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Aug-12-2006 21:11

Maybe it's just me... But I experienced it became a tad more difficult lately to solve AI cases. More & more suspects seem to clam up right from the start and the townies can't come up with names so the list is not complete. More & more cases with 3 or even 4 PE suspects clammed up. Or what about a case with 4 threads and 3 suspects referring to the tailor for their alibi's...

My surveillance skill seems to be of futile use now....


Is this in any way related to the upcoming new features (avoidance of building up too many unspent skill points)?????


Everyone: NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

:-)

Aug-16-2006 04:45

I started keeping track after this thread started.

The chances per suspect have staying in the same ranges. The low number for the range is in the ~20% base chance on AI cases. I have not seen any go below that point.

When you add on skill levels and gear to that number it should often come out to a reasonable ~80% chance.

The problem with multiples of a type of PE I have not seen. I opened one with 4 notes (PE contact) and one with 4 threads (curses, not my contact). All the others were scattered.

AI cases have always had a higher percentage of suspects with alibis at the PE townies.


One last comment, they are called Almost Impossible for a reason. Without help they are very challenging to solve.

Aug-17-2006 15:34

Ms. Devon,

I appreciate you taking the time to explain all that you did. Thank you. Unfortunately, I forgot to put any kind of indication in my post about subs being favored as not serious.

Your information is good. As well is everyone else's. I'm afraid that even if I did sub, I would not be invited into an agency as I cannot commit to solving cases everyday or even every week. And that's fine. Subbing would allow me to travel and to do FMs and who knows what else...(villians?)

And as for the difficulty level rising, I did experience it and just recently also had 3 PEs of notes. Of course, the Banker clammed quickly, too. Currently, I only have 1 contact. I got the Music Teacher pretty quickly and I'm still waiting for a PE contact. It's been a long wait.

All in all, it's still a fun experience. The recent anomolies of increased difficulty and multiple same PEs has just slowed down my playing. I'm not so quick to try to solve all my 3 cases anymore. And that's OK, too. I'm not in any kind of rush to become "super detective" and acquire all the skills. I'm content with having to quit a few more cases than before and hanging out with everyone here at Sleuth.

Especially when I get that much attention from a lovely lady like yourself.

*tips hat*
Barry

Aug-19-2006 11:06

Hmm, I had a bad run a couple of weeks ago and seem to be having another run now of cases where the suspects clam first question and I can't expand the list. at all. And I've recently had PE townies that usually give me at least 3 questions will only give me one or none.

Perhaps it is just perceptions, but then again...

Aug-19-2006 15:29

This is really bad when you are in a multi-city hunt and have your gear options limited. Even IH favors can be a nightmare when all pieces of evidence are the same and you dont have that contact.

Aug-19-2006 15:55

Katiejayne: there are some detectives out there that have gotten really good at balancing their equipment. It is not something I do myslef (I travel all tough + compact case). Check out a few that belong to hunting agencies and you'll see what I am talking about. Of course, you have to click on the equipment and do the math yourself.

Aug-20-2006 10:54

*spins around and shows off her outfit*

Though, Andrea, I'm certain you are talking about actually USING the locker for travel and such, exspecially the orbs, I find this works just fine for me, even back ages ago when I was actually hunting. :D (7t/3s/15c)

I don't know if they still do it or not, but I used to know a few detectives who wore full charm or tough gear, even when traveling and hunting. I guess it depends a bit on your case strategy.

But the real reason I wear what I do is that most of it holds a memory or two, so I'm lucky that its effective!

Aug-20-2006 13:35

cfm, your outfir looks pretty perfect for all occassions!
I guess it has not been a big deal to me not to be able to access the locker on trips. I do easy cases and favors only during trips/hunts. IH cases can be a bit of a challenge, but not much!
I always though there should be more options in field offices, like a limited case file (maybe 2 cases per detective) and limited locker (like enough to store 1 smart outfit). Although I guess it doesn;t male sense that you could put that kind of stuff in the shacks/dumpster/phone booth that we get as field offices! lol!
I can;t wait to see what the "apartments" will hold in the expansion!

Aug-20-2006 13:35

oops, sorry cfm, Trey is Andrea's "double"

Sep-4-2006 14:46

OK, R Anstett. Somewhere in the history of this post you said that to sucessfully complete AI cases you should have a balanced outfit. I am a Smart and Charming detective and I got my Wonderful Hat for completing the villain hunt with +6 Toughness.

I'm putting your theory to the test!! :-) I'm off to catch another villain. I hope my spiffy new hat helps!

Sep-4-2006 15:16

Good Luck! Although you do not need it being 1 for 1 on Villain hunts already :)

Is this outfit a big shift from the one you used for that?

Look forward to hearing how it went.