How do you decide who to rob/attack?

[Tommy Two Toes]

When looking for new targets, it seems like information overload to me.

Lately I've had decent luck finding good IPH targets by going after tagged players.

Anyone else have any different methods they use to improve their chances of finding someone worth wasting the bullets on?

[Froddo]

I usually look at their walls to see if they are arrogant.....

[Tommy Two Toes]

Good one, Froddo. :)

But I'm looking for shortcuts...I hate wasting time looking at 20-40 targets before finding one with a decent IPH, and not staying on the same level for long, due to LTQ exp boosts means I have to scout new targets everytime I advance.

[out of names]

Not, have to scout out targets for hours till i find good iph

[Dipstik]

I look for buildings with high payouts. If I see dollar signs over high-value buildings, I rob them. If I lose, I look at the defense stats to see if it was a bug, random variance, or just someone much stronger. If they're too strong to rob, I look at the next guy.

Not that complicated, really. If you're having trouble, maybe you could try the remedial version of Crime City. It's called Sim City.

[Butt Futter]

Just random attack until you find someone with a good pay out. Then go rob them.

[Tommy Two Toes]

I look for buildings with high payouts.

So you just go in sequential order down the rivals list, and visit every neighborhood? No rhyme or reason?

Seems to me there might be a better way to find better targets in less time, but who am I to spoil your fun?

[Pudgy Pumpkin]

So you just go in sequential order down the rivals list, and visit every neighborhood? No rhyme or reason?

Seems to me there might be a better way to find better targets in less time, but who am I to spoil your fun?

There's very little you can do to shorten the process. If you're strong, looking at tagged players is a good start as those players tend to care more and build decent IPH's. You can also look at players with unusually high mafia counts as those players have at least been playing a fair amount of time. The absolute best way is to build a network of friends who will send you scouting information. I already know who to look for one level above me because my fellow Indians let me know which fat cats they are hitting or hit recently.

[sister morphine]

1. MWWM
2. People who've tried and failed to hit me
3. People who give large amounts of cash when hit

Before stat explosion I also looked out for people with the fancy gold gun for being biggest income players back in the day. That's unlikely to show up on their best items now though.

[MattThomas08]

1. MWWM


<3 Sister Morphine

[The Fonz]

Not, have to scout out targets for hours till i find good iph
This. I check each and every rival's stats before attempting to rob / attack (this is important more than ever, now that data is corrupt on the server side and I'm seeing rivals assigned to incorrect levels and neighbourhoods, as well as inheriting stats from significantly higher levels). I'm not expending stamina or a good bullet on someone I have little chance of being victorious against. In addition to this, I keep a running spreadsheet of players with NCs and LTBs, just in case I need a quick cash infusion for a building upgrade.

[robba]

I attack everyone i can handle.

[candyson]

I look for low level laundromats as almost everyone has them. Then, I either spam them to abuse my +5 respect payout or wait a couple minutes to activate the next boss.

[Dipstik]

So you just go in sequential order down the rivals list, and visit every neighborhood? No rhyme or reason?


Exactly. There are a few names I remember with L7+ nightclubs, etc. within my stat range, but that's about it. I suppose I could keep a list written down somewhere, but it would take me longer to check the list than it would to click on "rob" and check things out. There is no strategy involved, and anyone who tells you otherwise is kidding himself.

[Tommy Two Toes]

There is no strategy involved, and anyone who tells you otherwise is kidding himself.

I think we could agree to disagree--but I assume you are level 200+, and most people on your rivals list have at least a 'fair' IPH, so we may be comparing apples to oranges.

My accounts are all less than L110, and a $1MM IPH is pretty rare.

[OZTHEMAN]

if you like to rob then dont buy too many consumable explosives because a lot of people like to rob but when they get robbed they loose their intellectual abilities,, and if they are stronger than you, you might live to realise how demented some people can become..even robbing your laundrette,, if you are in a good syndicate you should be able to catch others A/D up quickly if not, its a long haul or you have to run away in front on your level or stay behind and hope they leave you.. once you dont have any consumable explosives dont care just pick your points up on time and let them have their playtime..Big deal if it says you have lost a million fights.. if you have won a million points at least you benefit..

[BigMoney]

If I've just leveled up a bunch from the LTQs and need new targets, it's going to take a lot of legwork anyway, but here are the targets I generally check out:

1. syndicate tags always get a visit
2. People with 499 mafia get a visit (looks to be like they're afraid of Thug Lifers, so probably an easy target)
3. People need Alex (since it looks like thy're hiding also, though I've only found one time-traveler named Alex before)
4. Then I start visiting everyone with 500+ mafia, as people with a good hood will likely have a full mob.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I always hit back at people who left unsuccessful attacks on me on my newsfeed. The majority of timetravelers have found me, not the other way around. I assume they were too busy cheating to learn basic game mechanics to understand that you can't successfully attack someone with double your stats. It's also a giveaway if someone opted for an attack on me when I had some of my high income buildings up for robbery (e.g. my NCs when I'm sleeping).

[johnny boy phd]

scouting is definitely a necessity. the ltq the hitlists gave me a perfect motivation to scout my bracket as i tried to get 30k from each PvP bout. since then i have been stalking a finite group of players of roughly about 10 to 20... i remember their names and it is easy to find at least a couple of them with a few refreshes of the rivals list. everything less than 10 minutes a few times a day - if the robberies are there, good; if not, its not a big deal and i move on...

i usually communicate with my targets such that their names become more clear in my memory - i tell them "i love you", "nice yard", "I missed you so much", "give me a red link please", and such and such, then they reply back in my wall telling me how annoying i am, that i should get a life, whatever...

the group is constantly changing: some level up and i get to see them again when i level up; some others stay behind, if you play low they will catch up with you. when i lvl up i try to do a quick scouting of new players who started to show upat that level and sometimes i find nice new targets to add to my list. my modus operandi is pretty much the same as big money describes - full mafia, syndicate tags, Alex, and names easy to memorize (works either way, not only to put that player into the group, but also to remember there's nothing to hit there)

if you play slow you'll want to get the most of your robberies, and note that you hood will eventually start producing a good yield. right now i am being a little bit more conservative that i was before - my 2 lvl 2 NCs started to kick in and my LTBs are awesome. now i avoid NCs under lvl 6, sometimes NCs at all (my yard makes about 16 million per day, and 150xp are more valuable to me now). thus, i am just going all out for LTBs with a good level. those are much more difficult to find because they are not 6 hours buildings, and at least right now makes raiding much more frustrating and difficult to result in a good yield efficiently

lastly, i usually dont get attacked. i avoid robbing people with much higher stats than me (just a few), i skip those hackers with autocollect from back alley network where everything is collected all the time, and i do not touch people with comparable stats but with lower iph for a small robbery such as e.g. a lvl 1 pagoda (in fact, this should be considered a big mistake). people with better buildings than me tend not to attack/rob back because they will be giving me a red link and i go all out on them, and if they get back with a red link, i am positive that i will make the most of it.

i also do not bank - at my lvl i assume the smart player who could actually take me down will not go all out on me for a meager 300k with 200xp). i collect my buildings well and i rarely get attacked/robbed. even my NCs go overnight untouched... still, there was only one single guy out there who put up good fight and we ended up both on big losses because of explosive waste... i ended up throwing up my code and everything was cool.

[The Billionaire]

I blind attack until i find someone with good stats and then check their hood. Most the time they have a good IPH so they get robbed until i'm out of stamina or need a new target.

[Sandukan]

I use a complex algorithm that approximates IPH based on alpha numeric conversions. The closer the number approximates to pi the higher the IPH.

[Thanker]

scouting is definitely a necessity. the ltq the hitlists gave me a perfect motivation to scout my bracket as i tried to get 30k from each PvP bout. since then i have been stalking a finite group of players of roughly about 10 to 20... i remember their names and it is easy to find at least a couple of them with a few refreshes of the rivals list. everything less than 10 minutes a few times a day - if the robberies are there, good; if not, its not a big deal and i move on...

i usually communicate with my targets such that their names become more clear in my memory - i tell them "i love you", "nice yard", "I missed you so much", "give me a red link please", and such and such, then they reply back in my wall telling me how annoying i am, that i should get a life, whatever...

the group is constantly changing: some level up and i get to see them again when i level up; some others stay behind, if you play low they will catch up with you. when i lvl up i try to do a quick scouting of new players who started to show upat that level and sometimes i find nice new targets to add to my list. my modus operandi is pretty much the same as big money describes - full mafia, syndicate tags, Alex, and names easy to memorize (works either way, not only to put that player into the group, but also to remember there's nothing to hit there)

if you play slow you'll want to get the most of your robberies, and note that you hood will eventually start producing a good yield. right now i am being a little bit more conservative that i was before - my 2 lvl 2 NCs started to kick in and my LTBs are awesome. now i avoid NCs under lvl 6, sometimes NCs at all (my yard makes about 16 million per day, and 150xp are more valuable to me now). thus, i am just going all out for LTBs with a good level. those are much more difficult to find because they are not 6 hours buildings, and at least right now makes raiding much more frustrating and difficult to result in a good yield efficiently

lastly, i usually dont get attacked. i avoid robbing people with much higher stats than me (just a few), i skip those hackers with autocollect from back alley network where everything is collected all the time, and i do not touch people with comparable stats but with lower iph for a small robbery such as e.g. a lvl 1 pagoda (in fact, this should be considered a big mistake). people with better buildings than me tend not to attack/rob back because they will be giving me a red link and i go all out on them, and if they get back with a red link, i am positive that i will make the most of it.

i also do not bank - at my lvl i assume the smart player who could actually take me down will not go all out on me for a meager 300k with 200xp). i collect my buildings well and i rarely get attacked/robbed. even my NCs go overnight untouched... still, there was only one single guy out there who put up good fight and we ended up both on big losses because of explosive waste... i ended up throwing up my code and everything was cool.

so wat was yr level?

[Armalg-the-Good]

The first thing I do is run through the list on my News screen. I repeatedly rob anybody on this list to make the most of their buildings. This is usually an every hour thing or if I am on a bathroom break at work I make those people part of my routine.

I look at everybody's hoods making note of those within 1.5X my attack and who have high output buildings. Those that are vulnerable become part of my regular hit list though unless they are on my NEWS screen I don't always make it around to their buildings before they do.

If you have an offensive or stupid name I will rob you repeatedly...There are sooo many. Tags also attract my attention. When I see MWWM, that person usually has decent buildings and is woefully unprepared to resists attacks....they also tend to "fight back" and get on my hourly hit list... so there is real incentive to hit these people, though they've done nothing to me, because certain guilds such as MWWM seem to attract stupid people who will "keep the party going".

I usually avoid people named ALEX. Not because they don't bother me, but because they're almost always failed players who have nothing to rob. I do occasionally do a lucky dip to see if that holds up but it usually does.

[Tommy Two Toes]

I use a complex algorithm that approximates IPH based on alpha numeric conversions. The closer the number approximates to pi the higher the IPH.

http://thebestpictureproject.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/a-beautiful-mind.jpeg

Did you use pigeons to prove your theory?

[Kidkiller]

I just lurk on lots of hood, once I find one who worth enough in cash I remember his name easily, specially the TT. Than i pay them a regular visit until they hide away or I lvlup. If I'm not sure I just picture his profile and look at it when its time to start another round of tax collection.

[BigMoney]

http://thebestpictureproject.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/a-beautiful-mind.jpeg

Did you use pigeons to prove your theory?

It's a really complicated formula, but I believe they made a movie about the mathematician.

http://i.imgur.com/ggGjgJ2.gif

[OneHoop]

One thing which I haven't seen mentioned here is to scout people with gold haircuts (eg, liberty spikes or rainbow afro), since the rivals list refreshes before I can make it all the way through it.

I don't usually rob for money though, just cases and respect, since my IPH is much higher than average for my level I typically only target people with Attack ~< 1/2 my Defense which rules out most high IPH players. Theoretically, it could be worth it to target anyone with IPH greater than mine even if we end up trading robs, but I haven't been as disciplined in my collections over the past several months. Things are slowing down at work, so that might change soon.


M@

PS [edit] before syndicate wars, I hid at low mafia counts and would rob more frequently but there were less good targets--just more easy targets.

[sister morphine]

Haha, that does remind me that once in a while I'll target people with clown hairdos!

[murf]

Exactly. There are a few names I remember with L7+ nightclubs, etc. within my stat range, but that's about it. I suppose I could keep a list written down somewhere, but it would take me longer to check the list than it would to click on "rob" and check things out. There is no strategy involved, and anyone who tells you otherwise is kidding himself.

Who says Dippy doesn't give good advice? This is exactly what I found. I tried to keep a list awhile ago, and found it useless. I remember the names of some weak non-bankers, but compiling and updating a list and then constantly going back and check the list for rivals with high IPH was way too time-consuming, so, I just go down the list.

[Butt Futter]

1. CK
2. MWWM
3. IFM
4. FWD
5. Anyother tag that shows up

[TMI]

Wait a minute!

How do we know that YOU'RE not the Imposter??!!

[TMI]

This has become more difficult with the accompliances and Ghelani update, not having much luck too.

What an epic necro!! Hilarious