Mafia Wars is a text based interactive game by Zynga that has taken the social networking sites by storm. The premise is to gather as many Mafia family members as possible, earn as much cash and loot as you can and level up in order to become the strongest family in New York and recently Cuba. This is achieved by doing "jobs", purchasing properties, attacking rival Mafias and defending yourself from such attacks. All of these actions give you a payday and experience points which contribute to your advancement.
I personally play Mafia Wars on Facebook. I have never played such an addictive game in all my 39 years. Soon after I started playing I found myself sneaking peaks during the day to check on my cash flow, see if I've been attacked, or do a job or two. I can honestly say that not one day goes by that I do not interact with Mafia Wars. I finally decide to share my experience and knowledge of the game and perhaps gain a few more members in my Mafia crew.
Secrets and Strategy
The Larger the Mafia the Better
The first priority of any beginner is to concentrate on growing the size of his Mafia. Mafia size is what determines your strength and the acquisition of good bonuses. It is a good idea to try to get many players who are of high rank and levels as possible to join your Mafia, but do not limit yourself to just high ranking members because even the low ranking players add to your number of Mafia members which translate to strength. Also there is your Top Mafia to consider. These are positions in your Mafia that make up the top tier of your family. You need to appoint someone from your Mafia to fill each position in order to complete a crew and in turn gain bonuses from jobs and fights. You will want to fill these positions with high ranking veteran players because they are the ones who will provide you with the best bonuses. There are six positions to fill. These are as follows with the correlating bonuses dependent upon the which Mafia member you promote to that position:
- Mastermind : More experience from jobs.
- Wheelman : Use less energy on jobs
- Buttonman : More bonus on attacks
- Bodyguard : More bonus on successful defense
- Safecracker : More cash from fights
- Bagman : More cash from jobs
Here are some tips on recruiting Mafia Wars family members. I have included four recruitment strategies. I'm sure there are more and I do welcome any ideas you may have, just leave a comment and perhaps I can include it in future updates. The four methods I have used are as follows:
1. Invite Existing Network Friends to Play
This is the first thing you want to do. Ask any of your friends on Facebook or whatever social site you play Mafia Wars on to join your Mafia. If your friends have no interest in playing it is okay. You can just tell them that they do not need to play but just subscribe to the application and become part of your family because what is important is the number of Mafia members you have. If they are your friends they really shouldn't mind doing this because it really does not affect them in any way to become a part of Mafia Wars.
You can even use the built-in Mafia Wars invite and select all your friends. After you press send you will be given the opportunity to also write a personal message. I would suggest you do send a personal message that way it will not look like they are being spammed
2. Forums/Groups
This option is a great and can garner you many family members. You can go to any forums that you frequent and post a link to your profile and the Mafia Wars recruitment message found on your "My Mafia" category on the Mafia Wars interface. Remember to also write a little personalized message. Here is an example:
(This is my profile link and Mafia Wars invite. Feel free to add me to your Mafia with these links.)
If you play Mafia Wars on Facebook please add me.
Friend me: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1130964526
Join My Mafia: http://apps.facebook.com/inthemafia/status_invite.php?from=1130964526
Also there are many groups dedicated to growing Mafia Wars families and I find that it is probably the best way to recruit members. All you have to do is go to the groups tab on your Facebook profile and click on it. After you are taken to the groups page type in a search for Mafia Wars. Many groups will come up. You can join one or all if you want and you can either follow the instructions that they give you or go directly to the comments section at the bottom and write a message for people to add you to their Mafia. You can provide your profile link and Mafia Wars invite link or you can simply just write "Add Me Please". A person who reads these comments will click on either your provided links or your name and add you as a friend. When you accept their friendship you should go to your Mafia Wars and invite them to join yourself (that's the respectful way) or you can wait until they invite you. After you post your message you can also go through the comments and seek friendship/Mafia Wars members yourself by clicking on their links or names. I strongly advise you to always add a little message whenever you request a friendship such as, "For Mafia Wars" or "Mafia Wars". This helps the potential friend to distinguish the request from spam and authentic Mafia Wars requests. You can grow your Mafia without limits doing this as long as you have the time and the determination.
3. Other Social Sites
You can also use other social sites such as MySpace to recruit since many people who have Facebook accounts also have MySpace accounts. In fact Mafia Wars is also available to play on MySpace. There will invariably some who are not members of Facebook and your recruitment may entice them to join and play Mafia Wars through Facebook.
Another site that can be utilized is Twitter. The best way is to use the "Tweetlater" and with the auto-welcome you can paste your recruitment links. The only problem is that you have a limited space to do so. so you you may have to use a service such as http://www.tinyurl.com/. There you can change any long link to a shorter link which will be easier to fit in places where space is limited for long urls.
4. Blogs
This method involves looking for people who have blogs dedicated to Mafia Wars. There you can request their friendship and also take advantage of their suggestions to grow your Mafia. Many also give you the opportunity to advertise through comments similar to a forum. The bonus is that these blogs are usually from avid Mafia War players that have tons of experience and can offer you some great tips and strategies that will give you an advantage in the game.
Inventory
The inventory in Mafia Wars is extensive. There are many weapons, armors and vehicles to purchase, loot from jobs and fights and receive through gifting. I will be talking about looting and gifting later but for now I will just touch upon the inventory that you can purchase.
In he beginning you will have to make a little money from the only job that does not require a weapon. After you build up a little cash you will need to start purchasing weapons in order to complete other jobs. I suggest that in the beginning just purchase what you need to get jobs done. When you have graduated a couple more levels you should then start buying multiples of every weapon, armor and vehicles. You should do this because the way the game works is that it gives every member of your mafia 1 weapon, 1 armor and 1 vehicle to fight with. So the more you have, the better equipped your Mafia is, and the better equipped they are the better the chances of you winning the fight. Keep in mind however that you will need to also at this time start investing in some properties which I will now discuss.
Properties
Properties are important because they will provide you with a steady income that you can reinvest into our inventories and into more properties. I will tell you right now that Mafia Mike's Bars are the best investment. They are affordable and give you the most money for your investment They also do not require upkeep or protection from being robbed. The only catch is that you must have certain amount of Mafia members to purchase one and they number increases after every buy, so that is another reason why you need a large Mafia. I suggest that you purchase as many as you can get your hands on. All other properties can also contribute to your cash flow and you really should purchase some when you can. I personally do not like the Italian Restaurants or the Rent house the return is just not that good compared to the price you pay for them. I would rather save up and invest that money elsewhere such as 5-Star Hotel and Mega Casino which do have larger payouts and help build up your cash flow. Keep in mind though that if you are going to purchase these larger properties you are going to need a large and well equipped Mafia in order to fend off any heist attempts.
Fighting
A large part of Mafia Wars is fighting, whether it is defensive or offensive. If you are going to be an aggressive player who will do a lot of attacking there are some things you should keep in mind that will give you the edge in your fights.
- Choose someone who has a smaller Mafia than you.
- Click on the Mafia member who you want to fight and check out is stats. The biggest tell will be his fight record. If he has a poor record then he is a good target.
- Also when you check out his stats, always look at his weaponry. If it seems his weaponry is larger and more formidable than your own then I suggest trying another target.
- Be sure to have large amount of attack skill points.
I personally take a more defensive approach to the game. I will at times pick a fight with a rival Mafia but it is not the crux of my game play. I like to build up my defense points more than my attack points. Usually I will keep it at 60/40, six defense for every 4 attack. I feel that I have more control that way because I cannot choose who attacks me so I like be prepared with a good defense, but with attacking I have control over who to fight and will choose only fights I am pretty sure I can win.
When you do choose to fight you can usually choose to a full blown attack, sucker punch someone, or rob their properties. These will depend upon the circumstances.
Attack: You will do this when you are pretty sure you will be able to win the fight.
Sucker Punch: This is usually done when the rival has attacked you or one of your family members and you are not able to attack because you are not strong enough. A sucker punch will inflict damage as warning that his actions are not tolerated. You should only do this if you are pretty sure that other members of your Mafia who are stronger will have your back or you will just incite a retaliation and you can get beat up pretty bad.
Robbing: Robbing is done usually to gain a lot of money and to punish a rival for an unprovoked attack. Robbing consists of attacking a persons property (ie) Mega Casino, 5-Star Hotel. You can actually rob someones property until you put it out of business. The robbed person then must spend a certain amount of money to repair and protect the attacked property.
Hit list: This is an interesting option. If you have been attacked and the attacker is stronger than you, you can put him on the hit list. You will be required to put up a bounty and any person can attack him and claim the bounty. The bounty that you put up will be have a fee of 20% of the amount that you enter. For example, if you put up $10,000 the available bounty for the hit will be $8,000. This feature is a good way to be able to retaliate for unprovoked attacks and that should be the only reason anyone should put someone on the hit list.
Skill Points
Skill points are what makes up your Mafia Wars character. You have five aspects to your character and skill points must be judiciously applied to each aspect. Skill points will basically determine the strength of your character. These five aspects are a follows:
Attack: This determines your ability to do damage to a rival and win more fights. The more skill points the better your attack ability.
Defense: This determines your ability to repel attacks from rivals.
Health: This determines your ability to survive fights. Every time you attack or are attacked health points will be expended. The more health points you have the fights you can engage or the longer you will be able to hold out in a long intense fight.
Energy: This determines your ability to complete jobs and level up. The more energy you have the more jobs you can complete and the faster you can level up.
Stamina: This loosely related to your health. Stamina points are used every time you attack someone. The more stamina you have the more attacks you can perform.
Collections
Collections are a neat little sidebar to the game. The premise here is that you have the opportunity to pick up certain items through jobs or gifting (which will be discussed later) and there are seven objects in each collection. When you are able to collect all seven objects in a particular collection you can then vault it and receive a bonus (ie) energy points, health points. There are at the time of this writing 16 collections.in the New York section and five in the Cuba section. This gives the game a little more depth and intrigue. The bonuses are not that mind-blowing so I wouldn't kill yourself in trying to obtain them, but take them as they come. They have little affect on the overall strategy of the game but do provide for a little interaction with your Mafia family and gives a little added enjoyment to the game. I will provide a list of these collections and their bonuses at the end of this guide in the appendix.
Gifting
Gifting in Mafia Wars demonstrates family unity and respect. There will be time when certain items are needed by someone in your Mafia and they will request them. These items could be for collections that the want to complete or weaponry that they would like to obtain. I strongly suggest that you gift when you can because there will be times when you need something and members will be more willing to gift to you when they see that you are a generous team player who has each members back. It is like the old saying "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine".
Conclusion
I hope that this guide helps to clarify some aspects of the game and gives some insight on how to play more effectively and efficiently. Mafia Wars is a great diversion from the mundane and is thorougly enjoyable to play. The game is always evolving and as time goes on there will be additions and changes. I will try to always kep this guide updated to keep up with it's evolution. Thanks for reading and good luck.
Appendix A - Collections
Mafia Wars New York Collections
Eight of diamonds
Nine of diamonds
Ten of diamondsJack of diamonds
Queen of diamonds
King of diamonds
Ace of diamonds
Heart Flush Collection (Mafia Wars Associate Job +5 health)
Eight of hearts
Nine of hearts
Ten of hearts
Jack of hearts
Queen of hearts
King of hearts
Ace of hearts
Sculptures Collection (Mafia Wars Soldier Job +3 defense)
Rat Sculpture
Sheep Sculpture
Rooster Sculpture
Monkey Sculpture
Tiger Sculpture
Snake Sculpture
Dragon Sculpture
Poker Chips Collection ( Mafia Wars Soldier Job + 2 attack )
White Poker Chip
Brown Poker Chip
Red Poker Chip
Blue Poker Chip
Green Poker Chip
Purple Poker Chip
Gold Poker Chip
Club Flush Collection (Mafia Wars Soldier Job +3 attack)
Eight of Clubs
Nine of Clubs
Ten of Clubs
Jack of Clubs
Queen of Clubs
King of Clubs
Ace of Clubs
Boxing Collection (Mafia Wars Soldier Job +3 attack)
Gloves
Headgear
Boxing Trunks
Speed Bag
Heavy Bag
Boxing Ring
Cigars Collection (Mafia Wars Enforcer Job +2 energy)
Ebony Cigar
Sky Cigar
Rose Cigar
Ivory Cigar
Turquoise Cigar
Gold Cigar
Royal Cigar
Spade Flush Collection (Mafia Wars Enforcer Job +2 stamina)
Eight of Spades
Nine of Spades
Ten of Spades
Jack of Spades
Queen of Spades
King of Spades
Ace of Spades
Billiard Balls Collection (Mafia Wars Enforcer Job +1 stamina)
Two Ball
Three Ball
Four Ball
Five Ball
Cue Ball
Eight Ball
Rings Collection (Mafia Wars Hitman Job +5 defense)
Topaz Ring
Opal Ring
Amethyst Ring
Emerald Ring
Sapphire Ring
Ruby Ring
Diamond Ring
Ties Collection (Mafia Wars Hitman Job +6 defense)
Solid Tie
Striped Tie
Checked Tie
Geometric Tie
Dot Tie
Paisley Tie
Knitted Tie
Paintings Collection (Mafia Wars Capo Job +6 energy)
Warhol Painting
Cezanne Painting
Matisse Painting
Van Gogh Painting
Dali Painting
Monet Painting
Rembrandt Painting
Cufflinks Collection (Mafia Wars Capo Job +10 health)
Silver Cufflinks
Gold Cufflinks
Amber Cufflinks
Jasper Cufflinks
Agate Cufflinks
Onyx Cufflinks
Pearl Cufflinks
Barber Shop Collection (Mafia Wars Capo Job +4 energy)
Barber Pole
Razor
Brush
Seat
Towel
Scissors
Cream
Great Race Horses Collection (Mafia Wars Consigliere Job +7 energy)
Mill Reef
Sea Bird
Arkle
Golden Miller
St Simon
Ormonde
Eclipse
Lotto Collection (Mafia Wars Lottery Tickets +10% Job Loot Drops)
Bingo Card
Deck of Cards
Dice
Roulette Wheel
Slot Machine
Craps Table
Baccarat Shoe
Mafia Wars Cuba Collections
Rum Drinks Collection (Mafia Wars El Soldado Job Tier +8 Energy)
Pina Colada
Hurricane
Bahama Mama
Mojito
Rum Runner
Long Island Ice Tea
Cuba Libre
Tropical Fruits Collection (Mafia Wars El Capitan Job Tier +3 Stamina)
Banana
Lime
Pineapple
Papaya
Coconut
Passion Fruit
Dragon Fruit
Entertainers Collection (Mafia Wars El Jefe Job Tier +10 Health)
Magician
Fan Dancer
Comedian
Band Leader
Cabaret Singer
Crooner
Burlesque Dancer
Tropical Fish Collection (Mafia Wars El Patron Job Tier +5 Attack)
Pufferfish
Sergeant Major
Yellowtail Snapper
Great Barracuda
Queen Angelfish
Reef Shark
Blue Marlin
Beards Collection (Mafia Wars El Padrino Job Tier +7 Defense)
Garibaldi
Hulihee
Vandyke
Mutton Chops
Soul Patch
French Fork
Fidel
