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One can argue that the Facebook games environment really doesn’t need anymore mafia style menu games, but Crime Empires offers some interesting variations on game play that make it an interesting option to Mafia Wars.

It adds the feature of Dope Dealing which adds a different dimension to the game. Pricing does not remain static and varies from locale to locale as well as for each drug. You have to make decisions on your team makeup to carry your stash and when to buy and sell. The old stock market adage of “buy low, sell high” equally applies here but you can also steal other players drugs in fights. (and for that matter, lose them in fights)

Weapons and vehicles also do not have static pricing and will vary during the game. You need to decide which ones to buy and look to purchase when they are lower in value. You also have to buy ammo since it gets consumed in fights as does armor.

Fights also have a unique feature in that you select your target and decide on your initial attack in terms of short range, medium range and long range. You also have to decide on how to equip your team since weapons have different capabilities in each of these three zones. The game decides on the position of the second attack.

To do missions, you need to not have too many drugs in place for the smaller value missions since you may not have enough carrying power for these. Like other games, new missions and articles appear as you grow in rank. The static graphics in the game are well above average and make the game pleasing to the eye. Points seem to regenerate at a little better pace than other games so you can at least do fights more often then others.

You also need to buy various properties to gain cash flow. The game has a simple system of 1 to 5 items in this category and this seems to be a simpler way to handle the purchase of properties.

Overall, the game is interesting but it has a lot of competition which makes getting added players a lot harder so you may have to use your reward points to acquire additional associates to make the game easier to play. At the time of this writing, the game is in alpha testing so changes can be expected.

Warning, your clan is small for its level!

This is a statement that appears in Viking Clan suggesting that the only way to play the game is to continue to add people to your clan. Not every game player in Facebook and MySpace is in agreement with this concept. Even though both platforms are indeed social networks, there are lots of people that don’t feel comfortable just adding perfect strangers to get additional players to play the game.

Some games like Castle Age, Star Age and Farmville want you to post a message in your profile when you make significant achievements (in their eyes). Personally, I just cancel these requests in the name of reducing clutter on everyones’ news feed. This isn’t really necessary but the developers feel the need to advertise this way. I would encourage every developer to just work on making your game better and players will be attracted to it. Word of mouth will make this happen.

So there is a challenge here for game developers. Find better ways to make the game playable at all levels—10 players or 501 players. Cut down on unnecessary feeds to avoid cluttering others’ news feeds and potentially reducing the annoyance that these feeds provide.

Many of you will already know how to do this and others may not. Sometimes it is easier to adjust the screen size in your browser to show more game information so you are not constantly scrolling down to show items that are on the bottom of the page.

Simply hold down the Ctrl key and the minus sign key together until the fonts shrink and more detail show. To bring it back up one screen size at a time, just hold down the Ctrl key and the plus sign key.

To restore it the the default size, hold down the Ctrl key and the zero (0) key on the number pad.

This will also work on any browser page that may need adjustment for easier reading or viewing. If you enlarge the screen be aware that images may start to get harder to view depending on the actual image size that is loaded on that page.

If you are looking for a very educational Facebook game to play along with your children, then Farmville is a very solid choice. The game is fun for all ages and is non-violent. Animals are not slaughtered but are used as a resource for eggs, down, horsehair, milk and other items. You build the farm the way you see fit.

There are numerous trees that will yield fruit. There are buildings and other items to add to the farm. The game is a useful math teacher in that you need to understand the clock and the yield for crops when buying the seeds. Planting strawberries before the children go to bed will result in a wilted crop because they grow fully in 4 hours so you need to look for crops that plant in daily cycles if the children are going to play this game at roughly the same time each day.

There is also a spirit of cooperation amongst players where you can help the other players  with their farms in tasks like weeding, raking leaves and ridding the fields of crows. All of these pay a small reward for your efforts and can only be done periodically.

Patience is required to watch the farm grow. One of the very good features of this game is that nothing is fixed in position so anything can be moved around over time. You can delete a piece of land if you don’t want it there anymore. A good time is when the crop has been harvested.

The player also has the opportunity to send gifts to other players (free) and invite them to be neighbours. Although the game has limited penalties, it still has some features that come into play for neglect so it does teach some real life values.

The game is actually fairly simplistic so it doesn’t take a genius to play it and it is flexible enough that any child can make it what they want. It is a lot like a digital set of building blocks with the added advantage that it helps with dexterity and physical placement skills. It is simply a fun type game for just about anyone.

After playing the changed game for a while, a few things have become very obvious. Since money is scarce in Cuba, you will fly back to NY to heal in the Hospital a lot. So it would appear that fighting in Cuba is the first way to get Cuban pesos so you can start to to take over Businesses which will create a cash flow in Cuba.

The MySpace version gives Reward Points each day while the Facebook version has brought in a system of Lotto tickets that will reward various prizes. The top prize is a 1,000 Reward Points for matching 5 numbers out of a possible 70. That prize is equivalent to about $250 worth of Reward Points. You can buy Lotto tickets for Reward Points. You can find the Beta version under Godfather in Facebook only right now.

Loot & Inventory

A very significant change is an improvement in items that can be gained as Loot in Fights and through doing Jobs in Cuba. In a few cases you can buy better inventory in Cuba but most of the items are Loot. They are usable in both Cuba and NY.

Weapons

Previously the best attack weapon was the AR-15 Assault Rifle with a value of 32. Looted weapons now has TNT (42), Aguila HV .50 Sniper Rifle (40), ASC45 “Conquistador” (36) and Para 322 (34).

Armor

Previously the best attack armor was the Federal Agent with a value of 15. Looted armor now has the Guerilla Squad (34), Street Gang Member (20) and Camouflage Body Armor (18). You can also purchase in Cuba the Rebel Sniper (24), Wise Guy (20) and Hired Thug (16).

Vehicles

Previously the best attack vehicle was the Humvee with a value of 26. Looted vehicles now has Hu-9 Helicopter (36), Si-14 Cargo Plane (31), Armored State Car (30), Mini-Sub (30) and Montaine 320 (27).

All of these ratings are for offense only. Currently the game doesn’t give a listing of your best makeup of defensive weapons, armor and vehicles. If you want to drive yourself crazy, you can attempt to keep track of what your defensive numbers are but there is currently no way of confirming that this is what is actually taking place in the game. I would think that this is an area that could be improved upon in the future.

One of the downsides of making the game more complex and more interesting is that game speed is dropping again and you get faced with the mostly 501 groupings in fights to assist Zynga in their Beta tests. The Facebook version currently has over 3,500,000 players each day and that can only mean that the servers will need to upgraded. It also means that the Zynga folks are probably back visiting the Ferrari dealership on a more regular basis since the latest changes seem to have drawn a lot of players into the game.

I often wonder if game designers actually play the game that they design because some of the things they do don’t make too much sense for the player. They may be something that the designer thinks is a good idea but some items just end up frustrating the player and they move on. For example, when you start Castle Age, the designer feels you need to post a promotion for them but I skip that one. For every 10 battles you win, the designer thinks you should advertise for them so I skip that one too. Personally, this is just too often and 25 or 50 would be a better number. Just make sure the game is fun and interesting and you won’t need to force people to promote the game for you.

When you are in battle mode, you sometimes get a listing of players that is all 501 and all that seems to do for me is make me move on to another game. Don’t get me wrong, I think Castle Age is a pretty good game but I don’t think the self-serving promotion and restricting you to fight against players that are significantly stronger than you is good for the game.

Demi-Quests

This seems to be an interesting addition to the game in that you can gain Energy Bolts, Energy Potion and Favor Points  to do other things in the game. I have been playing with other demi-quests that promise something will happen in time but it seems that you have to do boring and repetitive attempts with little chance of reward. This just gets frustrating and I move on once again. I really think you need to get something every once in a while, other than small amounts of gold, to make the game interesting.

Game Start

You should pick your hero each 24 hour period (one is 48 hours) and build on these since you will also get access to some different weapons and armor that don’t appear to be available anywhere else in the game. Demi-quest is different but I think it needs more and different payouts to remove the boredom from the process.

Like most other games, Castle Age rewards those that get others to join their team. The fact that you can upgrade your weapons every two players is good but usually the weapons are not that significant. It seems that Favor Points, and to a lesser extent Demi-Quests,  are the only real way to grow with larger items that are useful. As usual I resist spending cash on Favor Points and just move on to another game. Castle Age is one of the few games that does give you free points every once in a while.

Make sure you are adding all the generals/heroes as you grow. A new General will be added to your team every five players as long as you have added the Hero. Make sure that your most powerful Hero is  your General but also make sure you are using the proper Hero as General when you are performing Quests to gain access to other levels.

So it would appear that Zynga has made a good improvement to the game by adding Cuba as a second country for exploitation by your mob. Here are some preliminary observations based on the early introduction of the Cuba location.

Money

US dollars are of no use in Cuba and you must acquire Cuban pesos to do anything. Initially fights are a poor way to get money since the locals do not have much money (just like the reality in the real Cuba). Since your cash is very valuable, you should protect what you don’t spend in the Bank.

The most useful way of getting money is by taking over a Business and improving its ability to produce items that can be sold. Upgrading the Business is just as important as getting enough items to complete Jobs. You must actually sell the stock to gain the money (every 3 hours) unlike the approach in NY where the money supply increases each hour without player intervention.

Hospital

Since you have little money in Cuba, you will need to Fly to NY regularly to heal in the Hospital there using $US. It will take some time to amass sufficient extra cash to visit Cuban hospitals to heal your wounds.

Loot

Cuba offers additional loot opportunities in the form of weapons, armor, vehicles and gifts. Loot is shared between both countries (with the exception of gifts). The first three categories get shared in fights (in either country) and the package is automatically decided by the game so you may have opportunities to sell off items that have Upkeep costs if they are extras.

Mob Size

The size of your mafia is the same in each country. If you add additional players, they are added to both countries.

Beta

Cuba is in trial mode and expect to see changes in the future, although it would appear that it has been pretty well thought out and most changes will likely be minor. There is no sign of Robbing in Cuba in the same format as NY.

All in all, Cuba is a welcome infusion of something new to the game of Mafia Wars and we can only hope that it is the first of many different locations. I can easily see the opportunity to add Chicago, Las Vegas and Russia using this approach. This will ensure that the game will continue to maintain a dominant position in both the Facebook and MySpace versions.

Just like building your armies, constructing villages is a discussion that will result in a lot of different answers from members within your tribes. Nobling barbarians is a slow process in growth and it is better to noble another player who has at least 3,000 points so that village will grow and is already somewhat established. Some players consider “Nobling a Barb” somewhat closer to a major no-no but sometimes it is necessary to get growth. It shouldn’t be done very often, since the Barbarian is usually a much better source of resources through farming. It doesn’t hurt to destroy the Barbarian village walls to stop the annoying loss of your troops. It is a good way to practice the use of Rams and also Catapults directed at Walls.

Initially, I built my villages complete and then found that there are a few areas that just don’t need to go that high. All you do is overbuild and cut back on troop count for that village. You are now left with the task of demolition of higher levels that you spent resources on to complete.

In my opinion, level 25 for Village Headquarters and Clay Pit are all that is required. Once you establish your villages, clay will not be as necessary and it will be available on the open market and usually at a discount from some players. The Market doesn’t need to be that developed either, so somewhere between 15-20 is a good stopping point. Most of the other levels are better fully finished, but you will also get several thousand opinions on that as well.

A completed village needs to be somewhere in the 9,000+ range. Anything over 10,000 usually means that you are shorting your troop count. Villages should also become all offensive or all defensive at some point. The ratio of villages and troop mix is another subject that everyone will have a different response to, so you need to decide for yourself what works best. Personally, I like them in pairs and fairly close together to help support each other.

Offensive Village

You need Axes, Light Calvary and Rams, with Catapults and Mounted Archers as more of an option. Scouts are necessary to view other village makeup. Remember that Scouts kill Scouts (nothing else) so you will need at least one village with 2,000 or more. This is probably something that should be done with a Defensive Village.

Every player has a different idea of what the mix should be, but a lot of Axes is a good starting point. Rams have one purpose and that is to reduce Wall levels so your overall attack(s) are more effective. You will need to rebuild those walls if you noble the village, so it is a trade-off with respect to troop losses and time/resources to rebuild those walls.

Defensive Village

This can be made up a mixture of Spears, Swords, Heavy Calvary and Archers. Swords are slow but strong. Heavy Calvary are strong and quick but very expensive in both space and resources. Support distance will help you decide the mix. Your Paladin (only one per player) should be positioned in a Defensive Village. When you support a village with the Paladin as leader, that group moves at Light Calvary speed so you could make that village heavier in Swords.

Speciality Villages

If you have a protected area, that is less susceptible to attacks, having villages that are deep in Scouts will help to provide surveillance on other villages. If you find that your scouting missions result in nothing but dead Scouts, you are not deploying enough because the opponent has more Scouts in that village than you are sending.

A village with a lot of Catapults is useful for flattening buildings in other villages. It is wise to do this on a cleared village (no troops left) where you have no intention of nobling the village and want to turn that village into a future farm. So the Barracks and Stable are good targets as well as any other target that is potentially offensive.

The debate on village makeup will never end, just like the game itself. If I were designing the game, I would make the game end at some agreed upon target in that World so players could start a new game. At some point, you have to stop playing. Most of the enjoyment is in building up a network of villages. Maintaining a very large number of villages just becomes a drag.

The question comes up often about where to spend your skill points. A lot of that decision is dependant on your playing style but there are some guidelines that I like to use. You may not agree with this approach if your game strategy is different. But that is also what makes games more interesting. There isn’t just one way to play a game, like so many players suggest. You need to just find one that you are comfortable with and learn to ignore those that insist you are playing the game incorrectly. It is a game, not an exercise in pure mathematics. You need to find the methods that provide you with the most enjoyment. And the others, some tutoring in manners and people skills would be helpful.

Energy is my first choice because that will allow you to do jobs There are so many more opportunities in jobs, in my opinion, to not pay more attention to this grouping. You will gain the necessary money to do everything else. There are lots of opportunities to gain loot. Mastering levels will result in more skill points and some bonuses. You gain larger quantities of experience points which leads to levelling up. And then there is the gift concept, as well.

Health is my next choice because to do fights, repel attacks and a lot of other things, you need to be out of the hospital so a higher number allows you to be in play longer. Cash used periodically will restore your health pretty quickly. I don’t understand the “you can’t heal that quickly” statements used in a lot of the games. It’s just plain annoying and slows down play. I would remove it if I was the one making game design decisions.

Attack is important to allow you to do a lot more fights. I’m not that big a fan of Robbing and the Hitlist, so I just avoid this category. To me, they are rather dull and repetitive. When I don’t have any good choices in fights, I usually go to the Hitlist to find weaker opponents and that is often the player that has put out the contract, if they aren’t already dead. They are to be used if you need cash and only that because fights have a lot more variety in their outcome. The most important component in fights, for me, is the quality loot that you can acquire. This allows you to not have to keep items with high upkeep in your inventory, so your need for cash diminishes.

Defense slows done others from sending you to the hospital but I haven’t found it that useful in any game really. I don’t think the values for defense are that good because you can load yourself up in this category and still find yourself in the hospital  an awful lot. It is better to do more jobs and fight to get the loot that gives you better defenses, I think.

Stamina is something I don’t use in big numbers. Often mine is 15-20% of Energy. It depends on how many opportunities you get to fight. If you get a lot of opposition from higher numbered mobs, there isn’t much point in having higher stamina numbers because you can’t use them. If you want to be aggressive all the time, you will need higher numbers here. That isn’t my style because I spend more time trying to figure out how things work instead of growing my mob to the 501 level. I have plenty of time before I need to see what happens at that level.

The most critical job I have found in the game is “Rob an Electronics Store” at the Enforcer level because you can loot Concealable Camera, Computer Set-Up & Untraceable Cell Phone. Once you have achieved all level 1 or 2 in higher categories, you can go back to this job to get the necessary items to complete jobs. Money won’t be as important as trying to get Master Job levels complete.

After playing the game for a while you realize that patience is required in and around the 25-50 chieftain numbers and levels as well. You will be killed a lot here if you haven’t spent your money on weapons first and warriors second.

As an example, spending 11,000 coins in weapons will get you a Broad Sword that has 7 Attack and 7  Defense and an upkeep of $100. On the warrior side, 11,000 coins will get you a Spear Beserker that has 5 Attack and 6 Defense and an upkeep of $800. So you end up with less strength for the same money but your cash flow is poorer. Initially, buying a lot of Spear Warriors will get your troop count up, strengthen your defense and won’t eat into your upkeep. Taking advantage of the opportunity to buy the limited time offer weapons should be a top priority after getting your empire built so you have a positive cash flow coming in.

The game designers are big on tricking you into battling against superior forces. Beware of the numbers that are close to yours. You will find that they are armed with superior forces and you just lose. Concentrate on building your strength anyway you can. Avoid wasting coin on improving your health until you have a good target in battles which is usually someone about half your strength. The game designers will let you do that about once or twice a day until you gain enough strength. Both Mob Wars and Viking Clan do this and that is why I think they won’t be as popular as other games. Players get tired of being frustrated and move on.

Some weapons don’ t have as good as a return on you expenditure as others do like the Spear and Odin’s Helmet. Just about every warrior or clan improves as you spend more but these two only improve your strength by 0.5 points with a rather large increase in cost, especially with the helmet.

Needless to say, your goal is to get the maximum number of points available with your chieftain size as possible. For that reason, I like to spend my favor points on Chieftains since 10 points gets you 3 more which means you can add 30 warriors and 15 weapons. If you have the coin, this is more significant than buying the one featured weapon at 20 points.

The concept of bounties in this game make no sense to me. If I choose to attack someone on the list, the reward is something like 10,000 coins and the player has at least triple my strength so you cannot succeed. If I choose to place someone on the bounty list is constantly attacking me, it will cost 1.8 million coins. Give me a break!! Who has that many coins sitting around at level 40? The designers are on something because it isn’t very realistic now is it? And when you visit the bounty list to see the one name that is supposed to be there, the list is empty just like Mob Wars. I no longer play Mob Wars.

The game is challenging and has a lot of good features. The designers need to work on ways to let more players get involved and not frustrate new players. It is in their best interest to increase numbers all the time. Ticking off players will not increase those numbers. It is a balance between making the game interesting and not too easy. I do think that most of the games on Facebook are designed on the fly and constant upgrading is the norm. Hopefully, they will improve playability in this one because it is somewhat different.