Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Newbie Questions


0 0
Welcome Newbies....
  Next>  |  Last Page>>  

cfm
cfm
Nomad

Apr-9-2006 22:34
(sticky post)


WARNING GAME SPOILER!!

If you wish to enjoy the adventure of figuring out this game on your own, DO NOT read the rest of this post.

If you are too lazy to read through a page or two of threads to see if your question has already been asked a zillion times, then PLEASE read this first!

Welcome to Sleuth, and your new addiction.  There is no cure, so just accept it and enjoy it! Here are a few tips and hints that you should find helpful, and are among the FAQ of the newbie boards.

First, a great place to FIND ANSWERS and cool history threads about Sleuth is in the Moderator Picks Board. The Mods have picked out their favorite bits and made them easy to find. In addition to personal favorites, try looking over the Newbie FAQ. This can be found on the bottom of most pages as a tiny little grey link. Also the Help file at the upper right of most screens is packed with little useful tidbits.

HOW DO I SOLVE a case? First off…we recommend that you try the tutorial found on the front of the case page. It won’t count against your daily caseload, and it will give you an idea of how the game works. It’s not set up to walk you through the most efficient course through the game, but to show you how the game works, leaving you to find your own strategy. The following formulas will help you find your murderer.

PE+Fake/"none of your business" Alibi=guilty
WE+Fake/"none of your business" Alibi=guilty
2 WE = guilty

PE=Physical Evidence WE=Witness Evidence

Having a clammed suspect that will not give you an alibi is not the same as a fake/none alibi.

PE+WE DOES NOT = Guilty



Replies

cfm
cfm
Nomad

Apr-9-2006 22:35

WHAT SKILLS should I buy next? While the details vary a bit by detective, the general rule is that you should work on EITHER tough or charming skills, and stay away form mixing the two interview styles until much later in the game. In addition, basic hair and thread is a must, and Research is always a big favorite.

What are CONTACTS and HOW do I get them? (Thank You, Moonshh, I’m stealing your words from another thread.)
You'll get two contacts in each city (if you are subscribed)...eventually. ((One PE contact, (barber, banker, tailor, shoemaker) and one none PE contact (fortune teller, bartender, waiter, etc.)) You get them by doing favors. You know how at the end of a favor the person you did the favor for usually gives you something? Well, sometime, instead of giving you something, the person will tell you they'll be of service to you in the future. That person will then be your contact, which means they will NEVER CLAM up on you! Really! You can just ask them all the questions you want, and they will answer them all!

How do I get a FAVOR? Successfully complete four cases (this includes successfully solving the previous favor) and you’ll find a townie willing to hire you for a case. The lowest level favor is intermediate, so don’t worry if you don’t solve the first few. The favor levels are capped at Incredible, so don’t worry that you’ll one day have to solve an Almost Impossible favor. …unless The Sleuth Gods decide to change this in the future. (Says a prayer that they won’t.)



cfm
cfm
Nomad

Apr-9-2006 22:35

FACTIONS…what are they and which should I pick? Basically, most of us see them as mob organization types. Early on, factions don’t really matter much. They sell some gear, but most of it you can get from favors for free instead of paying their high prices. They have skills, but all of them are more for convienence than for necessity. You are better off building your interview and smart skills before worrying about the faction skills. Here is some information on faction standing though that is helpful in dealing with them.
Faction points – result
1 point – you may now visit this faction’s headquarters.
10 points – if you are in an agency you may purchase any hunt information.
25 points – if you have enough skill points you may now purchase the faction skill
30 points – You will now receive the highest discount on items.

The Faction leader for any faction receives a special perk they can use once a day. This perk is one of the few secrets still rather guarded, so I’m not going to post here, and hopefully no one else will either.

For more great information of Factions please visit Delvin’s website at

http://pachome2.pacific.net.sg/~simbp76/site/

*reminds herself she needs to get Delvin the information on the Green Hand and the eye patch he’s missing*


cfm
cfm
Nomad

Apr-9-2006 22:36

LARRY the toe and LUCY…what the…? Unless you are subscribed and in an agency doing a hunt that tells you to visit her…don’t bother. Or if you have extra money around to through off the top off a skyscraper and watch scatter in the wind. It’s about the same effect. Newbies, beware, you’ll find Lucy to just be a waste of good money.

While there are plenty of other topics I COULD put in here, I’m hoping this will give you a good enough start that maybe, just maybe you’ll find some of the other answers on your own. Always feel free to PM someone for help if you need it. You’ll find that most of the detectives are more than happy to take them time to help you along.

PS. Please, when you name a new thread, label with something that tells us what it’s about…. Not just “Help”, “Question” or “OH MY GOSH!”

Thank you, and Happy Sleuthing! Hope this helped a little!


cfm
cfm
Nomad

Apr-10-2006 07:08

Oh yes, and one more important point. Most everything about this game is and the mysteries involved is RANDOM, Cases, Contacts, hunts.... So don't go looking too deeply for meaning or asking for who the killer is on a specific case. The latter will be met, even in the Feature Mysteries with great resistance anyway. ;)

cfm
cfm
Nomad

Apr-10-2006 19:24

I have a feeling this is going to be a work in progress. I hope that I can get a hand or two in adding the details I have missed from other experienced detectives. ;)

So and So thinks they know who the murderer is...WHAT DOES THAT MEAN??
Okay, personally, I don't find this information useful at all, unless my list of suspects is stuck early and it needs a jump start. However, I do know that there are detectives that prefer to use this method to start thier list.

When you ask a Non-PE townie if they know anything about the crime, you'll get either a "No..." a "Yes...so and so...does/doesn't know" answer out of them. The first thing this does is put the "So and So" person on your list of suspects, WITHOUT MOTIVE, so if they are guilty, you'll need to find motive from one of your other suspects to be able to accuse.

What it really means is that if the DO know something, then if you ask if they "Have reason to suspect anyone...." Then they might actually give you a yes to your question. This is your WE (Witness evidence). But, that doesn't mean that the person they suspect is actually guilty, you'll need more evidence to prove that. (Please see the formulas above.)

If they DON'T no anything, then basically it won't do any good to ask them if they "Have reason to suspect anyone...." Because, they won't give a yes answer.

Whew! I hate that question. It's so long for so little effect.

Ray Kowalski
Ray Kowalski

Apr-10-2006 19:32

I don't know, I use the townies to collect all my suspects without wasting questions and causing my witnesses to clam up. The 'so-and-so-knows ...' is usually witness evidence and useful. Also, the 'so-and-so knows nothing' saves me from wasting a question.

crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

Apr-11-2006 00:36

Ray, I used to do that too, but later on in the game, when you move up to more difficult cases, I guarantee you, you will want to save your townie questions to check alibis. I learned the hard way that hearing 'so-and-so thinks they know who the murderer is' is really only useful in cases with a handful of suspects. When the suspect list gets up around 9 or 10 with five false alibis it's pretty much useless. Plus, starting at the incredibly hard level, your suspects start running away like scared little lemmings, and unless you have the underground connections faction skill, the only way to get them back in play is to ask the townies if they know where the suspect went. As a rule, I only ever ask it of a contact.

cfm, I would have loved to see all this in one place when I started out. I thus nominate this thread to be added to your (or someone's) mod picks list. There's a lot of fresh gumshoe in sleuthville and a lot of old stuff on the boards. As a once-and-perma-newbie I thank you for your work, lol.

crunchpatty
crunchpatty
Old Shoe

This reply has been deleted by a Moderator

Spyrick7
Spyrick7

Apr-11-2006 01:42

Crunchpatty is right. You do not want the townies to clamp up first. After checking research and contacts, I myself, start with alibis, and if I find that it's fake or the witness has none, the witness becomes a suspect immediately. Then I get more list of witnesses with motives by questioning these suspects. Depending on what the level is, I stop asking for alibis the moment I receive a certain number of suspects, (At hard level, it's 2 or 3). Then I check the PE, eliminating one suspect at a time. Finally, whatever suspects are left, I then check for WE against them one suspect at a time. So in the end, even if I cannot get 2 evidence to pin a suspect (which is uncommon), I can still use a system of elimation, and pin the murder on the remaining suspect.

Susan Barry
Susan Barry

Apr-11-2006 13:47

I have a question: is it possible that witness evidence can be false and lead you to accuse an innocent suspect? I ask because I think that I once almost accused an innocent person based on witness ev alone. I don't remember whether the person had a false alibi or clammed up before I could ask, but is it guaranteed that WE + no/fake alibi = guilty will always work?

  Next>  |  Last Page>>  

[ You must login to reply ]