Cuba Re-Opened for a Limited Time!!

Cuba is now reopen for everyone for a limited time only.  I find it hard to believe that they did a full revamp and added in new features and requirements to Cuba to only leave it open for the next 12 days, but only time will tell.

For those who hadn't completed Cuba yet, you will pick up where you left off and get 3x mastery on the old jobs.  Cuba now has 4 levels in each job tier.  If you completed Cuba before, you will automatically have Bronze, Silver, and Gold mastery and start in on Ruby level.  The job requirements for Cuba have not increased for the Ruby level, but each job done only accounts for 3% towards Ruby mastery.  That means that each job in each of the 6 job tiers needs to be done 34 times.

One thing you will notice is that Politico Corruptos are now useless.  They have been replaced by Cuban Mercenaries, which can be sent as free gifts, collected from your Bribery Ring or looted from specific jobs in the first 3 Cuban tiers.  Total number needed is 34x18 = 612.  If you already have your Bribery Ring maxed, you will get 31 each time you collect (8 hour timer).  So, you will have plenty to complete Ruby mastery if you collect even twice a day.

Mafia Wars Boosts ! Mafia Wars Strategy Guide

Just logged in to some cool new updates. One new feature in Mafia Wars is the boost. Also, a new Cuba tier was added - El Cacique. I'll cover boosts in this post, Cacique in the next. Boosts are consumable power-ups that give you added bonuses, for example +5 attack when fighting or energy reduction costs for jobs.

You can get them two ways. The simpler ones can be bought by going to Inventory, then "Boosts". As of now, you need to be in New York to buy boosts, they are not sold in Cuba (yet). I am assuming they will put more purchasable boosts in. This is a needed change because it actually gives Mafia Wars players something to do with their virtual cash. Here are some pictures:

That is an example of some the three boosts you can buy. You may notice that below it is an item called "Hobo Lookout" which provides +60 robbing skill. The more powerful boosts like this one are the result of turning in collection items. You can re-vault a collection to receive a number of boosts. This number appears to vary from collection to collection (but it not a random number). Feel free to post in the comments how many items each vault gives so I can post it up.

Boosts are automatically used if you have them. As an example, one of my hobos will be used up every time I am robbed. Once I have been robbed 7 times, all my hobos will be gone and I will no longer get that bonus. Here is an picture showing using a boost in a fight:

This is where the new interface comes in handy; things would get quite messy if your boost was listed somewhere in the wall of text of equipment in the old fighting interface.

When you vault a collection, you get a message like this:
The boosts can then be found in your inventory. There is a different set of boosts for each collection. Here is a complete list:

Diamond Flush Collection:
Tripwire: +10 fight defense skill

Heart Flush Collection:
Cappuccino: -3 job energy costs

Sculptures Collection:
Alarm System: +15 robbing defense skill

Poker Chips Collection:
Bulldog: +18 fight defense skill

Club Flush Collection:
Problem Solver: -5 job energy costs

Boxing Collection:
Semi-Pro Boxer: +15 attack skill

Cigars Collection:
Fixer: -8 job energy cost

Spade Flush Collection:
Sting Grenade: +20 attack skill

Billiards Collection:
Bouncer: +27 robbing defense skill

Rings Collection:
Blueprints: -10 job energy cost

Ties Collection:
Injunction: +25 fight defense skill

Paintings Collection:
Motion Detector: +37 robbing defense skill

Cufflinks Collection:
Corporate Muscle: +35 attack skill

Barber Collection:
Shave and a Haircut: +30 fight defense skill

Great Race Horses Collection:
Inside Tip: -16 job energy costs


Cuba Boosts (need to be at Cuba collections screen to turn these in):

Rum Drinks Collection:
Flaming Shot: +30 attack skill

Tropical Fruits Collection:
Boosted Smoothie: -18 job energy costs (2 received per vault)

Entertainers Collection:
Sandbag Wall: +35 fight defense skill (7 received per vault)

Tropical Fish Collection:
Blowfish Dart: +40 attack skill

Beards Collection:
Hobo Lookout: +60 defense skill (7 received per vault)

Conclusion:

All in all, a nice little addition to the game. Hopefully the developers will add more boosts that you can purchase with money so that in game currency actually has some value!

Mafia Wars Blunderbluss and Lefty Guns' Leather Coat; Strategy Guide

Yesterday Mafia Wars added some new free gifts to their free gifting menu. I'm guessing these items will continue to cycle through with regularity like in FarmVille.

There are currently 5 "limited edition" items that you can send:

Claymore: Weapon, 19 attack, 10 defense

Blunderbuss: Weapon, 27 attack 7 defense



Lefty Guns' Leather Coat: Armor, 10 attack 24 defense


Mara Serpiente: Vehicle, 24 attack, 18 defense

Garza 9: Weapon, 25 attack, 10 defense

The first three items were originally the "limited edition" items you could buy for $10,000 for each 2 people in your Mafia. The Garza 9 and Mara Serpiente can be also found in Cuba, so nothing to exciting here.

Mafia Wars Moscow Re-tuned; Strategy Guide

And by re-tuned, I mean nerfed.

Update:

Yes, bribe penalty is completely gone - confirmed; jobs are paying out 100% now regardless of the items you own.

Here is a picture of the new business payout as well (click for full size):



Businesses now pay out around $70,000,000 a day. This is about 3.5x as much as before, which makes it a big buff. But, considering you need 6,000,000,000 rubles to get through Moscow and upgrade your businesses. At this amount, it would still take your businesses over 2 months to produce that.

Also, I noticed on a lower level account that I can buy the Trafficking Operation despite only being on Episode 4. Not sure if this is intended as I have not seen it mentioned anywhere officially.

So, even with this unprecedented boost, I wouldn't be surprised if we see a second Moscow nerf within a month if they want to stick to the plan; the plan being Mafia Wars Bangkok coming out around the holidays. Even with this business upgrade, I'm betting the majority of the 6,000,000 daily Mafia Wars players will not be done by Christmas.