Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Newbie Questions

Jan-9-2006 19:49

Heya, first post so take it easy on me =)

Are there ever more than 3 suspects on the Hard level? I was under the impression that there are only 3 up till Really Hard. If there are only 3, is it possible there is a bug sometimes? I had three solid suspects, used my research, knocked one of the three out, knocked the other one out through questioning and hair pieces. So logically, I guessed the last one. Well apparently, he wasn't it either. In fact, it was someone else that wasn't one of my three. When I find three suspects, I quit checking the rest of their alibis, I figure its a waste of questions. I'm not perfect, so I guess I could have wrote down the wrong name in my notes, but outside of that, has anyone ran across anything like this?

Thanks,

Ben Matlock *wink*

Jan-10-2006 08:14

I believe some of the trouble is terminology. All the people you talk to are suspects. Some have real alibis, which means they can not be the killer, some have fake/no alibis which mean they could be guilty. In each case there is a set number of suspects, but it can very by one at each level. (x or x+1) The amount of people who have a fake/no alibi is set at each level also. Obtaining research does not change that formula. It will only tell you that one of those people who would otherwise check out as having a fake alibi, actually has a real one and the person cleared by research can not be the guilty person.
I have to disagree with some of the numbers on Sleuth Helper. Perhaps those numbers should only be used as a guideline and not as hard and fast rules.

Jan-10-2006 09:11

On hard I only get two suspects on hard, and three on really hard (no/false alibi) I think that the numbers on sleuth helper regarding the total number of suspects are pretty much always accurate though I agree that it should only be used as guidelines. To be honest I never use the form as it's really slow on my computer and I prefer to write in my notebook with my special sleuthing pen!!

Jan-10-2006 12:13

Thanks again for the responses!!

Ahhh...so when sleuth helper says on hard it has three suspects, it could actually be four. I take it thats the X(for three) or X+1(for four). So by not checking out all the alibis, I could be pulling a Barney Fife, by shooting myself in the foot. I need to check out all the alibis, even when I find three none/fake alibis on a "hard" case. I honestly didn't know the X+1, I thought it was X, and I got X from Slueth Helper.

Thanks for all the help, and Marmalade, could I get one of those special sleuthing pens? =)

Jan-10-2006 12:43

Yeah sure from any good stationery shop - mine's a classic felt tip but I hear biros work quite well too!! ;)

Jan-10-2006 12:43

Oh and congrats on your first post!

Jan-10-2006 15:52

Just to add to the confusion ;) - the X stands for the total number of suspects for a given level, not the number of false alibis. The number of false alibis is always fixed whereas it's the number of real alibis that can vary, hence the X+1. Finding the false alibis is a good way of going about it, you just need to make sure you know how many each level has :)

Jan-10-2006 16:53

Suspects are people on your list and can vary in number by 1 on each level.

Fake/None of your business" alibis are a fixed number and Reda knows what those numbers are. ;)

REDA, HELP!!!!!

I do believe there may be an error in the Sleuth Helper, as from memory, The Hard level should be 4 suspects, one cleared by research....but its been a long time since I've suspect counted.

Jan-10-2006 17:02

Ahhh...ok example time here if ya'll don't mind. Lets say I'm on the hard level. Sleuth Helper says "Hard 8 people 3 evidence 3 suspects" This means 3 fake/none alibis. The "X"(though I'm still not sure how or where the "X" came about) means that there are 8 people or 9(X+1). Is this correct? Or 7=X and 8=X+1? There can only be 3 fake/none alibis on this level? And this is after research has been used, or is it including research(meaning weather or not you have research).

I hope this is not the case, because I have seen on Intermediate and Hard that there are 4 fake/none alibis. Does none=fake? I have been counting it as. So I have been looking for 3 none/fake alibis on these levels. Like I said before, I could have been careless, but after it happened to me on the Hard level and I lost a case, I dropped down to Intermediate and was extremely careful and it did the same to me. Now this all happened immediately after I recieved research, so I thought this might have had something to do with it.

BTW...thanks for adding more confusion Greyling =)

Jan-10-2006 17:06

Thanks cfm =) I have been using the terminology from Sleuth Helper, which probably hasn't been helping me much here :/ I think the problem might be something in Sleuth Helper. I'm sure Reda will be able to clear it up for me =) Thanks gals/guys!!

Matlock

Jan-11-2006 02:53

Finally got around to checking the Sleuth helper - guess I've just been too set in my ways to check it out sooner, but I must say it is very nicely made indeed and a great tool to get you into the "mechanics" of Sleuth.

Unfortunately, it does, however, have a quite a few inconsistencies which is probably why you've been encountering problems recently - that you haven't come across them earlier is pure coincidence, although I can see how research would now make you stop looking for fakes/"none of your business" sooner than you should based on the information on the Helper :)