Recruiter said 'the equity makes up for the lower base' and I finally asked for the actual number of shares and strike price

The offer letter had a round number of shares and nothing else, no valuation, no strike price, no vesting cliff spelled out. Almost signed on the base number alone because asking felt like I'd be showing I didn't trust them. Sent one email asking for the 409A valuation and vesting schedule, got a straight answer within a day, no pushback. Did the math and the "equity makes up for it" line was doing a lot of work for what came out to less than a laptop's worth of value over four years. Countered on base instead of getting precious about the equity number and they moved.