Welcome and orientation for Capo IV

Seamus, please feel free to edit this post to add or delete anything you like.


NEW MEMBERS and people who are new to mafia games in general:



Hello! Welcome to forums.totalwar.org (We like to call ourselves the Org), and our gameroom where Capo IV is going to be played.

Our members are referred to as "orgahs". Welcome new orgahs!



Things to keep in mind:

1) There is a policy against swearing/profanity and posting lewd images, and other such behavior. Please keep it PG-rated.

2) It's a game of fictional violence and fictional betrayal between friends. It's nothing personal! Please never take anything personally. If someone bashes you personally, a moderator will likely step in and correct them. Don't worry!

3) Please take the time to read the forum rules regarding conduct if you haven't already.

4) This is a really helpful and informative link. Please check it out. It tells you everything you need to know about playing mafia here.

5) Post a hello in the Entrance Hall to let people know you've joined our community!


More as I think of things to put here. :beam:



I will not lock this thread, so people can post questions for the game host, or even myself.

How to change your settings, avatars, notifications, and so on


If you've been a member of other forums, you'll notice that a lot of the options are the same. Some are different. But if you're just starting out, here are some recommendations.

Here is your settings/control panel.


How to change your user name, password, email address, title underneath your name, show your date of birth and location, contact information should you wish to share it, and any other info about you that you'd like to share. Click this link.

How to edit your profile picture or "second" avatar, for those of you who like having a custom picture. For myself, that's how I have the Little Caesar's Logo as my avatar, and you can too. Click this link.

How to edit your primary avatar.

How to go into invisible mode (Recommended for Capo IV)

Other settings suggestions (same page as the invisible mode page), these match my own but feel free to change them to suit your whims.

1) Default Thread Subscription Mode: INSTANTLY using email is my preferred option.

2) Private messaging is not only on but should be a requirement for this game.

3) From all members, recommended.

4) Receive Email Notification of new Private Messages

5) Save a copy of sent messages in my Sent Items folder by default (remember to empty out your inbox, you only have 50 spaces)

6) # Show Signatures
# Show Avatars
# Show Images (including attached images and images in [IMG] code)

I like this, but you can turn them off too.

7) Number of Posts to Show Per Page: I set this at 80. Trust me it's useful in long games like capo, less page flipping.

8) Display profile picture in forumposts: If you want to see your second avatar, then yes.

9) Change your time zone

10) Forum Skin: I use The Guild, I think it is the bestest skin ever. I don't like the STW one. Try out a few, see if you like them.





And you're done! Remember to subscribe to the signup thread if you didn't have instant email notifications checked when you signed up. Thread Tools (while viewing the thread in question) at the top of the thread > Subscribe to this thread.

You'll get an email whenever the thread is updated; so there will always be a link in your email inbox that takes you right to the thread in question, to the unread posts in question.

Very basic simple terms for how to play, not complicated



Capo IV is just like other mafia games, town versus mafia. Except, there's more, and competing, mafia families than you're probably used to, and the mafia can recruit most townies. There will be third parties which can likely win with the town or mafia but could be dangerous regardless, and they can also win outright; there will likely be a serial killer or two.



Day Phases:

During the day you vote for who gets lynched, and on some days you select a Director to carry out your lynching efforts.

The Director decides how folks die, and what to do in situations where the lynch vote is tied.

You can also discuss strategy here, and I'd recommend planning your night actions here in advance. Game moves quickly.


Night Phases:

You and your affiliates send your chosen actions to the game host. Remember, for group actions to succeed, everyone needs to send in the order; you may want to have redundant people involved just so you meet the minimums. People have real lives or are working against you; for your actions to succeed, sometimes an extra man or two becomes the pair of hands you require to meet the minimums.















Some very generic strategy



Goals as an incorruptible townie:

You can't ever become mafia, so your goal is to wipe out the mafia Dons as fast as you can and keep as many townies alive as possible. You'll want doctors protecting townies, detectives scanning for scumbags, you probably want to get some incorruptible townies performing vigilante kills against confirmed scumbags, because it is difficult to lynch all the scumbags. There are too many of them.

You may want to become a doctor, by forming protection groups as often as possible, and protecting anyone you think is likely to be attacked at night by mafia or townies. Protect people enough times and one of you can become a doctor; repeat as necessary and you'll make more doctors. There's also a way you can decline being a doctor, and you'll be offered a chance to become a different role after that. That's a lot of work, and it's high risk, but it may be possible and is a worthy goal.

Remember, you'll know the doctors by then. Have the doctors protect you while you scan.

Doctors and detectives, as many as possible, will help you win; remember that if you use incorruptible townies to vig the scums you won't have to worry about them becoming scum later on themselves.

Protect the identity of your doctors and detectives at any cost. While corruptible townies and wiseguys may be fodder for the scumbags, THEY ARE STILL ON YOUR TEAM and thus should be treated as townies. Your goal is to wipe out the Mafia Dons, primarily, and secondarily, to destroy active, full mafiosi. Going after folks who can become mafia is a waste of time because you're allowing the real mafia to survive and also kill townies while you kill potential mafia. Potential mafia are townies and are your vital team members. If they're going to be guilty, you can get them later on.

Note: Some of the above is factual, some is just opinion. Feel free to formulate your own strategies, but your goals as incorruptible townie should be to defeat the Dons ASAP and not worry so much about other things.




Goals as a corruptible townie or wiseguy:

See the incorruptible townie goals, copy and paste here.

However, if it looks like the town is being defeated, you have options. You can continue to stay loyal to the town and fight it out to the bitter end, or you can try to join the victors by playing their dirty game.

Corruptible townies can become wiseguys through vigilante kills that succeed. Wiseguys can become mafia by performing mafia (Don) sanctioned kills with Made Gangsters. The Don must approve of your hit, and you may not know who the Don is. However, the Mades will have direct or indirect contact with the Don, and the Don will likely approve.

The objective of going mafia is to join the winning family. If you join a family which is about to be annihilated, and you die, you're stuck as a member of that family.... and when they lose, you lose. Of course, joining a large family has its risks as well; suppose there are moles within the family, and they learn who everyone is. More members means more possibility of more moles, so there's a security risk of becoming too large. You join a family that has been infiltrated, you're probably going to get outed and destroyed.

You could also try forming your own family with other wiseguys and Made gangsters. Good luck with that, as the more established families are likely to wipe you out unless they've already been severely weakened. They do have a head start on you and have a Luca protecting their Don.

• Your objective could be to try to work as hard as you can for town victory, whatever the cost;
• Your objective could be to walk the line down the middle, ready to jump to the winning side when the winds shift;
• Your objective could be to just go mafia ASAP. Good luck with that when a detective scans you and finds out you're killing and trying to become mafia.

It could be a good idea to perform some kills so you can switch sides if you wanted to; the problem there is that if everyone does that, you're going to see a big pile of dead mostly-townies on the mornings of day two and day three onward, essentially screwing town's chances and making the odds a whole lot bigger that you don't survive long enough to see the day that you become mafia, while also causing your team's defeat at the same time. Careful use of vigilantism is advised, or don't do it at all, one might suggest.

That said, your chosen strategy of how to play is really up to you.



Goals as a detective or doctor or other important role:

You're going to want to stay alive as long as possible to maximize your positive effect on your team.

Detectives will want to scan every night, and there are several theories as to who to scan, who is the best scan-

Some believe that scanning the active, talkative people will allow you to figure out the alignment of those dominating the discussion, which allows you to remove the more influential and convincing scumbags. Flaw here is that this is a very common tactic, and so therefore the scums can avoid being scanned by simply not being that talkative, and blending in with the large middle-talker mass.

Some believe that scanning the quiet folks will allow you to find lurking scum. This could be a good idea, but the obvious counter to this is that the scums can avoid being scanned by simply not truly lurking, and blending in with the large middle-talker mass.

Some believe that scanning folks who are less likely to be lynched or murdered (such as folks who are quiet but not lurking, not getting many votes, and haven't caused the deaths of many scums or have not made many big accusations) will yield more scumbags. This is an idea I happen to favor, but there's an obvious counter to this, which is being on the upper end of the middle-talker mass and being sure to accuse folks every round, talking a whole lot, or not talking at all.

Some think randomly scanning is a good idea; it could very well be. It could also cause you to scan a bunch of folks that wind up lynched or dead, and then your results are useless.

The idea of being a doctor is very similar; who do you protect? You can't protect yourself.

It's possible that a doctor protecting people who are training to become doctors is optimal strategy; then protect each other.

It's also possible that protecting investigators is your best move.

But really, the single greatest plan is to protect the people getting attacked every night. That may not always be as predictable as folks who are important roles; the scums want to inflict death on the town so they'll target folks who are unlikely to be protected more often than they'll straight up attack a power role, even an outed one.... especially an outed one.

It's a guessing game, how you choose to play is up to you, but the more townie deaths you prevent, the better. Sparing a detective who isn't finding mafia and isn't being attacked while bunches of townies die every night may not be optimal, even if it is generally expected of a doctor.


Goals as Mafa

You want to get rid of all the incorruptible townies as one of your top priorities, however if the other families are gunning for your family then your best move may be to cover up and protect yourselves.... Mades covering the Luca, Luca covering the Don. You need to survive, really.

You want to recruit as many corruptibles as you can trust. That means attacking wiseguys and certain townies isn't optimal, unless you're trying to deny them to a rival family.

Just remember, that rival family is already full of experienced mafiosi; which are the IDEAL additions to your own family should their Don be destroyed. Your goal should be to wipe out townies, then competing Dons; attacking corruptibles, wiseguys, and Mades might be a last resort, but of those, the Mades of another family are a target because they can murder you and investigate/grow their family. In summary, I would put the order of priority for who to kill as:

1) Townies who can kill and cannot become mafia (vigilantes or vigilante groups, incorruptible, are your worst nightmare)
2) Townies who can protect and cannot become mafia (doctors or protection groups, incorruptible, are a gigantic stumbling block)
3) Townies who can investigate and cannot become mafia (FBI detectives and townie detectives can cause you pain)
4) Serial Killers (These guys pose a serious danger to your family and can never join you)
5) Rival Dons (These guys could be allies against the town, but are one of your primary targets)
6) Rival Mades (You really want these guys on your team, but target them if their family is huge, or to cripple their family)
7) Rival Lucas (You really want these guys on your team, but they protect the Don, so they're a target)
8) Rival affiliated wiseguys (These can join your family easily, target the Don instead)
9) corruptible townies (They take a while to become wiseguys)
10) corruptible unaffiliated wiseguys (You only kill these to deny them to other families, otherwise killing them is very unwise)

Should be your priority of things to kill, it would seem. This may not bear out in practice, because it could be the case that the townies pose less of a threat than your rival gangsters at some point, so these priorities could reverse.

These are just suggestions. Converse with your mafia teammates and come up with an intelligent strategy you can agree on, but if your team has no idea what to do, this could get you started. And remember, it's important that your kills SUCCEED; targeting your primary targets doesn't help you much if they don't die. Kill things you can kill, otherwise the longer the game goes on, the higher the odds you or your family is lynched or vigilante killed or investigated.

Frequently asked questions:


Ask me some!

What do you think the best way for a newbie with no previous mafia experience behind them to get involved? Capo 2 was my first game and I was a basic townie, with no allies and nobody to trust I quickly became overwhelmed. Then Sasaki Kojiro picked up on my one post and I got the first train outta Fatlington.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

What do you think the best way for a newbie with no previous mafia experience behind them to get involved? Capo 2 was my first game and I was a basic townie, with no allies and nobody to trust I quickly became overwhelmed. Then Sasaki Kojiro picked up on my one post and I got the first train outta Fatlington.

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I like this question because it is going to be one of the main questions on the mind of a new player.

Let me address the "overwhelmed" aspect in the abstract, because it's very likely going to be a problem.

This response is too long to go into the FAQ, because it's more a philosophical question, not an easy answer.



1) The thread is going to be filled up fast with lots and lots and lots of votes, comments, side commentary, quarrels, and discussions overlapping each other. It will be nearly impossible to make any sense of, and it will be difficult to read just due to the sheer volume of it. Folks have had problems in smaller games with talkative players, now there will be over 100 voices potentially shouting at one another. As for myself, I will quiet my own noisemaker for the first several rounds just to not add to the problem, unless I have a vote to place with reasons attached, or I have something important to announce like detective results. However, for a new player, this noise is going to make them not even want to read it, and therefore, not to play.

My advice: Don't worry about reading it all. It's 99% noise, garbage, and stuff that won't make sense until later on in the game, and no one is going to want to re-read it. My advice to all is to shush with the spam, noise, and posting more than 10 times in a given day, really, unless you're talking about something with some real meat to it. Everyone has opinions, yours or mine isn't that special on day one. We don't need to have 1000 posts of nothing really being said. And for newbies; you don't really have to read it, just skim along until you find something you actually find suspicious and vote for it. Also, look for vote tallies to assist you in your decision if you want your vote to cause a death.





2) Night actions: Nobody knows exactly what to do right away, you're not alone.

• You have friends from other forums? Try hooking up with them as just a starting point, so you have something to do. Not all of them will be particularly interested in working with you though for any number of reasons.

• People you could contact for possible night actions: Try talking to someone who has posted a vote during the day phase. That person is playing and reading, and therefore, should at least get your message.

• Send out several messages, even to random people. No one is going to bite you. Someone should respond.

• You could try contacting a bunch of new players (check the post count under their name) and form a newbie squad. At least you'll all be in the same boat! Help each other figure out the game. Decide to vig or protect someone at random.... just doing something, assuming it appears in the night writeups, helps establish an alibi for where you were at night. Doing this improves your chances of avoiding a lynch.

• You could contact someone like me, who is used to interacting with bunches of people and is willing to offer ideas on how to organize or even give you names of folks who are looking for others to contact. Fair warning: You can't necessarily trust me, and I don't really want to repeat what I did in Capo 3 and be the central point of the pro-town effort. That gets lame on repeat viewings. Contact me as a last resort. Others can also volunteer to be contacted if you're not sure what to do.

3) Take a chance

Sure, you don't know who to trust. But 4 out of 5 players out there are going to be townie. Take a chance, reach out and work with someone. Don't necessarily trust them, but doing something is better than being paralyzed by inactivity.

If you fail in your initial attempts to find someone to work with, contact someone who is looking for volunteers. They can direct your efforts and get you involved in the group. If no one else volunteers to organize things, I'll do it as a last resort. So there will always be someone available to assist you in finding people to work with, unless I'm dead.





4) If all else fails, you can always rely on yourself.

You do realize of course that you don't necessarily need people to work with. You could pull a Twilightblade, who refused to work with anyone all game in Capo III, and attacked people every night, in ineffective fashion. Ineffective if the goal was to kill someone, but rather effective at causing hilarity to ensue. He actually managed to stay alive for a long time, risking his life every night. Nobody ever lynched him because he was effectively providing himself an alibi, and the mafia didn't bother killing him because he wasn't really trying to vote for them.

So, you could play risk-taking apathetic neutral, and live for a long time. Be sure to give Seamus some ideas on how your ill-fated attacks will be carried out. If you want to attack people with banana creme pies or nunchaku made out of rubber chickens tied together, have at it. Seriously, have fun with this, or else why are you playing?

Twilightblade forever, baby.





5) Don't say stuff that could be incriminating

Not sure you have anything intelligent to say? Okay, just vote and say "I don't really have a case, but I'd like to vote anyway" or just vote, and we'll infer the rest. If you are like me and like to talk, people are going to pick on what you say, and declare that it is scummy. Happens all the time. Don't want to cause trouble for yourself? You could do the time honored thing of keeping your head down and your mouth shushed. I can't, because I'm Askthepizzaguy and I'm physically incapable of being quiet, but it really does work. It's stupid how well this works, but it does. Shame I can't do that.

Why is this in the GAH, wouldn't it be more visible in the Gameroom proper?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by johnhughthom

Why is this in the GAH, wouldn't it be more visible in the Gameroom proper?

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Seamus already has a link to this one in the OP of the signup thread.

This is not a game nor is it an official component of the game, so I felt having it clutter up the gameroom itself wasn't right.

If people really want it in the gameroom I don't have objections, but I didn't see the need to put it there.

The most important thing is to bluff like mad and pretend that you are part of an important group of people with inside information, and then refuse to divulge the details because of "information security". Always refer to yourself in the third person plural, and if you see a bandwagon growing add your vote with a comment implying that those who are "in the know" are all voting for this person.

Oh sorry, didn't spot the link in the op. I was just wondering why there hadn't been any other questions so far. I guess most of the new sign ups are experienced mafia players, just not at the org. But then, can you truly call yourself an experienced mafia player if you haven't played at the home of the world's finest exponents of the art? :clown:

Also, all newcomers should know that it is considered good manners to vote JHT on Day 1 :D

I volunteer to be talked to privately as well. And you can always trust me :yes:

Very good response to JHT's question. Taking chances and networking with other players on Day 1 seems like an essential thing for the town to do, if they're going to stand a chance with all the mafia factions, serial killers, and vigilante activities going on. I think this point should be emphasized at every opportunity.

Would like to see some questions from new players, if possible.

Is there somewhere that has peoples chat details for IMs?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Krill

Is there somewhere that has peoples chat details for IMs?

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Oooh! I like this idea!

Thing is, I can't give out people's IM information without permission.

However, what I could do is post an announcement at the beginning of the Capo IV game asking people to volunteer their IM information to me and I will collect it and post it here, and link back to the post that contains it for everyone to reference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Askthepizzaguy

Oooh! I like this idea!

Thing is, I can't give out people's IM information without permission.

However, what I could do is post an announcement at the beginning of the Capo IV game asking people to volunteer their IM information to me and I will collect it and post it here, and link back to the post that contains it for everyone to reference.

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That would be the ideal method, yes.

Nothing personal about Mafia, yeah right. Everything is personal. :tongue:

Perhaps add a link to QuickTopic?

Some basic questions from a noob:

I'm used to playing mafia with a main game thread (or a main thread for each Day and Night), an off-board secret thread for scum and possibly another off-board secret thread for masons. Night actions, for those who have one, are submitted to the mod via PM. And that's it.

Could someone outline the uses and restrictions of the various forms of communication I've seen mentioned (main thread, IM, PMs between players, quicktopics, etc.)?

Secondly, does each Townie have a single Night action? Is it possible to join multiple groups of 5+ Townies and submit a Night action for each group and join groups of 3+ and submit protection targets? Or are we limited to one group and therefore one action?

Thirdly, how does a mafia family recruit? The Made can determine who may be recruited but then what?

Finally, for now, do Townies know whether they are corruptible or not?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by guiri

Some basic questions from a noob:

I'm used to playing mafia with a main game thread (or a main thread for each Day and Night), an off-board secret thread for scum and possibly another off-board secret thread for masons. Night actions, for those who have one, are submitted to the mod via PM. And that's it.

Could someone outline the uses and restrictions of the various forms of communication I've seen mentioned (main thread, IM, PMs between players, quicktopics, etc.)?

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You may post in the main thread but may not post screenshots which prove anything; no screenshots at all, in fact.

You may not discuss aspects of your role which the game host specifically bars you from discussing.

You may instant message people, same restrictions as above.

You may private message people, same restrictions as above.

When you're dead, you CANNOT reveal what you've been doing; there's some specifics involved here, read the main rules for the exact details.

Quicktopics, same restrictions.

All forms of communication are otherwise legal. No loopholes, please.

Quote:

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Secondly, does each Townie have a single Night action? Is it possible to join multiple groups of 5+ Townies and submit a Night action for each group and join groups of 3+ and submit protection targets? Or are we limited to one group and therefore one action?

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One group, normally one action. I do see some roles can perform a passive and an active action, not everyone can.

It's role-specific.

Quote:

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Thirdly, how does a mafia family recruit? The Made can determine who may be recruited but then what?

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This is a good question as I was not mafia in Capo III so I don't know the exact mechanics; I can't find them in the rules but I may be missing it.

I'll refer your Q to Seamus himself.

Quote:

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Finally, for now, do Townies know whether they are corruptible or not?

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I believe so, but Seamus should clarify.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Askthepizzaguy

This is a good question as I was not mafia in Capo III so I don't know the exact mechanics; I can't find them in the rules but I may be missing it.

I'll refer your Q to Seamus himself.

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My recollection from Capo II is that mafia families have to recruit simply by feeling out prospective candidates and smooth talking them. It is all done through conversation, there isn't any actual ability that simply converts a wiseguy to a mafioso. To become fully part of the family, I think both the Don and the wiseguy have to confirm with Seamus that the wiseguy is joining. The wiseguy can, of course, claim to be joining but instead lie about it and tell Seamus he is not joining. Wiseguys can do this to infiltrate a mafia family to aid the town or another mafia family, so the entire recruitment process is difficult and risky, though rewarding if successful.

Could mafia member investigate members of their own family as a counter for infiltration? Or, maybe, investigating is reserved for townies?

This is the perfect thread for me! I've only ever played one other mafia game here before signing up for Capo!