I’ve been playing Mafia Wars on facebook for about a month and a half now and really like it. Fortunately I have a good friend who really thinks through Mafia Wars strategy a lot, and he recently gave me some great information. He pointed out to me that unless you get rid of some loot you don’t want to fight with, you may NOT be fighting with more powerful weapons, armor, and vehicles that you have.

Here’s an example of why getting rid of stuff is important. Use the Combat Calculator to analyze the results of a fight.

You’ll see something like this:

7 Hu-9 Helicopters [36,27]
20 Chucho FAVs [25,20]
23 Mara Serpientes [24,18]
60 Uncle Motts’ Cargo Trucks [22,14]
14 Police Cruisers [22,28]
184 Commercial Helicopters [18,26]
18 Ocelot Armored Trucks [18,28]
43 Armored Limousines [16,36]

Total Equipment: 62895

Here’s what it is now, after some loot has dropped:

9 Hu-9 Helicopters [36,27]
21 Chucho FAVs [25,20]
23 Mara Serpientes [24,18]
60 Uncle Motts’ Cargo Trucks [22,14]
14 Police Cruisers [22,28]
184 Commercial Helicopters [18,26]
18 Ocelot Armored Trucks [18,28]
40 Armored Limousines [16,36]

Total Equipment: 62910

Where’d my Limos go? They have a total of 52. If you notice, I picked up a Chucho (45) and 2 Hu-9s (63). Those are making up the 3 lost Limo’s. They are both being chosen before a Limo because the attack scores are hight (25 and 36 beat 16). BUT, based on all I know, it’s the total att+def that really matters for your combat score, which is what matters when it comes to beating people. Now, let’s get rid of a Chucho and see what happens. I should end up having 41 Limo’s. Of course, I want to keep my Hu-9s, since those are valid Limo replacements.

(momentarily get gift off Chucho, fight and re-do CC)

9 Hu-9 Helicopters [36,27]
20 Chucho FAVs [25,20]
23 Mara Serpientes [24,18]
60 Uncle Motts’ Cargo Trucks [22,14]
14 Police Cruisers [22,28]
184 Commercial Helicopters [18,26]
18 Ocelot Armored Trucks [18,28]
41 Armored Limousines [16,36]

Total Equipment: 62917

Booyah…. got a limo back and my Total Equipment went up 7, the difference between the Limo and Chucho.

So, look at what you have and what you are NOT using that you should be. You probably have replacements for things like Napalm, RPGs (aside the 1 you need for Boss jobs), Fat Boys, Bookie Pistols, 911s, etc… dump them. Experiment and do a few at a time, and you’ll see. Even buying the stuff in Cuba (Commercial Helicopters, Wise Guys) is better than some of the things you’re probably using.