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Better Loot Items - Based on a lot of searches you are doing, some of you are having trouble getting the better loot items like the bodyguard, armored car and napalm. I discovered something while playing Special Forces (another game from Zynga). I couldn’t get some of the loot in fights that other players had. I got to level 65 before I asked other players to join my squad and I would join there’s of course. Along comes Paulo and he starts picking up loot in fights. I had set him up as Elite (the equivalent to Top Mafia in Mafia Wars).

My forehead still hurts when I realized the connection. Top Mafia players serve two major purposes. They increase your take on a job as long as they are the same level or higher than is required in the job (look at the categories along the top of the jobs page) and they find loot in fights and sometimes the better ones.

Some teams are made up of everything under the sun. I think the players who don’t have the better loot in their mix do not use the Top Mafia capabilities.

My mob is the same number of Napalm, Armored Cars and Bodyguard. All found loot. It is effective in beating mobs 1-2 times my size but not in all cases. Simply put, the team is maximized for efficiency.

Selling Loot? - Another question was “Is there any way to sell loot?” We all have way too much of items like brass knuckles and small arms. I haven’t found any use for them at any time. I have even sent emails via the contact box in the bottom left of the game screen to Zynga suggesting they provide a way to sell these off for some game value - (maybe, reward points?). You might do the same. If enough people request this, they may do something about it.

Purpose of the Bank - It’s there to provide an option as to how you handle your money supply before purchasing anything. If you don’t store it in the bank, others can take some of it in a fight. The downside is there is a 10% fee for each deposit but it seems to be worth not losing your money. My losses are currently at $100,000 per attack (current level 81 when this was written). I couldn’t figure out why you get $70,000/attack from other players until I understood that they don’t bank their cash. You must withdraw to buy everything except paying the hospital fee.

Facebook or MySpace or both - For purposes of testing some of my ideas on a newer and weaker mob, I signed up on MySpace. Most of the development was researched in Facebook.It appears that they are two distinct databases but the same game. I haven’t seen any name duplication. So, it would appear that you can have two separate accounts. Use different email addresses and names so you won’t be so obvious. I’m not sure if Zynga is concerned about this but I’d rather not stir the pot and ruin the ability to further test some of these concepts. To be very honest, I much prefer Facebook over MySpace.

I find it curious that no one leaves comments in these tips. The number of hits recorded by Today.com says it a lot of you. The feedback would only help these tips improve. Thank you for visiting. Enjoy the game.

Through much trial and error I came up with the following table based on equal return on investment with 10 Casinos as the base. The idea here is that you can have too many low priced properties and not be utilizing your money properly to get the best return. The basic rule is buy the highest priced property you can afford and secondly buy in multiples of 5 or 10 if you can.

Some simple observations:

• Avoid buying the Downtown and Beachfront lots until you have enough cash to develop them at the same time. The return is too low to let them sit vacant.
• Focus on the Valumart, Apartment and Villas first. They have the highest rate of return.
• Buy as high as you can in column A and work down to the Abandoned Lot.
• If you do not have enough cash to buy in column A, work across in B, then C if you have no other option.
• Save your money until you can buy the next higher valued property in column A, if you have reached the number in column C .
• Avoid selling properties, unless you need cash to buy weapons, armor or vehicles. You only get back 50% of you initial investment. This is a very poor return.
• Make sure you leave enough to cover the upkeep of these purchases.
• Once you have completed the numbers in Column C, use Column “10″ as a guide only. Continue to buy the highest value property you can afford.
• Check the payout clock. Try to buy before it resets.
• The best time to buy properties is when your health is below the minimum to fight. Your enemies can’t get lucky and ambush you in the middle of a purchase.

Standard Time was a rather brilliant invention for it’s time. It is based on the rotation of the earth and relative position of the sun. It allows us to relate to the difference between night and day. All very relevant concepts if you are only going to stay on this planet.

So, if it’s now on the Moon where the Eagle landed, and now where you stand and it’s now where I stand, then what time is it? And it goes on. Saturn? Pluto? The Milky Way?

With the invention of the computer, cellphone (aka cc), and the widespread use of the Internet, we can all synchronize our watches so that we are much closer to one definitive measure for time. We just have a lot of different “nows”.

It seems to me that a new way of measuring time is in order and is probably in the works somewhere. Star Trek used the concept of Star Date xxx which I’m sure every true Trekkie can tell you exactly how it works. I certainly don’t know.

It needs to be very simple and possibly metric will work because it’s ten based mathematics. I have used hexadecimal math in working with the innards of electronic musical devices and can reassure you that 16 base math won’t be considered. We don’t have 16 toes or fingers and I still can’t remember how 11-16 are written. I know it uses letters A-F to represent them. But addition, subtraction, multiplication, division of any kind forced me to bring out the clunky scientific calculator. Standard Time isn’t that intuitive either (12 or 24 or 60 based math?)

I don’t have the answer for the replacement of Standard Time. I just know it’s going to come some day because time is much bigger than just this little planet that we live on. It is certainly probable that your grandchildren will be living somewhere not on this planet.

How are their mothers going to tell them to not be late for dinner.

Some things won’t change.

People that play this game will recognize a problem in this screenshot. A team of players has an upper limit of 501 players. This image was captured on Christmas Day in the evening (GMT-5 Time Zone ).

Well, what’s next for these players?  The game can’t be too much fun now. They have rushed into the game with the sole purpose of amassing as many players as possible to reach the upper limit. I’m sure they don’t have a clue as to who most of the people in their team are.

I made a couple of suggestions to  the folks at Zynga (the game’s developer). It’s early so I haven’t had any response yet. They should look at ways to create an interactive social game with ways for players to share their resources. You can’t give players on your team any of your money, weapons or vehicles. You end up with a lot of surplus junk that is of no use to you but might be useful to players on you team that are just starting out.

More or less, I suggested that they break these 501 families up. Make it like they moved to Las Vegas or Havana and they have to start all over again. The players might actually appreciate it.

They have themselves to blame. They chose the quick and easy way out and have used the game up far too quickly. The lesson for all of us still playing the game is don’t be in such a hurry to grow. My current level is 77 with 9 players on the team. It is more of a challenge to develop with this restriction. You have to make wise decisions just like you do in life when your resources aren’t unlimited.

If you are familiar with how the game makes money for the developers you will know that there is a page listed as “The Godfather” where you can buy reward points to do a number of game upgrades. So if you have capped your team’s size, why would you buy more points or continue playing? The folks at Zynga might have to put a hold on those orders at the local Ferrari dealership.

So Zynga is trying to expand by making a number of games with a similar approach. Essentially, they are Mafia Wars with a different skin and some variations on a theme. My advice to them is fix your primary race horse in your stable before someone chops off it’s head and puts it under your covers.

Oh yeah, that’s already been done.

This chart is applicable to level 99 or lower. You must meet the job requirement to perform each specific job.

• ExPr - Experience Points Ratio
• Low/EnP - The lowest payout return per single energy point
• High/EnP - The highest payout return per single energy point

The best ratings in each grouping are highlighted in green. Needless to say, the best performing job is “Exterminate a Rival Family”. Which job you will perform, will depend on your current needs and your ability to meet the minimum requirements for the job. You may have to recruit more players, purchase more weapons, protection, vehicles or perform prep work in order to undertake the job. Most often, the best job to perform will be in the highest grouping you can afford. You will seldom return to a previous category unless you need to perform the Boss Job (To be covered in another article).

If you are about to level up, you may want to choose a job that rewards more Experience Points. If you need to buy properties or inventory, then the logical choice is one that returns better cash payouts.

More Tips

The following is a chart representing most of the loot items you can get in the game. This information assumes you are below level 99. New weapons will appear which will change this information slightly.

You may be able to save some money if you have enough loot items that have a rating of 6.

Let’s assume you have 8 members in your family. If you get any of the higher rated loot items in a fight, you will have the option of selling off purchased weapons, vehicles or armor. If you own 8 chain guns and get a Napalm in a fight, you can consider selling one chain gun and relieving yourself of the $2500/hour upkeep cost which improves your cash flow. The only reason to keep the chain gun, is that you need it to meet the job requirements.

The best offensive weapons are Napalm, Featured Items (the ones you can purchase every once in a while, ratings in red), RPG launcher, Chain Gun, .50 Caliber Rifle.

The best armor is Bodyguard, Night Vision Goggles, Body Armor.

The best vehicles are Armored Car, Towncar, Getaway Cruiser/Armored Truck.

Your team of 8 will be at its strongest in fights with 8 Napalm, 8 Bodyguards, 8 Armored Cars—all loot items.

Generally, you can sell off items with upkeep as you gain loot items with better offensive or defensive point rankings. If you are going to add members to your mob shortly, do not sell off these items, but don’t keep them in anticipation of getting new members. That money can be better spent on properties to improve your cash flow.

When you have reached level 99, you will understand the strength of weapons and will know whether you want to buy the Featured items, sell off inventory with upkeep or stand pat.

See also

Tips 1

Tips 2

 Market

If you find you have an over-abundance of one resource, trade it in the market. Go to other offers first. Set search and offer to all. Check offer to tribe members only and then check search. Fill your tribe members requests first, then see if any other players are making a suitable offer before you to to your offers.

Do not make an offer over 1000. That is the cart maximum. Instead make multiple offers to optimize carts. You may be able to get two customers at 1000 each where one at 2000 may not happen. If the resource you have is in short supply, offer it at a reasonable surcharge (5-10%, 975 for 1000, 950 for 1000)

Do not trade with enemies if you can help it.

Scouts

Most people will not recruit enough scouts because they have a zero offensive strength rating. You need eyes to attack. Every attack should be accompanied by at least one scout to see what is left behind after the attack (building levels, resources, etc.)

Use your scouts to determine the best farms in your 7 x 7 grid to start. Send out 5 or 6 (one at a time) to the north, later to the south, then west and finally east. Avoid the direction closest to your tribe members. No sense in covering the same ground twice. Once the area gets a little dry, move farther afield and repeat the process. Eventually the barbarians will grow and local farming will improve but so will their defenses.

If you lose a scout, you can be assured that the target has stronger walls as a minimum so you should not attack here unless you have Rams or a large number of Axemen and Light Calvary.

Enough scouts in your village will kill visiting scouts, thus stopping your opponent from reading your levels and troop count. How much is enough. That depends on the number in the attack. So if you need to know about a target send a bunch of scouts. If they all get killed, well that wasn’t enough.

Recruiting

It’s a good idea to keep this queue as full as your resources and farm level will allow. It’s up to you how you decide between offensive and defensive troops. It will change over time as your requirements change. It makes sense not to go too heavy on one item but to order them up say 10 at a time as I prefer to do. That way there isn’t much need to cancel items because it will be 10 hours before you see your next scout and all of yours were just killed.

Paladin

This player has a unique property when it comes time to supporting your fellow tribe members. Seems he improves the speed of all troops to Light Calvary speed (10) for support only.

A good way to test how long it will take to get support to your “mates” is to call up their village and add 1 of each unit you intend to send and then check support but don’t check OK. You will see how long this will take. (This is also a way to tell how long an attack will take to arrive at a target. You send troops and substitute attack for support. Just don’t click OK otherwise these guys are toast)

This is an extension of Mafia Wars - Playing Tips (It appears that the hosting site freezes the story once they approve it) The future of these tips will be that there will be a consolidation of Mafia Wars and most of the other “skins” that the designer is releasing. (For my money, which they aren’t getting much of, they are diluting a very strong concept with all these variations. Nothing like greed to dilute a good thing.) It will be called Mafia Wars et al Tips 1, (2 , 3, if necessary)

1. Loot - Some loot can be obtained by doing jobs but the critical, higher value ones are only obtained through fights—Bodyguard, Napalm, RPG launcher, .50 Caliber Rifle, Night Vision Goggles, Armored Car and Armored Truck, to name a few of the better units.
2. New Interface - Right in the middle of writing this, the new interface popped up so some information is easier to locate now.  The news file that they show will explain most of the changes. They have made some adjustments to the play which will reduce some of the controls that the bigger players use such as you can only go on the Hitlist one at a time. Some of the winnings you get in fights have been capped.
3. Screen Refreshing - the new version doesn’t rewrite the same way as previously so it may appear nothing has happened. You need to read the numbers to determine what changed.
4. Bank - The bank button is very small next to cash in the upper left.
5. Hospital - The hospital button is very small under the Health tab.
6. Loot - The information on loot is found in the Inventory tab.
7. Hitlist - The list is now found under the Fight tab. No more multiple hits by one player.
8. Energy Boost - This is now available only once every 24 hours and is accessed on the home page at the very bottom where you also find news updates.
9. Boss Fights - Use Stun Gun, then Shiv. Use the Health Kit if you have lost some health. Only use the Getaway if you are in danger of falling below minimum health. You only need to fight each Boss once. The only reason to repeat is that you may have a lot of consumables that you may want to use up. Generally, they are only usable in Boss fights. The exception is the getaway car but that will be replaced by better vehicles that you can get in Fights.
10. Offensive and Defensive Weapons - You do not have to choose which weapons you would like to use. The game automatically does that for you no matter which mode you are in (attacker or defender).
11. Elite and z players - Having not reached that level yet, I can only speculate that it has something to do with numbers of Jobs won, etc. In both cases you will see that these numbers are quite high. Unless you are in one of these categories, it is not wise to fight them. You will be visiting the hospital, and possibly more than once, if they decide to target you repeatedly.
12. Transferring Money to Other Players - I have not found a way that you can do this.
13. Mike’s Bar - In order to buy this property you must have the money but also the minimum number of team members required. It goes up each time you buy it. If you need more players, you need to recruit Facebook friends or accumulate 20 reward points. (Every 2 Level ups=1 reward point or buy them. You can also go through the promotions list- see the Godfather page. I do not take part in the promotions page which lead to spam emails. I’ll leave that up to you to decide if you want to take part.)
14. Bank - You cannot buy most things in Mafia Wars if your money is in the bank. You must withdraw it prior to making a purchase. Only do so prior to the transaction and preferably when you are injured and can’t fight. Your money is not exposed to attacks at that time. It is also a good time to do Jobs.You can heal in the Hospital with money in the bank. You do not need to withdraw it.

DTV - Are you Ready?

I don’t think I was. But it looks like I don’t need to worry about it right now. And most of you are probably fine. But gramps living out in the country using his rabbit ears or antenna tower, insisting that it works just fine for me except in thunderstorms, won’t be as of mid-February in the United States.

The wakeup call came for me when I saw a ticker tape scrolling across the top of a feed from a nearby U. S. television channel. It’s not for at least at a least a month and a half from now so I’ve got time to check it out.

The U. S. government is assisting the consumer who doesn’t have cable or satellite with a couple of coupons to assist them in getting the proper converter box. I don’t know at this point if it will cover the whole cost or just a portion. No matter what, it will be good for the economy. That’s not such a bad thing. I’m sure it will make the transition a lot less annoying for most people.

I live in Canada and I haven’t got a clue as to what effect it will have here so I’m off to poke around some. The first place I will start is my current cable company. They must be prepared to handle the enquiries. They are on the inside and it’s in their best interests.

So I check with my local company via their web site. I type in their search box and get the following result.

OK. So maybe they aren’t good at customer service which is a fear I’ve always had with this cable supplier. So let’s try Contact Us. It turned out to be a pleasant response. I don’t remember how quick it was but it was within a few hours. Essentially, they said that the U. S. digital switch would have no effect on it’s current Canadian customers. That was easy.

If you live in the U. S. you owe it to yourself to check out this link.

DTV

This article is intended for those individuals currently playing Pirates. If you have played Mafia Wars you will see the extremely close resemblance (same design house, same company).The information here is intended for those just starting the game although others may find useful information in the items to follow. Think of it as a condensed help file. It will be updated periodically.

Last update Dec.18/08

General

1. Buy the Featured Lot whenever the opportunity presents itself. The return is ridiculously high.
2. Try to buy properties before you are about to receive your hourly gold infusion (last 5 minutes or so).
3. If you gain gold in an attack, spend it right away (Heal yourself first, if possible). Buy lots/operations first. They become recurring revenue. Buy items in your armory second, especially if you need to enhance your arsenal.
4. Buy the featured weapon whenever the opportunity presents itself. It has both exceptional offensive and defensive powers.
5. Don’t buy armory items until you need them. If you have 4 crew members, you should never have five of most items.Targets – Check your News Updates on your home screen. If someone has attacked you and given you a win (FIGHT!). Click on their name and check there relative strength. If you feel you are strong, ATTACK. Don’t continuously attack this opponent in future. You will find yourself on the Bounties list.
6. Early in the game, only buy one (1) Lot to be used when you get a gold infusion. Only buy the more expensive ones when you have enough gold to develop them immediately. The payouts are too small on these expensive investments.
7. Resist the temptation to put someone on the Bounties list. Remember, you will show up under the Paid By list and will become a target. If someone is constantly hitting you, you may have no choice but to put out a hit on them (doesn’t have to be expensive) but try to avoid making yourself too visible to your opponents.
8. Beware of trappers in the Bounties list. These players go in with the minimum hit and appear to be weak. They are masking the strength of their team in order to trap you.
9. Focus on increasing levels. Persistent attackers cannot advance if they are fighting too much. They will be spending their gold on getting out of the brothel. Keep buying property to increase your gold flow whenever possible.
10. A good time to buy lots/operations or armory items is when you are wounded and can’t fight. Your opponents can’t attack you because you are too weak. They can’t steal your money in a fight at that time.
11. Favor Points - Only spend your DAVEY JONES favor points on additional crew members. They are the hardest resource to get. Everything else can be bought or won in fights.So far I haven’t found anyway to get favor points unless you buy them. I think this will limit the size of the pool of players taking part in this game and eventually kill it. (The designers are getting a little greedy)
12. Fight - Limit your attack to 1.5 the size of your crew size. Start with attacks to crews equal or lower than yourself. Do not attack larger ones if your points are below 50%. Heal as quickly as possible. Bank any gold gained before attacking next opponent.
13. Lots/Operations - Try to buy in bulk - 5 at a time. When you have 20 or more of an item, sell off. Buy the next higher units or buy armory items that you may need to improve your strength. Make sure you can cover the additional upkeep charge.
14. Plunder - Some plunder jobs give better returns for experience points while others pay better gold returns. It will depend on what your next moves are as to which is better to spend energy on.
15. If your crew is close to growing - favor points - plan to buy armory items that will take you to the next higher jobs. Only return to lower levels if you need points to upgrade.
16. Upgrade - Initially you will need to spread the points around (some in each category).  As you advance Energy, Defense, Attack, Health and Stamina should be the order for using points. Focus your attention on Plundering. You will need to go to the brothel frequently if your defense is not strong enough.
17. Experience Points - Early in the game focus on 1 Attack, 2 Defense, 2 Energy. Disregard Stamina for now. Jobs and survival are more important than attacking. Once you start surviving long enough to upgrade, shift to 1 Attack, 2 Defense, 1 Health, 1 Energy. As you continue level up got to all 5 points in one category of your choice. You will start to add Stamina when you survive long enough to need it. Keep building lots to improve gold flow. Reserve armory purchases to large gold gains. Be patient. You will be going to the brothel a lot in this game.
18. Upkeep $ - Once you have maxed out on armory (1 per crew member) you can consider selling off items that have upkeep attached to them and turn that money into lots. Buy them later when you level up or add players.
19. Adding players - Every 20 favor points earned will allow you to add players. You can recruit from friends in Facebook. If you like, you can buy favor points (that’s how the designer pays for the program)

Targets

1. Pirates allows you to attack Fresh Meat with low resistance/low gain results. It can be useful if your current crew is weak. You will gain experience points slowly but will not be spending time in the brothel. (Sounds wrong, but the brothel is not a good place in this game) I would like to see an attack again button instead of having to go through the additional step of Attack. It won’t make me invite any more players which I don’t do anyway. They can decide for themselves whether or not they are interested in the game.
2. Try to attack opponents with fewer crew members than you. BEWARE – They may be better defended than you.  Make sure your gold is at $0 before you attack. Try to have enough in the Treasure Chest that you can heal yourself without depleting all of your revenue.
3. Check the Bounties list. Look at the relative strength under “Paid By”.
4. If you do not have targets within your range of points, you can set a bounty on someone that has attacked you.You will ultimately get placed on the bounty list.

Have fun!