Declare War on Your Enemies

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Zynga announced a new feature called Declare War on a Mafia Wars Blog post titled Declare War Against Your Enemies.
(click image to enlarge).

From reading the article above, it looks like this feature will be very similar to the old war feature but with a few key differences.  War will now be declared on enemies instead of friends.  We can declare one war every 16 hours instead of every 5 hours.  Helper rewards will still be available to pass out to friends who helped you win a war but there are going to be 16 different items instead of the one crappy item chosen by Zynga.  As of tonight that reward was a Pair of  Pet Tigers (28/12).  The 16 items are listed below.

Item	Attack	Defense	Type	Rarity
Cañonazo	42	22	Weapon	Common
Big Bad Wolf	42	25	Weapon	Common
Tanto	43	28	Weapon	Common
String of Firecrackers	33	46	Weapon	Common
Raed Armored Sedan	30	47	Vehicle	Common
Deadly Impression	28	47	Vehicle	Common
Cataclysmic*	53	26	Vehicle	Uncommon
Savanna Baboon*	25	54	Animal	Uncommon
Snapping Turtle*	56	25	Animal	Uncommon
Duster*	27	56	Armor	Uncommon
Spiked Baton*	58	28	Weapon	Uncommon
Armored Biker Boots*	27	59	Armor	Uncommon
Contender*	33	63	Vehicle	Rare
Galapagos Hawk*	64	32	Animal	Rare
Growler*	33	65	Vehicle	Rare
Hack N Slash*	65	35	Weapon	Rare

For now when you click on it the new Declare War Tab, you get a message telling you it's currently unavailable but will be in the near future.  I doubt many will miss the war feature during the time it takes to get it going.

A new achievement called Warlord has also been added to our profile page.  To get it, we have to get all 16 of the War Rewards listed above.

Al Catraz, Super Moderator, started a Zynga Forum Board discussion thread titled War being Updated Tonight!!.

Bmaniac, Mafia Wars Team Member, stops by to answer some questions.  Players who have not yet received The Veterans achievement need not worry.  Helping in wars declared on enemies will still count and we can declare war on any enemy profile from where ever it's listed.

One player on this discussion thread posted the following image of what he gets when he clicks on the Declare War Tab.

My friend Mr. Sim y0 posted that he already got the Warlord Achievement Badge!  I think he was just messing around with the Forum Board posters as Bmaniac states "it's currently off for everyone".

Special thanks to Mike Nestor for making the chart of the War Reward items.

Zynga Virtual Gift Cards

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I noticed a new banner promoting the Mafia Wars game cards.  We can now buy them as gifts to send to each other.  According to Zynga, this is even "better than sending flowers".  I'm sure there are more than a few wives or girlfriends out there who would disagree.  Unless they are Mafia Wars fanatics like we are, it's probably best to go with flowers.  This is a really good idea since there are so many players in countries that game cards are not readily available.

I wanted to see how it worked so I went to my energy account and bought a game card for myself.  When you click on "Give a Gift Card" you are directed the Zynga website Game Card Page.  All you need is the e-mail address of the person you want to send the game card to and some money.  Fill in the information and to purchase the card.  You can even add a personal message.

If everything goes through, you will get a notification message that your purchase was successful and your friend will be sent an e-mail.

The e-mail that your friend receives from Zynga will contain the Game Card code.

If you get a virtual Game Card e-mail, go to the Marketplace with the code to redeem it.

Enter the code from the e-mail message and get your Reward Points.

Prized Pig #2: Fresh Shank

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Piglet number two is now available.  This one is named Fresh Shank.  I get Curly Tail and Boss Hog for pig names but Fresh Shank doesn't sound pig like enough to me.  When I hear the word shank, I think of  the weapons they can make in prisons.  I guess it's also a term for a piece of meat which would make more sense.  I've been a vegetarian my whole life and don't like to think of pigs in this way.  Fresh Shank is the cutest of the 3 Prized Pigs and I hope nobody would want to eat this pig.  I just call it Fresh Skank.  For my readers in other countries, the term skank is slang for a trashy girl with no class.  If you ever visit the US, you'll run into a lot of them.

Fresh Shank works just like Curly Tail so I'm not going to go into that much detail.  Read Prized Pig #1: Curly Tail and substitute the words Fresh Shank for each Curly Tail if you need more information.  You can still accept Curly Tails so don't worry if you didn't get 18 of them yesterday.  To get started, click on the Prized Pig banner, homepage message, or go to your free gift page.

Once you request and send Fresh Shanks to your mafia, wait a while and go to your Facebook Request page.  Start accepting your Fresh Shanks.  Just like with Curly Tail, you need 18 of them to completely master this pig.  3 to master the Bronze Level, 5 for the Silver Level, and 10 for the Gold Level.  The loot item is another attack weapon.  This one is called The Fish .  You collect it by going to your homepage and clicking the "Collect!" button next to your pig.

These work just like all the other loot items that are the same but increase in score as you progress through something.  Even though you master 3 Levels of pig, you will only have one Fish Spear in your inventory.  The attack and defense scores increase as you reach each level of mastery.

Bronze Level Reward

Silver Level Reward

Gold Level Reward

Cafe World: Kitchen Knife

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The good news is there is a new loot item available called the Kitchen Knife (27/57).  The bad news is we have to play Cafe World to get it.  To get started, click on the new Kitchen Knife icon located on top of your game header.

You will be prompted to start the promotion.  We only have to gain one level but if you've played before during the Meat Tenderizer promotion, it could take a little bit of time.  If you haven't played yet, you will need to get to Level 10.  For instructions and strategy tips, read my articles Cafe World and Cafe World: How To Get To Level 10 Fast.

If you've blocked the application, you can easily unblock it when you click "Start the Promotion!".

Give the application permission to access your account and go back to your Mafia Wars game.

You will be directed to the Cafe World Fan Page.  It's important that you don't enter the game from here or you won't get the Kitchen Knife if you happen to level up during your session.  Go back to Mafia Wars and click on the Kitchen Knife icon again.

Now you will be directed to Cafe World.  Make sure you click the "Get Started" button from the Kitchen Knife pop-up.

Before you ever get to your Cafe, you will endure about 20 pop-ups.  I'm not exaggerating and it's almost  unbelievable that there are so many.  When they finally stop, you will be at your Cafe.

I hadn't played Cafe World since the Meat Tenderizer days so my Cafe was looking a little rough.

From here, you have 2 options.  One is to take the advice in the article referenced above or you can automate the game by using the Cafe World Bot.  VCDBurn of TopMafia.Info and I tried it out and found it works great.  For instructions, read my article Cafe World Bot.  It's really easy to use.  Just go to the Cafe World Bot Website and download it.

You need to log in from the window that pop-ups once you click on the Cafe World Bot icon from your desktop.

Go to the settings and select the Bacon Cheeseburger.  For our purposes, this is the best option because Bacon Cheeseburgers have the fastest turn around time.  The Cafe Bot will keep making and serving them for you.

VCDBurn recommended that I purchase more stoves so the Bot could prepare and serve even more Bacon Cheeseburgers. To do so, click on the functions icon, click on a stove and drag it next to your other stoves.  Buy as many as your level will allow.

I reached level 11 in a few hours and was disappointed when I checked my inventory and there was no Kitchen Knife to be found.

I had screen shots to prove that I completed one level so I contacted Customer Support using the Live Chat option.  The Agent was very nice and added The Kitchen Knife to my inventory.

I figured out after the fact that I had entered the game through the Cafe World Fan Page and not the Mafia Wars promo.  This was because I had the application blocked when I went to it through the Kitchen Knife icon.  If I would have done it right, I would have gotten the following pop-up in Cafe World.

And after clicking on "Take Me To Mafia Wars", this pop-up in Mafia Wars.

Many thanks to Steven for sending me the screen shots that I didn't get, to Drew for telling me about the Cafe Bot, to VCDBurn for helping me figure out the Cafe Bot and Micah the Zynga Customer Service Agent for adding the Kitchen Knife to my inventory.

Chop Shop/Weapons Depot: New Levels

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When I logged into my Mafia Wars account, I was surprised to get another new pop-up for the day.  In the middle of the Prized Pig event, Zynga rolled out a major update.  Additional levels have been added to The Chop Shop and The Weapons Depot.  With new levels, comes new loot.  11 new loot items have been introduced to the game.  5 vehicles, 5 weapons, and 1 building part.

If your Chop Shop was fully upgraded, you were at Level 13 yesterday.  Now you can upgrade it to Level 15.  Chop Shop building materials have been around the longest and have the highest drop rate so you should have plenty in your inventory.  If you don't have enough, use the Mafia Wiki Wishlist Adder to get them on your list and ask your mafia to help you.  

(image from Mafia Wars Wiki Wishlist Adder)

I'n not sure what the exact number of each building material item is needed to upgrade because I had enough in my inventory and the numbers aren't listed when you upgrade. If they follow the pattern of the first 13 Levels it should be 17 each of the above parts (85 total) for Level 14 and 18 each (90 total) total for Level 15.  Check The Mafia Wars Wiki Chop Shop Page for updates.

Once you have all the items you need, start upgrading.

Here are the 5 new vehicles that have been added to the chop shop.  The Sportsster and The Extended Cab 640 have excellent combined scores which could help you with win a Las Vegas Tournament.  The Palermo Luxury offers +5 Health. 

Here are the top FHEL and VHEL vehicles to compare.  The last 2 weapons are worth making as they are will most likely add to your overall combined attack and defense scores. 

If your Weapons Depot is fully upgraded, it should have been at Level 10 yesterday.  You can now upgrade it to Level 15.  The Weapons Depot building materials may not be as readily available as The Chop Shop items and you will need more of them.  Many players have extras, so follow the same advice as above.

(image from the Mafia Wars Wiki Wishlist Adder)

Again, I didn't get the opportunity to verify the exact numbers, but according to the Mafia Wars Wiki Weapons Depot Page, you need 15 of each item above (75 total) to upgrade each of the 5 levels.  When you have enough items in your inventory, start upgrading.

These are the 5 new weapons you can build.  They all have good combined stats and offer an excellent array of skill point additions for all player types. 

Here are the top FHEL and VHEL items to compare.

Zynga must not have felt like being creative by adding individual special parts to craft each of the new vehicles and weapons.  We got one new item simply called a Special Part.  The graphic image is just a generic wood box with the word Parts splashed across it.  Not much effort went into coming up with this one.  They were probably busy think of names for the Prized Pigs.

The Special Part is the only item of all the NY property consumables that is not giftable.  Hopefully this will soon change.

In addition to not being giftable, these don't drop in jobs, fights, or robberies.  To give and receive special parts, use the Free Gift page.

Look in your Facebook request page to accept and return Special Parts.

When you click on the "Ask for Gift" button on your free gift page, you will generate a post that will enable your mafia members to send you a Special Part.

When you find these posts in your news feeds, click on "Send Special Part".  Your mafia member will receive one Special Part and so will you.  

I manually searched for these and there is a limit on how many we can send a day.  It doesn't tell you what that number is and I didn't count but I'm pretty sure it was 5.

If you don't feel like scanning your newsfeeds, Streamhelper by Team Spockholm will do it for you.  Click on the link for instructions and visit the Spockholm Mafia Tools Fan Page for updates.