My Bangkok Preparation Strategy

Published
by
Philip
on January 27, 2010
in Energy Strategy and Loot
. 0 Comments

You may have noticed already that, in New York, some jobs have a yellow elephant icon. These are “chance to loot” items that are required to unlock Bangkok. They are Triad Coin (found in the Soldier Tier, 7 energy per try), Thai Note (found in the Enforcer tier, 18 energy points per try), Yakuza Sake (found in the Hitman Tier, 13 energy points per try) and the Thai Password. Thai Password can’t be found yet and will only be available on the day Bangkok is opened. The others have been available since December 9th, 2009. So I’m guessing Bangkok will be opened sometime soon this year. Bangkok seems very interesting because once unlocked, you’ll be required to choose a faction, either The Triads or The Yakuza.

The only unfortunate part about these items is that they take a heck of a lot of energy to unlock; though some people have been lucky enough to get an item under 6 attempts. You can go hard-out and spend all your energy on obtaining these items or you can employ more of a strategy to the game.

My Bangkok preparation strategy is to go about completing jobs as usual, and spend your remaining “left-over” points on the required jobs. For example, say that you did all you can on the Underboss tier and have 28 energy points left. You can spend these points on getting the Triad Coin. The job to get the loot item (Asian Museum Break-in) costs 7 energy points, giving you 4 attempts. The three jobs all cost less than 20 points, so this strategy can easily be done. You can even reserve points for this if you want to, too. So, completing jobs as usual and spending the rest on the Bangkok unlockable jobs allows you to carry on progressing, leveling up and getting prepared for Bangkok all at the same time.

I think this is the best way because I think Bangkok won’t be available until maybe March (some say this Month!), so you have plenty of time. Slowly but surely you’ll get the loot. Just be patient. There will no point going hard at getting these items when you have all this time to wait. Even if it opens tomorrow, there is no rush to get the loot because you still have Cuba and Moscow to play with if not done already. All the best!

How To Get An Untraceable Cell Phone, Bodyguards And Every Other Loot Item

Published
by
Philip
on December 9, 2009
in Loot
. 0 Comments

Eventually, after starting out in Mafia Wars, you’ll come across a job where it requires an item you can’t buy. This starts happening at the enforcer tier where the “Liquor Smuggling” job requires Liquor and the “Wiretap the Cops” job requires the Wiretap device. Hopefully you’ll notice that you can get these two items by doing the appropriate “Preparation” jobs at the bottom of the same screen. For example, completing the “Overtake Phone Central” job will reward you with the Wiretap device. Now remember that even if you master the job, you can still do it again to get the item.

These items are easy to get, and most people figure it out. However, it is the loot items that stumble newbees.

There are two common questions that newbees ask:

1) How do I get untraceable phones?

and/or

2) How do I get bodyguards?

To get an untraceable cell phone you have to do the “Rob an Electronics Store” job on the Enforcers Tier. But there is an equal chance that you’ll get a Computer Setup and a Concealable Camera. So you have to keep doing the job until you get the untraceable cell phone. And to get  bodyguards you have to to do the “Protect your City against a Rival Family” job on the Hitman tier. Items that are rewarded to you are called Loot and there are many more jobs that require different loot items that I haven’t mentioned above. Now the real question is “How do I know where to find a particular loot item?”.

Well the answer to that question is that some jobs have a chance to loot. This is noticed by a yellow loot icon next to the words “Chance to loot” on the job info. This loot icon not only has a picture of a loot bag, but it also has a question mark. Hover your mouse over the question mark and it will tell you exactly what loot item you could  get when you do the job. So if you come across a job that requires a loot item then inspect previous tiers for the job that you need to do again. And remember doing the job doesn’t ensure you’ll get the item. You may have to do it more than once.

Gifting, fighting and getting rewarding by the Godfather are other ways of getting loot items, but they are kinda random. I personally prefer completing jobs. Loot items, like the untraceable cell phone, are very valuable in Mafia Wars. They are simply necessary to have in order to progress and level up. All the best!

Robbing Property Is Currently Down So Go For Gold

Published
by
Philip
on November 19, 2009
in Property Strategy
. 0 Comments

Property robbing has  been turned off by Zynga at the time of this writing.  This is because there have been many complaints about low-level players getting robbed over and over by more stronger high-level players. For example, it wasn’t uncommon to hear about a level 13 getting robbed by a level 150 player 40 times in a row in a very SHORT time period (think 3-10 minutes)! Players were “bookmarking” others so they can return to players at anytime, over and over.

Now there are complaints by players missing the robbing feature. They state that the game now is no longer fun, just a pointless clicking game.

However, I am very sure that Zynga will bring back robbing in the future. I reckon they are reworking the game rules and fixing holes in order to make the game fun and fair for everyone. It is in their best financial interest to do so. If they had decided to take down robbing completely then they would’ve taken down boosts and property protection as well.

All I can suggest is to go for gold when it comes to buying property while the robbing feature is down. This is good news for low level players. So don’t be stupid and keep your money in the bank – make your money generate you more money!

In the old days when robbing was rife I would’ve suggested the following strategy tips:

1. Don’t even consider repairing your property for at least a week.

2. You still earn the minimum of 30% from your property. So don’t be in a hurry to fix, re-protect or sell them.

3. Stay low, be quiet. Don’t hit list or attack anyone until you’re strong enough to handle the consequences of revenge. You can enjoy the game by attacking people now and again, just don’t piss anyone off.

4. Aim to get a bigger family, better weapons & armour, and buy smaller properties that can’t get robbed. Don’t buy expensive properties until you can afford to look after them (buy the properties without the buildings).

5. Consider buying boosts to protect your property if you need to.

The points above are good to have in mind when property robbing is eventually put back up. Let’s see what happens :-)