Welcome to Sleuth. Thank you for creating a new detective. We hope that you enjoy playing the game as much as we have enjoyed making it. The following are some frequently asked questions by new players. If you would like more in-depth help, click on the "Help" link in the upper right hand corner of most pages, or head over to the Message Boards located in City Hall.
I'm having a hard time remembering everything in a case.
The evidence that I found doesn't match suspects.
When does the new day start to get new cases?
When do you get a favor?
How do I find Big Lucy? Who is Larry the Toe?
Sometimes when I asked a question, I don't get a useful response.
I am not receiving private messages, why is that?
Accusing
When should I accuse?
There is no option to accuse, what should I do?
How do you get rid of false accusations?
All suspects clammed or died, what should I do?
Skills and Equipment
What skills should I get?
What is safe cracking, and how is that different from lock picking?
What are all the different faction skills? And which one should I get?
What do I need to do to learn a faction skill?
What equipment should I keep, get, or get rid off?
Factions and Politics
What are factions?
What are "little jobs"?
Faction Standing Benefits.
How do I switch factions?
Contacts
What are contacts?
How do you get (the right) contacts?
When do you get a second contact in a city?
Agencies and Features for Subscribers
Do you need to be subscribed to join an agency?
What are treasure hunts and how do you start them?
General
I'm having a hard time remembering everything in a case.
There is a lot to remember in a single game of Sleuth. Try keeping notes on a piece of scratch paper. Some players use a separate program like notepad or a spreadsheet to keep everything straight. There are also several tools listed on the Community Sites page that have been specifically created by Sleuth players to help with the game.
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The evidence that I found doesn't match suspects.
Upon investigating the crime scene you will find evidence. There are several pieces evidence at any crime scene, but depending on your acquired skills and equipment you may or may not find them all. This means that not all evidence found will match the killer. Also, if you haven't identified all suspects, the evidence may not match any of the suspects you have found.
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When does the new day start to get new cases?
At midnight sleuth server time. The sleuth server time is located in Denver, Mountain Time (GMT-7), United States. The current sleuth server time can be found under the city hall tab, underneath the picture.
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When do you get a favor?
After 4 correctly finished cases: either 1 favor + 3 normal cases, or 4 normal cases.
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How do I find Big Lucy? Who is Larry the Toe?
Big Lucy's Cabaret is a famous night spot that takes some work to find. Lucy keeps the Cabaret on the move, and it never appears visibly on the map. Larry the Toe, a local "entrepreneur" can help you find the Cabaret's current location, for the right price. When Larry tells you the location, be sure to go visit the Cabaret before starting another case. When you start a case, the Cabaret location will move and you will not be able to find it again without Larry's help.
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Sometimes when I asked a question, I don't get a useful response.
True, some suspects and towns people don't like to talk. They either don't say anything at all, or they clam. That's part of the game, goal is to solve the game despite the clammed suspects and towns people, and to ask your questions as sparingly as possible. The most important question you can ask any suspect is motive, if suspects clam before the killer's motive is revealed, there is no way to finish the case.
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I am not receiving private messages, why is that?
You need to turn off your pop up blocker, please check any pop up blocker programs you may run as either part of your browser or separate program. You can check if you can receive private messages by going to city hall and go to "who's online", find yourself and click on the send message link. Then send yourself a message. If you then go to another page, a private message should appear.
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Accusing
When should I accuse?
There is a quite simple formula for knowing when to accuse a suspect. First, you need to have no or a fake alibi for the suspect. Then, you'll need one of two things. You will need either one piece of physical evidence (bloody footprint, hair, thread, threatening note) pointing to the suspect or one piece of witness evidence (when another suspect believes your suspect is guilty). Only then is it safe to accuse. Please note, a piece of witness evidence and a piece of physical evidence without a fake/no alibi does not mean your suspect is necessarily guilty.
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There is no option to accuse, what should I do?
Before you can accuse a suspect, you will need a motive. Try asking other suspects if they know of anyone else who might have a motive.
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How do you get rid of false accusations?
There is a Shady Character in every bar. He'll do you the favor of removing your false accusations...for a price. You may want to wait until you have two false accusations to make use of the Shady Character since his rates are the same whether you have one or two false accusations.
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All suspects clammed or died, what should I do?
Sadly, this does happen sometimes. Try asking the townspeople if they know anything about the case. You might find a new suspect or some more information. If all else fails, you'll want to quit the case; it's not worth getting a false accusation because you felt pressured to guess.
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Skills and Equipment
What skills should I get?
This depends on the type of detective you are playing. Generally it is best to play to your strengths. Tough detectives get better value by learning mostly toughness based skills, and so on for Charming or Smart detectives. The most important task in the game is interviewing suspects, so be sure to get either Interrogation or Sweet Talking very early on (even if you are playing a Very Smart detective). As for Smarts skills, the ones usually thought to be most broadly useful are: Basic Thread Analysis, Basic Hair Analysis, and Research.
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What is safe cracking, and how is that different from lock picking?
Safe Cracking is only useful for detectives who are in a detective agency and taking part in treasure hunts. It allows you to skip the last step of some treasure hunts.
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What are all the different faction skills? And which one should I get?
Here is the full list of skills that must be learned from one of the factions. Some of these skills are not useful to all detectives.
| The Order of Socrates: | Hypnotism |
| Pick-Pocketing | |
| La Cosa Nostra: | Safe Cracking (only useful when treasure hunting with an agency) |
| The Eastern Triads: | Underworld Connections (only useful on "Really Really Hard" cases and up) |
| The Circle of Light: | Surveillance |
| The Green Hand: | Pugilism (Only useful for detectives with Interrogation or Intimidation) |
| Tough Gear | Smarts Gear | Charming Gear |
|
Interrogation Intimidation |
Handwriting Analysis Footprint Analysis Advanced Thread Analysis Advanced Hair Analysis Surveillance |
Sweet Talking Rule Bending Hypnotism |
Factions and Politics
What are factions?
The factions are secret political or criminal organizations striving for control of the various cities. The cities have 3 factions each and are divided between: the Order of Socrates, the Dies Arcanum Brotherhood, La Cosa Nostra, the Eastern Triads, the Circle of Light and the Green Hand. Each faction has certain benefits (such as special gear and special skills) that you can get the chance to acquire if they like you well enough. In order to get them to like you, you first need to solve a case where the famed "lady with the magnifying glass" appears in a cutscene and tells you the case is positive for the faction you want to get in with. When you then have a positive standing with the faction, you can do "little jobs" for them to make them like you more.
For more background on the factions, visit the Hall of Records at City Hall.
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What are "little jobs"?
Once you have a positive standing with a faction you can do "little jobs" for them. Little jobs are like odd jobs or small missions you can perform to make a faction like you more, something, which will then enable you to enjoy certain benefits offered by the faction in question. You can only perform 1 little job per day, and while it will affect your standings with the faction you do it for positively, you shouldn't count on the rivalling factions to react with enthusiasm.
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Faction Standing Benefits.
| You may now visit the faction's headquarters, buy equipment, and do little jobs for them. | |
| You receive a slight discount when purchasing faction equipment. | |
| If you are in an agency, you can now purchase information on treasure hunts. You also receive an additional discount on faction equipment. | |
| You receive an additional discount on faction equipment. | |
| If you have enough skill points, you can now learn the faction's special skill. | |
| You will now receive the highest discount on items. |
Contacts
What are contacts?
Contacts are townspeople who have become your friends and will always answer an unlimited number of questions when working on a case (they won't clam up). You earn contacts by doing favors for people.
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How do you get (the right) contacts?
You can have up to 2 contacts in each city - one PE (physical evidence) contact (barber, banker, tailor, shoemaker) and one non-PE (fortune teller, bartender, waiter, etc.).
You get a contact by doing favors for the townspeople. Most of the time you'll get a piece of equipment, but sometimes the townsperson will become your contact. Once a townsperson becomes your contact that's it, you can't exchange that person for someone else. So if you want to get specific contacts, f. ex. a specific PE contact, you'll have to quit any favors you might get for the other PE townies. Just keep in mind that getting a specific contact can take a little longer due to the quits.
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When do you get a second contact in a city?
Usually it doesn't take too long, but it varies. Once you are at 150,000 experience points, your chances of acquiring a second contact in a given city increases.
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Agencies and Features for Subscribers
Do you need to be subscribed to join an agency?
Yes, only subscribers can join an existing agency or create a new one.
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What are treasure hunts and how do you start them?
Treasure Hunts are competitions that detective agencies can take on against each other. In order to start a hunt, you must be in an agency, and have a political standing of 10 or higher with the correct faction. You can then visit the faction boss and pay a small fee to begin the hunt. Once a detective in a particular agency begins a hunt, that entire agency is able to help find the treasure. It is not necessary for other members of that agency to also start the hunt.
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