 1,000 and when i get robbed they getting ran through the patriots.