Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Newbie Questions

Aug-8-2007 11:05

Feel free to answer what you like, it would be most appreciated. I promise that I tried to find answers for these.

1. What level should Newbies be playing at? Should we stick to a level where we can routinely solve the cases or is it better to challenge ourselves (even if it means a high quit rate)? Does playing lower difficulty levels negatively affect your ability to accumulate skill points?

2. Can the faction skills such as hypnosis be used on both townies and suspects? How useful are these skills in building a detective? Given the choice between a faction skill that complements your character's archetype or basic skills that will make you more rounded, which will get you farther faster?

3. Does each suspect have a set number of questions they will answer or will they answer more questions depending on how tough/charming you are? Say for example, you were only 88% charming to one person, but 126% charming to another will the latter answer more questions for you?

4. Does an empty appointment book always mean "no alibi"?

5. In detective agencies, is a "crime lab" required for other members to work on your cases?

6. When you receive a 1st contact in one city, is it better to move to other cities to acquire other 1st contacts? I understand that 2nd contacts are based, in part, on exp. points, so do you tend to get all of your first contacts before you start getting second contacts?

Any advice on these topics would be most helpful! Thank you!

Aug-8-2007 11:26

1 - always play the cases that keep your interest. If they seem too hard take a step down the ladder to build up your skills.

2 - no hypno does not work on townies, only on suspects. Faction skills are very useful AFTER you have all the interview (charming or tough) and investigating (smart) skills

3 - yes there is a set number of questions they will answer, and we do not have access to that info. Experience will teach you how many you will likely get within one or two. The higher % means they are more likely TO answer but not to answer MORE questions.

4 - yes

5 - no, crime lab allows others to examine the evidence in your cases, the case files are how you help each other by opening a case and working on it for them

6 - totally personal choice. Some like to have both in a city before moving on, others like a variety. I always recomend just doing your cases and the contacts will come as you travel and work.

Aug-8-2007 11:45

1. What level should Newbies be playing at? Should we stick to a level where we can routinely solve the cases or is it better to challenge ourselves (even if it means a high quit rate)? Does playing lower difficulty levels negatively affect your ability to accumulate skill points?
You can play any level of case you wish. Just don’t guess and get a false accusation. To gain the most experience points and thus more skill points you need to play the highest level case you are comfortably able to solve. If you are quitting more cases than solving, move down a level and gain a few more skills before moving up. Your skill points come with experience points. The more experience you gain, the more experience it will take to get your next skill point. Up to 1 skill point for every 40,000 to 50,000 experience points. So choose your skills wisely in the beginning.

2. Can the faction skills such as hypnosis be used on both townies and suspects? How useful are these skills in building a detective? Given the choice between a faction skill that complements your character's archetype or basic skills that will make you more rounded, which will get you farther faster?
Hypnosis can only be used on suspects and only when finding motives for other suspects. It gives you another name about 50-60% of the time (from what I have found)The faction skills are not as helpful or as important than getting your advanced interview skills. And most all agree that you should concentrate on one side of the interview skills, either tough or charming and not mix until much later.

3. Does each suspect have a set number of questions they will answer or will they answer more questions depending on how tough/charming you are? Say for example, you were only 88% charming to one person, but 126% charming to another will the latter answer more questions for you?
I have found that usually if they will answer more questions the higher the percentage. But not always. This is one of the things that is random and not a set pattern. You will get more corporation when you have the highest tough

Aug-8-2007 11:46

(con't)
You will get more corporation when you have the highest tough or charming gear on.

4. Does an empty appointment book always mean "no alibi"?
Yes

5. In detective agencies, is a "crime lab" required for other members to work on your cases?
No, Crime labs allow other detectives to analysis the evidence in your case without opening it. If you find a note, but don’t know if it is left or right, someone with advanced handwriting skill can go into the crime lab and find out that info for you. You can only work the crime lab once per day and it works better if you have smart gear on.

6. When you receive a 1st contact in one city, is it better to move to other cities to acquire other 1st contacts? I understand that 2nd contacts are based, in part, on exp. points, so do you tend to get all of your first contacts before you start getting second contacts?
No, Contacts can come at random. You can get them easy or hard just depending. If you don’t quit any favors it seems you get them faster and there is no advantage in moving to another city to get a contact. In my opinion it makes it harder to get your second contacts when you move around. I don’t think the contacts are based on experience. What is based on experience is, if you go above 150,000 (?) your likely hood of getting a second contact improves.

Aug-8-2007 12:44

Wow guys, thanks so much for getting back to me so quickly. It is greatly appreciated. Your excellent answers have prompted some more questions. I hope this is not asking too much.

1. In an agency, when somebody has picked up a case that you saved, do they have to complete it? Or can they work on it for a bit, save it and then let you pick it back up and finish it? This seems like it would make the crime lab a bit redundant. Also, are any skill points acquired also split? This would seem to make sense with the exp. point split, but I'd just like to verify.

2. Regarding the randomness of contacts, I'm assuming that this also means that some higher power doesn't decide that you'll get either a PE contact or a non-PE contact first. So, if you really have your heart set on that PE contact, quitting the non-PE townie favors should score this for you?

3. With regards to the "there's always 2 ways to solve a case" rule, well, what does this mean? Will there always be at least 1 PE and 1WE against a person with none/fake alibi?

4. Finally (I promise), is there any way of guessing which PE will get you your answer? For example, if you are playing a RRH case and you have 4 people claiming "Tailor" for alibi and you have found thread and a note, is the note more likely to be the "real" evidence? (considering the Tailor won't answer 9 questions)

Sigh, I'm trying to talk Adelaide off of the docks in NY. She's currently stuck in NY with a crappy Bartender contact and minimal smart skills. I don't think she can tough it out until 150,000 points to get a PE contact. Charm only gets a girl so far. I made her a "very smart" partner, so maybe I'll just start an agency for the two of them.

By the way, if somebody has any tips for solving RRH and IH cases with Charm as your main strong suit, I am ALL ears! It's not that people don't talk, it's just difficult to narrow down that darned suspect list without burning through all of my questions first!

Aug-8-2007 13:06

1. Yes, the person can restore your case so you can solve it. The experience points are split only if the person who solves the case is not the person who originally opened it. If you solve the case you originally opened, no matter how many people opened it, worked on it, and re-stored it, you get all the experience points. The skill points are not based on the cases, just the experience points for each individual. So there is nothing to split. You will get a skill point when you achieve enough experience points.
2. No, you can get either a PE or Non-PE contact first. Like I said before, I have found that if you quit favors, it takes longer to get your contacts. Also, it will not take getting to 150,000 to get your second contact. It is just at that point your chances become better. I had all 8 of my contacts before hitting 150,000 experience points. It just takes time and lots of solved (not quit) favors.
3. The welcome newbies thread has the formula for solving a case.
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
The guilty person in each case will have 1 piece of PE and 2 WE against them and they will always have a fake alibi. So you can solve the case using PE or using WE. Those are the two ways to solve a case.
4. With a case like that, you are smart to check the note first. But more than likely you will have to rely on Witness evidence. I have never seen a true pattern of PE and suspect alibi spots being an indicator of what evidence will be useful.

Aug-8-2007 13:29

Arabella, thanks again. You have really come through for me with all of my silly newbie questions. I don't know how I missed the "1 PE and 2 WE" for each guilty person in the Newbie Questions thread. That really explains a lot. I heard somewhere that it's safe to accuse a clammed ?alibi person with 2 WE against them, is this true? I don't know if I'd ever have the guts to do that. I'm reallllly cautious.

Thanks again. It's really great how helpful all of the more experienced players are. This is a fun game.

I'm trying out the "Doctor Watson" program to keep track of all the info. It's been helping a lot. (It's http://www.angus.demon.co.uk/sleuth/watson.htm for other newbies who might be reading this. My complements to the creator)

Aug-8-2007 15:17

Some more input if you'd like to hear it....;-)

Set #1:

1. ALL people should be working cases at a level they're comfortable working with, and they have a reasonable chance of success at solving (this isn't just for newbies ;-). If you've got people permanently clamming on you every time you turn around at the inc. hard level, and you end up quitting 75% of them, you're probably working too high of a level. You're going to end up quitting SOME cases, no matter how good you are, or how many skills you have (even the big guys have to, trust me), but you shouldn't be feeling like you're banging your head against a wall every day. If you can solve cases about 75% of the time, you're prob'ly at the right level. This doesn't mean you can't move up a level from there, just know that you're gonna be getting more clams, quits, and frustration. If you can handle it, go for it. That sound fair? ;-)

2. Each faction skill is different. Some work on everybody, some work on just suspects. Hypnotism happens to just work on suspects. I happen to think it's a helpful skill to have, but getting your basic skills first is more important.
One exception to getting the faction skills later for newbies is Pugilism. Subscribed tough players can travel to London or Delhi and work with the Green Hand to acquire this, and I regularly advise my people to do this as soon as possible. Pugilism is the tough version of flirting for charming detectives. It gives an extra oomph to their tough skills (+10 to all tough characteristics).

3. Yes, there is a set number of questions that each person will ask. It's set by the system, and varies from person to person and case to case. No, noone can tell you what that number will be at any given time. The best thing you can do is to build up your tough or charming skills (one side only, til you get a lot of experience and can start going after the other set) as high as possible, and wear as make your uniform as tough or charming (Cont'd)

Aug-8-2007 15:34

as possible when you go to deal with suspects and townspeople. If you take a look at Ran's, Arabella's, and my profiles (click on our pictures, and you'll see what uniforms we're wearing), you'll see that Ran is wearing stuff that very tough, and Arabella and I are very things that are very charming. We're all doing that to ensure that we get the maximum number of questions possible out of the people we deal with. You might keep that in mind while you're building up your own wardrobe.

4. Yes, the empty appointment book means no alibi. You still have to go prove it, though, with the alibi question with the suspect.

5. (Also from Set #2) Crime labs definitely have their uses. If you have an agency that is short a contact (banker, barber, whatever), and your agents have to work that particular type of evidence longhand (because y'all don't have the contact to do it for you), the crime lab can help your people narrow down your evidence a LOT. You can also use it when you have a case that has a generic something and you want it id'ed quickly. You simply store your case, round up one of your associates, and ask them to identify your evidence. They do, and you're off and running again with your case. Crime labs aren't absolutely necessary for an Agency to function well, but they do help. ;-)

6. As Ran and Arabella said, it's pretty much a personal choice here. I would throw in a small tidbit and say that the two contacts that you'll prob'ly use the most will end up being the ones you use in your hometown, whereever that may be, so they should be the ones you put the most effort and care into getting. As Arabella said, when you go for a specific contact, it does take longer because you're quitting favors for associated townspeople. Yes, it's annoying and boring, but most people who choose to go this route find it's worth it in the end because they end up with the contact they really want.

Aug-8-2007 15:49

In order to go after a specific contact, either W/E or P/E, you simply solve favors ONLY for that specific townsperson and quit ALL favors for the other associated townspeople. So if you want the Barber for your contact, you quit all favors you get for the Banker, Shoemaker and Tailor. Any favors you get for the W/E people are safe, because you're only going after a P/E contact. If you're trying to go after a W/E contact, it would be a vice-versa situation. Yes, it can take a long, long LONG time to happen. But eventually, it will happen. It just takes time and perserverance. ;-)

Set #2

1. (Already talked about the crime lab bit.) Most agencies have a case-solving policy of some kind. Some have an open policy, where any case can be solved by anyone as long as the case isn't tagged for someone. Some have an originator-only policy. Some have something else. Basically, when you're in an agency, you should know what their policy is regarding solving cases. As far as technicalities go, as long as the case hasn't been checked 'private' in the files, anyone can solve any case at any time. It's generally common courtesy that if someone is helping you out on a case, they will hand the case back to you once they've worked on it. Again, each Agency and detective is different.

2. Actually, quitting W/E contacts has absolutely no effect on what happens to P/E contacts. What DOES affect getting contacts is the amount of experience points you build up between getting your last contact and the present time. The more experience you've got since you've earned your last contact, the more likely you are to earn a new one. After about 150,000 points, the likelihood steadily increases for gaining a contact. Below that, it's not so likely. (Remember what I said a minute ago about going after a certain contact? Read that, and apply it to W/E contacts for them if you want to earn one of those.) If you're confused, PM me, and we'll talk.

Aug-8-2007 16:11

3. EVERY killer in a case will have all of the following:

A false/no alibi
A piece of Physical Evidence matched to him/her
TWO Witness Evidence statements made against him/her

Whether or not you find all of the above in each case is another thing, but it's why the formulas we keep spouting off ALWAYS work. So, one way to track your killer is through physical evidence. The second is through witness evidence. Ergo, there is always more than one way to find your killer. It just takes luck sometimes to do it. ;-)

4. Like Arabella said, you're better off checking the note first, then taking your chances with the thread. I have a thing I tell my people that's a takeoff of the old K.I.S.S. adage (Keep It Simple, Stupid). It pays to be lazy. No, that doesn't mean you get to put your feet up on your desk and pull out the ipod. It means that if you've got ten things to do at one townie, and two at another, which would you rather spend your time on first? Chances are better than even, you won't have to spend any money at the second guy, and you might just get your answer there. ;-)

Finally, before you go blowing your bank account on setting up an Agency, you might consider joining an existing one. Chances are, you'll find people who are more than willing to help you with questions and casework, throw you unwanted cases so you can earn extra points more quickly, and provide you support and camaraderie that you may not find on your own. Something to think about.

Hope all that helps. Good luck, and Happy Hunting!! ;-)