Mafia Revival: Tips and Tricks

[The Thwomp King]

What's good everybody?

We're now 5 seasons into NSMBX Mafia at the time of this post which is really great for the server! That being said I'm aware there are a handful of players in the server that are new to the game, some that may get confused midgame with what to do, or perhaps find themselves struggling with specific roles or factions they may roll into. With that I figured now would be a good time for us to have a tips and tricks section to help those players.

Considering there's a good amount of you that have plenty of experienced (heck there are a few brave souls that have participated in almost every game in the server), I'd love for this to be a thread for all of you to share your some of your strategies and insight going into each game.

I will also preface too that not every strategy listed is going to be 100% effective. There are so many different factors and elements to each game where even the most perfect execution of a strategy may not lead to your victory. These help serve as ideas for how you may play and do better for yourself.

Definitely adding more over time, but figured I'd format this better:

Townie

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General

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A lot of players, especially newer or less experienced players, take the townie role for granted as it typically has no special ability. The truth is it's by far the most flexible role in the game for you to try out different strategies with the least amount of consequence since you're apart of the biggest faction. If you find yourself in this role definitely don't sit back as an inactive player as this ultimately hurts the town's chances in winning. Here are a few ideas for base strategies.

The Classic Townie

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If you roll into a townie, a simple yet effective strategy is to be proactive in town chats and taking in the game with information that can help your fellow townsfolk. Doing this without being too hyperbolic or aggressive can work both as a way to share insightful knowledge to the right people, and it will have the mafia or third party look at you as a potential kill target during the night, keeping attention away from town specials.

The Social Player (The Alliance Maker)

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This is a significantly riskier strategy as you're putting part of the town's fate in your hands by being more proactive. I've seen this done to great success and unfortunate failure as a big part of this strategy comes with your own intuition on whether someone is truly trustworthy or not. The biggest thing here is to NEVER share too much information unless there is 100% confirmation the people you communicate with are trustworthy. Otherwise you risk a mafia/TP infiltration or your instant death.

So typically wait for the first cycle (Night 1 and Day 1) to pass, but pay close attention to what people say to get a soft idea of who may potentially be good or suspicious. During the second cycle pick a player you think you'll have decent discussion with. When dming keep your role to yourself and simply ask for their opinions on some sort of subject without being too forceful or shady (Typically casual conversation is best). Discussion could be the actions of another player, any opinions on who they might think is suspicious, etc, basically talk about the game to see if you and the other person are around the same page.

If you are bold and the game is active you can create multiple dms with separate players to gain further intel for yourself, then once you gain enough information you make the big decision of who can and can't be trusted and form alliances based on this. If you reach a special they'll likely want you around as their voice to strengthen the alliance, but if it's a mafia or TP they may try to take advantage of you or kill you. Luck is a definite factor with this strategy, but how much luck is involved is up to how carefully you tread around the people you talk with. Should things work out NEVER get overconfident as things could always turn around to bite you in the butt.

The Fakeclaimer

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Similar to the classic townie, but your goal is simply to have mafia and TP eyes set on you. You pick a role in the game to claim and announce it publicly. Definitely not recommended for the very start of the game, but sometimes a game may start with town specials dropping like flies. This could potentially backfire if you're counterclaimed as you potentially get yourself lynched alongside getting a town special killed the following night, but it could also strengthen an alliance by getting other specials to claim to them privately.

The Pawn

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This one is more out of your control, but still handy. During a game you may get reached out to by a town special such as the sheriff or a doctor as they may have targeted you. With this you two have your own alliance and can start forming plans together. More or less with this your ultimate goal is to be the meat shield for your partner/alliance. This typically means being the voice for the alliance in town hub to try to help the town figure out who to potentially lynch or who to watch out. This may ne short lived though as any scum might instantly target you the following night, but at that point you help the town vocally and protect your town special teammates by taking a bullet for them.

As a final note though definitely be cautious of who reaches out to you. Never blindly trust others no matter what as many veteran and new players alike suffer from this.

The Game Breaker

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So far in the server this has only been witnessed in M20, so credit goes to Kurble for this one. All games in the server are taken into consideration to be balanced in the most fair and effective way possible, but sometimes the game balancers may miss a couple things here and there. Essentially with this strategy you study the rolelist as much as possible and think of the best winning strategy for the town as possible. Once you figure it out you announce it publicly in the chat for everyone to read. This will likely get you targeted instantly by any scum, but you ultimately get the town players thinking of all sorts of ways to implement your winning strategy or even refine it.

Doing something like this is extremely risky should you miss a loop hole or a critical detail that thwarts your plan, but even then you likely prevent a potential kill on a town special and then town itself will likely try thinking of ways to get the ball rolling sooner. If a game is air tight definitely do not attempt, but if you're looking to get better as a player overall this could be motivation and more reasoning to further study the role list for each game you participate in.

Town Special

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Will add later.

Mafia

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Will add later.

Primary Third Party

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The lone wolf of a game, usually with the goal to be the last man standing. Your goal is almost always independent, and you can only win by yourself unlike an STP. While there are a handful of general strategies with a TP, a lot of roles in this category are unique with their own separate abilities or even win conditions to steal the win from everyone else. There are a couple pointers to be mentioned though (At a later time).

Secondary Third Party

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By far the most difficult to give a general strategy for as each secondary third party role has their own separate motivations and goals in order to win the game. A vast majority of the time these types of roles can win alongside another winning faction whether it be Town, Mafia, or the ever difficult Primary Third Party Victory. The biggest thing with every STP is to stay under the radar when the game starts; take time to understand your goal to formulate the best strategy and keep attention away from yourself so you don't potentially become an early kill.

Jester

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General

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One of the more common STP's with the simple goal of getting lynched. Usually you can also take someone who voted for you down with you. With it being one of the more common roles in games with a fairly straight forward goal, there's a decent amount of strategy you can implement with this one.

The "Inactive Player"

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The most common yet potentially effective strategy. Sometimes by Day 2 there are next to no leads for the town on who to lynch, so their optimal solution is to just get rid of a player that's not contributing anything at all. So with that in mind you basically say next to nothing and eventually you get lynched and win. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to say one or two things that may rub players the wrong way. The biggest issue with this strategy though is a vigilante, mafia, or TP may simply kill you for the heck of it the longer you stick around a game.

The Team Mascot

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Another common strategy for this role. This one comes with the intent of joining a faction essentially as their honorary team member. You more or less reach out to people privately and share that you are the jester and that you will help their faction win. Typically this works best in a town alliance for their sheer numbers, but it has worked with jesters aligning with the mafia too and could maybe even work in a TP alliance too. Whichever faction you "align with" you have them set you up as a lynch target in an attempt to get members of the other faction to vote for you as well, you die, and you kill off one of the opposing faction's players. You can create chaos and kill one of your supposed teammates, but that may lead to trust issues if you get this role again in a future game.

The biggest thing here is don't blindly make alliances and deals left and right. Like with your average townie, it's best to read the room a bit and study behaviors in order to get the best results. Otherwise you may find yourself aligning with both and one member of either faction would just rather have you be night killed rather than lynched.

The Primary Suspect

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This is a bit of a proactive strategy where you're just trying to get out as soon as possible. You could say weird things in chat, be loud and obnoxious, snipe vote, or maybe come up with strategies that maker little sense. Either way you're bringing attention to yourself by yourself. While this may lead to players thinking you're a mafia member or the TP, it could also lead you to being a night kill instead. Definitely use with caution depending on the role list.

I might add a couple more tidbits to this at a later time, but otherwise I leave the floor open to the rest of you to add onto this. I hope to see good insight from you all, and I hope everyone takes it easy!

[116taj]

I started playing Mafia in 2017, and I found that it was tough to play at first. I didn't know what to do, so I ended up doing nothing at all. I made these tips to hopefully aid those who feel the same way I did. Mafia is extremely fun once you learn it, and it's not exactly super difficult to learn, so don't be discouraged!

General tips:

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Mafia is a game about deception.
Blindly following and trusting others is always a mistake. You will be tricked, you will be betrayed, and you will be killed.
Get some reasoning on why someone is suspicious or trustworthy before solidifying opinions.

Accuse in the day, comment in the night.
At night, you are subject to being inspected, silenced, or killed.
If the person you suspect is scum, they may panic kill you to keep you quiet.
Save the accusations for the day when your only enemy is the noose.
Use nights for general town discussion instead of fingerpointing.

Never panic.
Panicking leads to bad decisions, which leads to death. Stay rational and take your time, you always have some time to collect your thoughts. Responding calmly and non-accusatory to a lynch attempt increases your chances of staying alive.

Understand the roles of the game.
No Mafia game is the same. Each one has different roles which can influence the game by a variety of factors. A Serial Killer is much more threatening than a Jester, for example. Knowing exactly what you're up against lets you modify your plans. Which leads to

Plan ahead.
Mafia can be played a phase at a time. But this can lead to decisions that seem perfect at first, but lead to a terrible end. Consider Chess AI. How are they so good? Because they peered into all possible outcomes of the game and chose the one that will lead to their eventual victory. Mafia doesn't have the insane tree of decisions that Chess does, so it's not hard to weigh your options. Sure, you know Mario is Mafia from inspection, but they're the first Mafioso you've found. Meanwhile, Wario has contradicted himself multiple times and you're near certain they're the Serial Killer. Who is worth hanging? Consider future phases, and the answer is trivial.

Become owner of the server.
With admin powers, you can easily leak yourself the roles of others. This lets you always make the correct opinions and suspicions. If you are about to get lynched, ban the voters!

For Town

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Stay active.
As town, being quiet is one of the worst things you can do. When someone is quiet, it can come off as trying to avoid suspicion. Since you know you're not scum, don't be quiet! Speak up and give any kind of information that could benefit the town.

Townies matter.
Getting a townie role can be disappointing. No ability means many will consider themselves as pawns. However, this isn't the case at all. As a townie, you always have a lynch vote to use. Lynches ultimately decide who wins the game, so make your voice heard! In addition, being a townie lets you play reckless, as you are the town's weakest member. This may let you to try some tactics you wouldn't as a special, and be more aggressive in accusations.

For Specials

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Specials matter more.
If you're a special, your role in the town is almost always instrumental. By being blue (sometimes not), you gain an ability which can be Investigative, Defensive, Offensive, or Variety.

Investigative roles give vital information that may lead to confirmations, scum or not scum.
Protective roles allow the Town to prevent death of townies, which gives the Town more time to lynch the Mafia.
Offensive roles cause death, and therefore must be used wisely.
Variety roles are those that don't fit into the other categories. Their influence on the game varies.
Using the blue and ability you've got can be super helpful.

Be cautious.
Revealing your identity to the public should only be done as a last ditch effort. Otherwise, you're letting the Mafia know who you are!
Got a claim from someone? You don't have to claim back! They approached you, let them confirm themselves first.

Never get lynched.
As a blue, it should be impossible for you to get lynched. The town never wants a blue dead, and the Mafia would rather strike at night. Worst comes to worst, claim you're a special.

Being Investigative
Your inspection results should guide your actions. Inspect a blue? Contact them! Working together you can share your findings. Got a red? Lynch them, so long as your identity is kept secret. Green? Let them project your findings to everyone. Inspect the people most suspicious in the previous day to rule them out, or go for the more hidden individuals to see if they're hiding anything.

Being Protective
If you can protect with no tradeoffs, always go for it! Saving lives helps the town much more than it doesn't. Protect confirmed individuals to let them lead the town without fear of being killed.

Being Offensive
Weigh the possible outcomes. If you kill this person now, what will happen? Are you sure they're who you think they are?
Do not be reckless. Take time to find someone you do not trust, talk to any trustworthy associates, and then pull the trigger.

For Mafia

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Do not be afraid to lynch your teammates.
Of course it is better to keep your mafioso friends alive, but when your friend is doomed (large suspicion or irrefutable evidence) it is better to go with the town. Continuing to defend someone who most people deem scum will inevitably end in your demise the next day.

Take one for the team.
Bringing down your fellow mafiosos with you is a horrible idea. Just because you're dead doesn't mean you cannot win. If the rest of the Mafia want to use you as a kamikaze, let them.

Speaking of which,

Utilize your numbers.
You will always have someone else on the Mafia with you. Sacrificing a teammate may be advantageous in some situations.
For example:
1. Snipevoting a confirmed town special or alliance mouthpiece.
2. Beginning a lynch on your teammate for future "confirmation".
3. Utilizing a killing ability (Kamikaze or Vengeful Mafioso).

For Killing Third Party

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Do not let yourself be singled out.
A common TP strategy is to "lurk in the darkness". Hiding in plain sight works well at the beginning of a game, but as the graveyard fills, the amount of people deemed suspicious decreases. By the endgame, many players will either be confirmed or likely town. This is the time where originally overlooked players begin to be seriously considered as potential scum targets.

Be proactive.
Depending on what exact role you've got, this may be difficult or easy. But without taking a risk, winning as a TP is improbable at best. Attempt to connect to some townies that seem trustworthy. Convince them to trust you. Be useful to them. Keep them alive. At this point, it is unlikely you will be suspected. Then, lead them to lynching their own and let them accuse each other.

Common roles to look out for:

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Doctor
Did you fail to kill someone? The Doctor is likely why, since they're able to protect others from death.
Godfather
Godfather and similar roles aim to deceive you by not flipping the usual scum red. Do not be fooled! If someone is truly suspicious, lynch them.
Jester
Lynching a jester wastes a Town's lynch and may end up in your death. If someone is purposely letting themselves be lynched, they're likely a jester.
Silencer
Silencers leave someone unable to speak for a phase. If someone isn't defending themselves, perhaps that's the reason!
Consort
If a game has a consort and you've got an ability, it may be best to avoid publicly revealing yourselves. Otherwise, you may never get to use your precious ability.
Miller
Millers are townies that are red. Always consider that red isn't always Mafia!

Of course, Mafia is extremely dynamic so general tips will only get you so far. The best way to get better at something is to actually do it, and hopefully with this information you feel more encouraged to do so. Hope to see you there!

[Uranus]

Might as well give my two cents on a few roles. I might do this often.

Ballot Official

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-Ballot Official as you may except is a strong role that can massively change the game.

-I think it's important to be wary of your choice on who to change vote total. Giving someone 2 votes may be a risk if your target is a scum but a 0 could also fuck a lynching over and could eliminate a vital asset to the town.

-I would argue using the 0 is way safer than 2 if possible. I would also be wary of anyone telling you to use your role as they might be trying to manipulate you. Heck, if they ask you to use 2 on them, if you don't trust them, use the 0 on them.

-The 2 isn't entirely bad however as stated before, it can give the town a big advantage.

Thug

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-This role could potentially manipulate a messy town and could very well cost town the game if used right

- Unlike a painter, in which the town may become cautious of colors, flipping black means that there is no way to tell who the target was. This can add extra confusion to town in which the mafia can manipulate from.

-I would use this ability on unconfirmed people. Using on confirmed/highly trusted is a waste because it can confuse the town less. Using on unconfirmed, especially early on can fuck up town's thoughts if they don't know their role.

-Using this with a Consligere is a deadly combo, as mafia can make sure that they can fuck up the town

Switcheroo

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-As yes, my custom role. Switcheroo's main goal is to mess everyone up to confuse everyone.

-The third ability is also very deadly and could even be used as a last ditch effort to survive, although it could be obvious to the town. But you could do this the other way around

-Of course the tp can kill like a serial killer. But make sure to stock up on your abilities, as they are very useful.

[116taj]

Mafia tips+: Killing and Lynching
Here are some more tips I wrote down, focused on death.

Killing as Scum

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Choose your kills wisely.
Killing someone removes them from the game entirely. Got someone who is onto you? Kill them! Know someone is a blue? Kill them too! Snipevoter? Keep them alive, so you can push a lynch onto them the next day.

Do not be obvious.
If someone does suspect you, it may be wiser to keep them alive. Otherwise other townies may suspect that you wanted your victim dead because they accused you. You may also frame people using this information.

Scum Reading and Lynching as Town

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What are leads? Why do people ask for them?
Leads are lynch targets. A lead is the most suspicious person according to the one who provides it. People ask for leads either because they're lazy and want to follow someone else, or are looking to analyze others leads and get information from that. Keep your leads to yourself or those you trust, until the time is right. You do not want to mess up an accusation.

Getting your lead lynched
When you have a good enough feeling that the person is scum, it's time to make an effort to get them lynched. Otherwise, your potentially correct lynch target could never get lynched, costing your team the game.

There are many ways to begin a lynching:
1. Consult people you trust and make your case to them first. If you truly got some good evidence, then they will join you on the lynch (unless if they are also scum)
2. If you cannot trust anyone, you could place a "soft vote" on the player to encourage some discussion. If you are not questioned too much, then you may follow with your true reasoning.
3. Just give reasoning and vote, hoping that your case is solid enough.

Results of the lynch
You got your lead lynched. Now what?
Look at the cardflip (if enabled). So long as it's not blue or green, you probably got a scum!
Otherwise, you were likely wrong (view my previous post: Common roles to lookout for)

In the event that you were wrong, it becomes a point of evidence that you may have been scum. This may lead to your lynching the following day.
This is why you must seriously consider your leads and why you cannot start a lynching craze and call for everyone's heads.

Voting Terminology

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Bandwagoning
This term refers to jumping on the bandwagon. Meaning, to go off the popular opinion. For example, Mario has been voted for by the majority of people alive. Then, Wario finally places his vote, going off everyone else's votes. Bandwagoning is not necessarily scummy, but it can be when the player doing so contributes nothing else of substance.

Snipevoting
Snipevoting is a classic. A snipevote is a super late vote intended to switch the lynch target at the last second. Multiple people can snipevote at once, or it may just be one person. In any case, snipevoting is considered to be absolutely scummy and shouldn't be tried unless you're okay with dying in the future. As town, you're better off making a case for your target instead.

Fake Lynching
A fake lynch is when someone accuses someone else, but in reality they both trust each other and are working together. This tactic aims to find trigger-happy voters, who tend to be scums looking to off another townie. Make sure you believe the accused is scum before voting.

Abstaining
To abstain is to not vote, but show that you're not voting on purpose. This can only be done on the first day, as town may not feel like lynching anyone yet.

Bussing (Mafia Only)
Bussing is to accuse a fellow mafia member, in order to relieve suspicion on yourself. Like throwing someone under the bus. This tactic is risky as Town may still not trust you, and you are forced to lose a fellow mafia member. That is why it is generally used when the bussee is already at risk of being lynched.

Trading

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What is trading?
Trading is to give up a life to take another. It can be useful to any party with >1 person.

Examples
Mafia has found the TP (Third Party), but they have no secure way of telling Town. Mario then decides to make themselves suspicious and claims Sheriff. If the true Sheriff counterclaims, then Mario is forced to out themselves to reveal that the Mafia know who the TP is. This will inevitably end with Mario lynching, but the TP threat is no more. This was a 1 for 1 trade, Mafia for TP. This heavily favors Mafia.

Toad is Sheriff and has inspected 2 reds. However, he has no alliance, and feels unsafe keeping this information. He then decides to publicly claim, and namedrops the 2 reds for lynching. This is a 1 for 2 trade, Special for Mafia. This favors town.

Yoshi is afraid that a Special may die tonight. He then decides to claim to be the Vigilante. Mario sees this and decides to kill Yoshi. Mario ends up wasting a potential kill on a Special. This is a 1 for 0 trade, but keeps Mafia's eyes off Specials.

Toad the Vigilante shoots Mario, but Mario had also decided to kill Toad. This is a 1 for 1 trade, Special for Mafia.

Trading is generally not the best idea, as it's better to stay alive then to die. But in some situations, it's the best option to share information.

That's it for this time. My next topic is: Gathering Information and Alliances. That will likely be my last general gameplay related post, unless more needs to be covered.

[alicemenson222]

If newcomers do not know how to play or stumble at every step, surely they should learn the rules of the game better. And you can read about this in the game itself or in the game description. If I came to forex and didn't know where to start, would they allocate a thread to me so I could read about where I want to get into? I guess not. There are https://forexstore.com/best-forex-robots and other tools and full descriptions. But if you don't know what it is and what it's for, no one is obliged to explain. This is a thread, not an education corner.