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Detective Traits - Smart, Tough, Charm

Lolita Marinez
Lolita Marinez
Sleuth About Town

Feb-28-2009 21:02

I'm after opinions on whether it is better to try to build an all around detective or to build on your first asset and fill in the others later.

I started my detective with simple background choice and I am a disgraced doctor who is very smart. Every time I have enough Skill Points I buy something new and at the moment I have

Adjustments
Toughness: 0
Smarts:0
Charm:2

Should I try to increase my tough and/or smart to even them up or should I concentrate on getting even smarter because that is my base theme or build my charm?

Very confused Lolita :-S

Replies

Lolita Marinez
Lolita Marinez
Sleuth About Town

Feb-28-2009 21:29

And I just noted that I finished a favor for a townie (which I often forget to do) and I was given a briefcase and +2 smart Adjustment. So are the adjustments solely attached to the gifts given and items purchased or do they increase with skills learned or..........

Still and maybe even more confused Lolita

topkebab
topkebab
Lucky Stiff

Mar-1-2009 00:41

Have you read through the newbie FAQ (at the bottom of each page) and also had a search through this newbie page for similar questions? You can get a lot of information that way.

Equipment, skills and archetype are different.

Archetype affects how many skill points you need to learn each type of skill. e.g. If you are very smart, you will need to spend fewer skill points to learn smart skills than someone who is charming.

The skills, well the skill help pop-up explains them I guess. You will need to choose skills which you think will help you solve cases at the level you are doing them. At this point in time there is no point going for both charm and tough, just choose one or the other. A step-by-step guide as to which skill to choose 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc would be a sort of spoiler, imho, that's why I won't give you one. However I would say that it is essential to get basic thread and hair analysis as soon as you can since if you don't, you will miss evidence. Again, a search through this newbie board may provide you with clues as to how the differnt skills may be useful.

Equipment adjustments only come with equipment, and increase the chance of the skills you already have, working. So if you don't have any tough skills, there's no point having tough equipment, etc.

And NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER guess the guilty suspect. There are rules for how to tell who is guilty (yep you guessed it... read the boards :P)

Hope that helps a bit. Good luck!

Lolita Marinez
Lolita Marinez
Sleuth About Town

Mar-1-2009 02:54

Yes I read the FAQ. That is why my question was about others' opinions.

As you say a step by step would be spoiler and I agree with you.

I now understand about the Archetype better. I did read that it made my skill purchase cheaper but I was under the misconception that it would also increase my positive usage of my skills. i.e : I would have a BETTER CHANCE of finding out curly or straight/ heavy or slim.

Thanks for your opinion on choosing and sticking with one or the other. That's the sort of info I was looking for. Whether other players think it is better to build skills evenly or to push one style first.

I got my positive charm from a favor gift but I don't have much charm skill. Flirting only at the moment and I haven't found a use for it. Hmmm scratches head. More research needed into that. Might have been a hasty purchase. (Yep definitely a hasty purchase probably made at 2am)

I have 2 Tough skills so now I think I will go purchase some tough equipment and save my skill points to develop those tough skills more.

Next thing to research. If I do another favor with both of my equipment boxes filled will one of things just disappear and be replaced with a new gift or do I have a closet somewhere to keep my gifts/equipment or hmmmmmmm. Off to research these gifts more.

Grateful thanks for your help topkebab, Lolita

Lolita Marinez
Lolita Marinez
Sleuth About Town

Mar-1-2009 03:39

And My Research has paid off. This didn't show up in my search. I actually had to trawl through the pages of "Welcome Newbies" and this is a direct quote from Trelane Rahl on about the 4th or 5th page.

Found in other threads and abridged for the purpose of simplification, clarification and/or addressing each question individually:

Q: "Okay...So the items you have (hat, coat, shoes, two accessories) Do you have an inventory where you can pick which ones you want and can keep old ones as multiple choices, or do you have to sell old items back in order to get new ones?"

A: If you're not in an agency, you'll only have room to carry what your detective can wear, so if you want a different piece of equipment and you don't have room for it on you, you'll have to sell something else. However, in terms of favour items you won't need to sell anything in advance as you'll be given an option upon completion of the favour of what to sell and what to keep.

Lolita

David Adams
David Adams
Red-Nosed

Mar-1-2009 11:27

Hello and Welcome to Sleuth! I'm glad you found the answers to most of the questions that you had on your own. Short of stumbling over your own feet in the dark as you explore and try to figure everything out, that's the best way to pick up information. And given that most people hate stumbling around in the dark, most probably better!

There is one point that I think you missed along the way. Picking up the 'flirting' skill at 2 a.m. wasn't a bad choice if you want your detective to start picking up charming skills. "Flirting" helps your detective get information from suspects when they stop talking. (This doesn't apply to townies though; that's another skill--Sweet Talking.) If you want your detective to start being tough however, you need to look for another skill, along the lines of interrogation or intimidation. Again, one works for suspects, one for townies and right now I just don't remember which goes with which.

Hope all that helps! Good Luck and DON'T GUESS!!!!

Not Breit

Lolita Marinez
Lolita Marinez
Sleuth About Town

Mar-1-2009 14:02

Thanks for the reply David Adams.

I did go back and look into the flirting skill and the reason I say it was a hasty choice at 2am is because I already have 2 tough skills and yet the only charm skill I have is Flirting. Flirting is of no use on it's own. So at the moment it is of no use to me. It was premature of me to buy it and at this point in time it was a clear waste of skill points. If I still had those 7 skill points I would already have been able to purchase my Research or increase my tough skills.

Now that you mention it I think I may have purchased the flirting skill thinking it would help me with the townies. But as it doesn't work on it's own I guess I will just have to concentrate on my suspects for the moment and keep bribing the townies. LOL

Lolita.

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Mar-1-2009 14:09

Umm, slight adjustment there, hon. Flirting simply makes Sweet Talking (all levels), or Rule Bending (again, all levels), work better. If you had Judge of Character, you could see the actual breakdown of point levels, but Flirting adds an extra 20 points to your character when you're talking to someone of the opposite sex (a man, in Lolita's case). If you want something similar for tough, unfortunately, you have to go to London or Delhi, and get friendly with a faction called the Green Hand. They offer a skill called Pugilism, which puts +10 points on your Interrogation or Intimidation skills anytime. (Big But here though), you have to be subscribed, at least for a little while, in order to go for that skill.

The above might have some bearing on which side of the scale you choose to go for, Lolita. Again, we can't make decisions for you. We can only give you information and our honest opinions. (For what it's worth, I'm with Top Kebab on what she's said. It's pretty standard stuff, and has been said before by lots of us, including me. ;-)

Good luck, and hope this helps!!

Breit

Breitkat
Breitkat
Pinball Amateur

Mar-1-2009 14:16

(One small addition here....)

You said you keep forgetting to do favors. You might want to start remembering them. They're the easiest way to get equipment (the other two are to go to the Detective Shop, which doesn't offer very good stuff, and to go to Big Lucy's, which is expensive). They're also the way you earn contacts. Either way, you win. Both equipment (well, equipment that's in line with your particular skills, anyway), and contacts, make processing cases MUCH, much easier, and means you'll prob'ly won't be having to bribe as many people as you have been. Give it a try. ;-)

Lolita Marinez
Lolita Marinez
Sleuth About Town

Mar-1-2009 15:35

Thanks Breitkat,

Confused Lolita now has to decide whether she wants to change tack midstream. I already have 2 tough skills and no charm skills but if I need to go to Delhi or London to build my toughness maybe I need to change direction and build my charm some more. I am finding out fast that it is the intricacies of this game and the different paths you can take is what is so addictive about this game.

And yes I stapled a sticky note to my forehead. Remember to do favours and Little Jobs every day! Heheheheh :)


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