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MAFIA WARS NEW Family property: Bunker

Those Mafia Wars players who are in Families have probably noticed they're receiving something called "Reinforced Concrete" in their ZMCs. I remembered that this was added to the Mafia Wars inventory back almost 2 months ago, at the same time the Artillery Shell came out, so I had a hunch it was something to do with our Family Properties. We did know more were coming.

I headed to the Family Properties tab first, and sure enough, there is a new property showing there, called the Bunker, although the screen below it is currently blank.

These Reinforced Concrete items have appeared on our Free Gift page, and it's listed as a Family Part for Family Properties.

Stay tuned for more info.


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Family Property Updates

The official Mafia Wars blog has posted some more information about the Artillery Station for the Family Properties in Mafia Wars. Most of this we already knew or have figured out, but there's a point of two worth reading:

Mobsters,
We've edited the in-game explantion of Family Properties for clarity and to include some tweaks (in bold italics below) we've since made to the feature:

Your Family Property is a property shared by your family. It provides a bonus stat to the entire family. The higher the level of your Family Property, the higher the bonus stat received by your family. The bonus stat is calculated based on the level of your property and the damage status, so ensure that you upgrade and repair your property frequently in order to earn the highest bonus stat possible.

You can upgrade your property by using consumable parts. Your property can be upgraded up to a maximum of Level 10. If damaged, you will need to repair your property before you can upgrade it.

The defense of your property is determined by the items allocated to your property by the individual members of your family. Each member can contribute 5 items per property, but these will be permanently removed from one's Inventory, so choose wisely. Both the attack and the defense stats of these items count towards the defense of your property. Items of all classes may be contributed, excluding limited or restricted items.

Different combinations could earn special bonuses.
Once damaged, the health of your property regenerates over time. You can also repair your property by using consumable parts. Remember, you can only upgrade your property once it is fully repaired, so make sure that you repair any damage to your property immediately.

You and each member of your family can obtain the following maximum number of consumable parts per day to repair/upgrade your property:

– 20 parts from requests
– 20 parts from feeds (a feed can be published every 6 hours)
– 60 parts from successfully robbing rival properties

You can rob your rivals' Family Properties as you stand to win repair/upgrade consumable parts. The damage dealt to a rival property is determined by two factors – the strength of the player attacking the property and the defense strength of the property being attacked.

Mafia Strength and Family Property Bonus clarified

It's nice to wake up and see some positive change in the game, for once! Zynga implemented some minor changes to the Family Property recently, which is why there's now a new banner about the Artillery Station and Family Properties on your Mafia Wars home page banner.

The main change, which Keith noted on our fan page, is that mafia defense and attack strength is now differentiated from the bonus added by your Family Properties. In the days following the release of the Artillery Station, many players were confused by fluctuations and seeming losses in their mafia defense strength. We learned, eventually, through trial and error and a late explanation from Zynga, that this wasn't our actual Mafia strength changing in most cases, but changes in the bonus given by the Artillery Station. Separating the display of defense strength and bonus strength was even a suggestion I made in that post, however I'm sure I wasn't the only one with that idea; it was common sense. And now if you look at your fight page, you'll see Zynga has done just that. Hover your mouse over the yellow number in parenthesis and you'll it is labeled as your Family Property Bonus.

It's not often I say this, but...thanks Zynga!

This was actually the first thing I noticed, from my news feed, before I even logged into the game. I think the posts asking for artillery shells have gotten a nice face lift, too. These posts now bear a little Family pride simply by identifying the Family name of the person asking for artillery shells. I like.

EDIT...so we can now collect more than 20 artillery shells a day--we can get 20 a day from gifts sent to us, and I *think* we can get 20 a day from a combination of clicking on other players' posts and others clicking on our posts. As long as this can still be done daily, then this is a good thing as it doubles the number of shells we get and save. This will help a bit, because upgrades have been so slow as to lose significance and interest. I'll check it again tomorrow.

There may be more, but I'm still on my first cup of coffee :P

Family Properties and Lost Mafia Strength

The official Mafia Wars has a word or three about the topic of fluctuating mafia strengths. As I suspected, this doesn't result from an actual decrease in your mafia strength, but is a fluctuation in the bonus received from your Family's property--which is over and above your actual mafia strength. At least in most cases. As they mention here, this could also be because you put active loot items into your Family property.

Maybe it would be easier to understand if they differentiated your actual mafia strength from the bonus, and displayed "bonus" mafia strength separately? Just a thought. Here's what they say:

A number of players are reporting that they've recently noticed sizeable reductions in their Mafia Attack & Defense strength. We wanted to assure you that your stats are not disappearing. In fact, they’re probably better than they used to be, even if they may fluctuate a bit more day-to-day. We hope the following explanation will put all of your minds at ease.

There are 2 reasons your Mafia Attack & Defense strength may be fluctuating:

1) Because any items you add to your Family Properties are removed from your personal inventory, their Attack & Defense strength is no longer applied to you personally, but to your Family Property instead (so choose those items carefully). Read our Family Property blog post for more details.

2) Building the first Family Property, the Artillery Station, grants you a Family Property Bonus of 1,000 Mafia Attack Points, but only when its health is at 100%. The Family Property Bonus you receive is reduced when the property is damaged as the result of rival families robbing from it, so you'll want to repair it to keep its health (and the Family Property Bonus) at 100%. Also, 1,000 Mafia Attack Points is just the bonus for a Level 1 Artillery Station; you can increase the maximum possible Family Property Bonus awarded by each property by upgrading them to higher levels.

We hope this explains what the recent shifts in your Mafia Attack & Defense strength. In reality, the biggest changes are likely from a rival-family robbing your Artillery Station and reducing your family bonus. Be sure to read our Family Property blog post for more details, and head to your family page to upgrade, defend, and repair your family’s Artillery Station to receive the maximum possible Mafia Attack strength Family Property Bonus from it!

Zynga Family Properties SURVEY

With all the player surveys Zynga has been handing out lately, I was waiting for this one: a survey about the Family Properties.

This should be fun. What will you have to say? Click HERE to take the survey now.

more on Family Properties

Last night the official Mafia Wars blog posted--FINALLY--about the Family Properties. I had a good laugh over the opening sentence: "we're excited about all the attention the new Family Properties feature has been getting" --what world do they live in?????

The outpouring of sentiment from Mafia Wars players hasn't been in the least bit positive. I have yet to personally see a single positive comment about this feature. It's confusing as hell, complicated, and seems to require a lot of effort for not a lot of payoff. Players everywhere have been complaining, or simply confused. So much so that it's impossible to put a positive spin on it, yet somehow Zynga managed to do so. ::giggle:: But thanks for the laugh, Zynga.

So this isn't a typical property in the sense that we are normally accustomed to; you don't build anything from it. Rather, its level and health provide and affect additional mafia attack strength, over and above what you personally have. I think, anyway. 

We're excited about all the attention the new Family Properties feature has been getting and are working hard to iron out the last remaining bugs. (Be sure to let us know in the Bugs & Support forum if you're experiencing any.) There has been some confusion regarding how Family Properties work; we're going to try to clear that up here. (SOME???)

Let’s start with explaining why it's a good idea to build and defend Family Properties: for the Family Property Bonus! The reason to build the first Family Property, the Artillery Station, for example, is that it nets you a 1,000 point bonus to your Mafia attack (when its health is at 100%).(Ah, so that explains the fluctuating mafia attack scores players were noticing. So it shouldn't affect your actual numbers, only the "bonus" received.)

There are 10 levels to each Family Property and, in the case of the Artillery Station, each level grants a 1,000 point Mafia attack bonus. A Level 10 Artillery Station, then, will grant you a 10,000 point bonus to your Mafia attack! (Again, that's when the Artillery Station is at 100% health.)

As rival families rob from your Family Property, its health decreases and the Family Property Bonus you receive is reduced. Keep your Family Property fully repaired and maximally defended to maintain 100% of the bonus its level can grant you.

Once you've built a Family Property, there are 3 main things you can do to it:

1) Upgrade it. This increases the max Family Property Bonus the property can grant you. Upgrades are performed with consumable parts, which are available from robbing rival families' properties (max. 30/day) and from requests & gifts (max. 20/day). Note: Damaged properties cannot be upgraded until they are fully repaired. Read on to learn more about repairing your Family Properties.

2) Defend it. This makes it harder for rival families to reduce the Family Property Bonus the property is granting you. Each family member can add up to 5 items to a Family Property (higher defense stats = higher property health), but be sure to choose carefully, as the items you select will be removed from your personal inventory and cannot be recovered, even if you decide to better equip the Family Property later on. Items of all classes may be contributed; try combinations to earn a bonus!

3) Repair it. Restoring your Family Property's health recovers any Family Property Bonus reductions resulting from rival families robbing the property. Family Properties do not heal themselves; repairs, like upgrades, are performed with consumable parts, which are available from robbing rival families' properties (max. 30/day) and from requests & gifts (max. 20/day).

Now that you know how Family Properties work, head to your family page to upgrade, defend, and repair your family’s Artillery Station and rob from those of your rival families! (You can also rob the Family Properties of a rival family by going to the “Properties” tab on their Family Page.)