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Sep-6-2006 22:06

I've hardly been able to finish any cases lately, so I need some advice...

Usually I'm chugging along just nicely, and once I get all the alibies figured out and whatnot, I usually go and ask the five contacts if they've seen or heard anything about the case... Then I do as much of physical evidence as I can, but it seems the shopkeepers clam up far too soon.

Then, when I'm asking the people about my suspects, every one of them will clam up without giving me any information, so I'm stuck and have to abandon.

Does anyone have any tips for getting through "incredibly hard" difficulty, or do I just have to keep doing them until I get a lucky break?

Sep-6-2006 22:07

I'm very sorry to hear than! If that ever happened to me I'd try to somehow to get motivated.

Sep-6-2006 22:40

Yeah that's a tricky level, because that's where you hit the runaways, and it represents the point at which you can have as many potentially guilty suspects as innocent ones.

One thing is to be a little more cautious with asking townies if they know anything about the case - I never do this except with my contact, or in the very rare occasion that I can't get another name out of a suspect. I don't find it a useful question, and would rather save it for digging people out of hiding.

It sounds like you're mostly having clamming problems - you might need to get some new skills. Can't say for sure though because we don't know which you already have. If you don't have them, research and lock picking would be extremely useful to you.

Another thing that I think is absolutely a must for doing upper levels is knowledge of the maximum numbers of suspects and fake alibis that correspond to each level. This usually allows you to work out your who's fake/who's real much more quickly, and to save a bunch of questions. Waaaay long time ago, Reda sent me this magical list (*bows, kisses Reda's shoe*) and it made my life a lot easier. Let me know if you want it and I'll hook you up.

Sep-6-2006 22:55

Yeah, don't waste questions asking townies if they know anything about the case. The ONLY time that's useful at the level you are at is if suspects clam before you unlock all the suspects.

Get as much smart or charming gear as you can, and save questions by examining what evidence matches what suspects before asking them if they have an alibi. Sometimes you'll see a suspect has no matching evidences and can eliminate him without needing his alibi and can save a question that way.

I've found the combination of lockpicking and hypnotism are great for unlocking suspects using a minimum of questions, and as Crunch Patty mentioned, Research -- it'll automatically eliminate a suspect for you.

Sep-7-2006 01:25

I think at this point you need to examine your strategy. In order to accuse you'll need either 2 WE or a PE and fake/none alibi.

Right now you ask your suspects alibi which will help you with PE. but then you ask townies who has seen something which helps with WE. So you mix strategies too soon.

You better first check alibis and PE with townies before they clam. If that fails you can always try all suspects for WE. You can do that even without a name given by a townie.

I agree with the detectives above. I rarely ask townie about who knows something... I only do that if my suspect list is not complete or if all else failed and I have extra questions left.

Sep-7-2006 09:07

I´d add here that when checking alibis, try to check them one by one, you may get enough falses (or real) without asking everybody (saves a few questions). I mean try, because you may not want to check alibis with PE witness when you have that particuler PE in your case.
This requires that you exactly how many suspects, how many falses and how many real alibis there is in that particular case.
I´m not giving that away here, but cruchpatty knows ;)

I too ask fot townies if someone knows something only when it´s my last hope.

Sep-7-2006 12:07

Thanks for all the help, everyone! I tried doing another case, and only asked the butcher (my contact) about the case. Unfortunately, all four of my evidence pieces were threatening notes, so that didn't go far, but I did manage to work out that someone was innocent based on the number of suspects I already had, so I had more questions with him.

In the end, I managed to solve the case! :)

Sep-7-2006 13:00

Hey good for you! Keep doing favors and eventually you'll get a physical evidence contact too - that should make things go much more smoothly.