Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Newbie Questions

Aug-15-2025 03:06

Is it just me or do suspects and witnesses clam up far too quickly? Sometimes I can only ask 2 questions and they clam up. Is this normal?

Not only that, but my interrogate skill barely ever works on them (feels like a 25%, success rate at best). I have almost all of the smarts skills, but even with all the clues I'm pulling from the crime scene, It doesn't help when the experts keep clamming up on me.

Any advice on how to counter/avoid this would be appreciated. Because I'm not sure how I'd ever be able to pull off any case above intermediate at this rate unless I create a new character and hard focus on charming skills.

P.S. I'm earning between 0-1 skill points per case. What determines how many skill points I get from completing a case? It seems random to me.

Aug-16-2025 08:37

It doesn't seem like a lot but it does add to skills you already possess. There are items that can even boost up to 7 or 8%. You have to look at the totality of all the percentages of your combined items.

Let's say each item you have increases interrogation chances by 5%. You are allowed to wear 5 items so that'll be an increase of 25%. And that on top of improved interrogation skills if you can afford them.

Aug-16-2025 18:21

All good advice here. If you haven't already, read through the help file:

https://noir.playsleuth.com/help/index.html

The game starts off easy enough to progress, but then you hit a point where skill points don't come as often, which is why it's important to choose the proper skills to spend them on at the beginning. Interrogation skills are very important as if they clam up before you get all the suspects, your killer may not ever make it to your suspect list.

The game is not nearly as active as it once was, but if you find an agency that will take you in, they can help to get those skill points easier and help with cases you are unable to solve. Of course you have to subscribe to join an agency