Mafia Wars Guide to London

London Calling
Time to check out the other side of the Pond, but the heat is on and it seems you keep losing your passport, so you'll need a little bit of forethought to get out of London with minimal muss and fuss. If you found yourself battered and bloody when your mini flipped on your escape from Paris, it would benefit you to read on.

This guide will be updated in about 7 days when Chapter 2 is released. I know this strategy will come late for some players, but hopefully you can make up the difference and apply strategy to further chapters.

Gaining Access

Like it or not, you will need to add at least 1 additional mafia member to your crew before you can start London. Before adding a new player I recommend you first visit the London Page to help the gain better know the required.

If you like to gain some new Mafia Members there are bonuses for adding new members during the event in the form of one time Passport Bonuses. Remember this forum is an excellent resource to find active Mafia Wars gamers who could be worth while additions to your crew. You find the right person, you can worry minimally about the "stranger" situation. We are all here for the same reason, to play the game and have fun, not stalk you. Open up a little.

The Heat Meter

There are three stages to the Heat Meter: Green, Yellow and Red. Green is the lowest level. Energy and Passport requirements for each job increase when you pass first into the Yellow and then into the Red. It is up to you weather you choose to do jobs in the Yellow or Red. When the heat meter is full you can still continue to do jobs for as long as you have energy and Passports. The heat meter cools down back to green 8 hours after the last time you click on "Do Job" in London.

The meter will give you lowest requirements for the first 6 clicks. The Meter increases your energy costs and Passport consumption for 5 additional clicks. On your twelfth click, the meter will charge you higher energy and 2 additional passports for every additional click until you let the meter cool for 8 hours. Note: If you "Do Job" in London before the meter resets to 0 the meter cool down time will return to 8 hours regardless of how much time was left! Watch carefully!

The Jobs

There are four jobs in Chapter 1 London with decreasing job mastery: 9%, 8%, 5%, 4%. Total you will need to do Jobs 70 times over a 7 day period. At minimum you most do 10 clicks a day to finish within 7 days time. Given the heat meter you have three main options, but any combination of 70 clicks over the 7 day time frame will do, just mind the heat meter to match your schedule and passport supply.

1) 2 times a day, clicking 6 times at each session will finish in plenty of time and cost you minimal passports and energy. You'll want a minimum of 300 energy and to potentially plan your sessions around toolbar bonus, Energy pack, or collection of crimespree bonuses.

2) 1 time a day, Clicking 10 times a day in a single session. You will do jobs in Yellow, but never in red. You will finish exactly on the last day. A player choosing this method will need either 658 energy total and plan to do their daily clicks on level up, or have a minimum of around 530 energy and plan on using their energy pack just before their daily session to guarantee enough energy to do the 10 clicks needed to stay on track.

3) If you have lots of time, do 3x a day. If you do jobs only in the green the entire time you will finish much sooner. But there is no extra prize for finishing sooner. People who finish on Day 7 get the same prizes as those who finish earlier.

The Passports

Make sure you collect your free Passports every day. The timer counts down 23 hours 30 minutes after you collect. The absolute best strategy would be to always collect on your first log in in the morning if you can. A good 2x a day strategy would be once in the morning, collect maps, and once before bed (making sure to allow 8 hours before you morning login).

You can add brand new mafia members and receive some bonus passports at the beginning of new chapters. There are a few bugs with this currently. You may have the best luck inviting to your mafia from your regular recruit page and not through the London page.

There is no specific job that drops passports. Just go out job, rob, fight and they will drop. Drop rates are erratic at best from player to player. A very dedicated player should be able to do London worrying very minimally about obtaining extra passports especially if you do jobs only in the green. And like it or not "dedicated" does not mean logging in one time a day. The best way to guarantee minimal passport crunch is to do 2-3 times a day and avoid the additional costs of doing jobs when the heat is on. Though the bonus passports and increased collection abate the crunch minimally remember to play smarter, not harder.

Chapter 1 passport cost, if you only do jobs in the green is 153 Passports. Daily collection of Passports during chapter 1 is 210.

Planning for Energy
You will need a minimum of 330 energy in reserve before starting a London session during chapter 1 for your 2x a day strategy, if you are doing once a day you will need a minimum of 530 total energy and use an energy pack, or have around 660 energy in reserve . If you don't have such energy reserves, you will have to adjust your strategy to fit you energy potential. Use energy pack, toolbar bonuses, and crime spree bonuses to your advantage. If you plan on pushing into the yellow or red too often, a considerable more amount of energy may be required.

Looking to Future Chapters
Fact: Energy costs for jobs will increase with each chapter
Fact: Base Passport costs will tend to increase for some jobs in future chapters

Question: Will Mastery for each job remain the same as in Chapter 1?
Answer: In Paris this was the case. You could use the same click strategy for Chapters 2 and 3 as you did in chapter 1. The assumption is London will be the same, but we won't know for sure until Chapter 2 is released.

Plan your strategy: Smarter, not Harder!
The next two sections suggest a 2x a day strategy and a 1x a day strategy. Here is the low down. With 70 clicks to master all 4 jobs, you need to average 10 clicks/day to finish in 7 days. If you miss a day you need to of either done extra clicks the day before or plan to do extra clicks the next time. You can do up to 11 clicks in an 8 hour period and not waste "too" many resources. If you could have a day where you could click 6 times at say 6am, 2pm and 10pm, you are doing a great job and are ahead of them game. Don't click without thinking in London. It can be done!

Visualizing 2x a Day
You can adjust your time line either by doing jobs in the yellow, or adding a third session if time allows. If you miss a session you will need to do jobs in the yellow/red to make up or add extra sessions. Adding crew for bonus passports should make most of this be a cake walk of a challenge as long as future chapters have similar mastery and increasing free passports per day. Remember you strategy needs to add up to at minimum average of 10 clicks per day to finish in 7 days.

Passport cost minimum, chapter 1: 153

Day 1
9-18-27-36-45-54
63-72-81-90-99-100

Day 2
8-16-24-32-40-48
56-64-72-80-88-96

Day 3
100-5-10-15-20-25
30-35-40-45-50-55


Day 4
60-65-70-75-80-85
90-95-100-4-8-12

Day 5
16-20-24-28-32-36
40-44-48-52-56-60

Day6
64-68-72-76-80-84
88-92-96-100

Day 7
Chill at London Hard Rock with the Godfather.

Visualizing 1x a Day
If you choose this method, you will be well served to add people for the bonus passports. Having enough passports to do 10 successive clicks is not a challenge until day 6 when passport cost rises above the 30 you can get a day in chapter 1. But this should not be a barrier if you collected all free passports prior to chapter 1 and also collected the bonus passports. Missing a sessions mostly like means adding an extra session very little room for missed days, especially if you miss passports. But in the end the hardest part will be the need for 658 energy during your session on Day 4 doing the 55-82 energy job 3. Remember you strategy needs to be a minimum of 10 clicks a day to finish in 7 days.

Passport cost minimum: 181

Day 1
9-18-27-36-45-54-63-72-81-90 (14 passports needed)

Day 2
99-100-8-16-24-32-40-48-56-64 (22 Passports needed)

Day 3
72-80-88-96-100-5-10-15-20-25 (24 passports needed)

Day 4
30-35-40-45-50-55-60-65-70-75 (24 passports needed)

Day 5
80-85-90-95-100-4-8-12-16-20 (29 passports needed)

Day6
24-28-32-36-40-44-48-52-56-60 (34 passports needed)

Day 7
64-68-72-76-80-84-88-92-96-100 (34 passports needed)

It will be interesting if free maps will continue to support a 1x a day strategy in Chapters 2 and 3.

I will report if these two visual strategies can be applied to Chapter 2 and 3 as further information comes up.

Parting Thoughts
My initial evaluation of the London Challenge is that the energy regeneration time and your max energy are going to be the major limiting factors to London after choosing what kind of time frame you have available to play London Jobs.

Free Passports are expected to support London with minimal needed for looted maps if you collect daily, get your crew bonuses, and choose to finish the jobs while the meter is mostly in the green. The more jobs you do in Yellow and Red means, or if you miss a days collection, the more likely you will need to supplement passports from jobs and robbing.