Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Newbie Questions

Jan-23-2005 12:01

Here are some tips for Newbies like myself:

1. Get the Research Skill as early as possible. It will help eliminate one suspect. This will also mean that instead of asking for an alibi which will obviously not be verified, you can ask the suspect more details about the real killer instead.

2. Always make sure you have extra cash on hand. Three failure will mean the end of your detective. So by the time you have 2 failures, make sure you have some cash to pay off the Shady Character to clean your record. The fee increases as your experience grows. Sell equipment if you need cash.

3. Most of the Special Equipment that organizations sell may be had for free whenever you complete favours. Buy equipment only when you have lots of spare cash or when you have no false accusations.

4. Dies Arcanum Brotherhood or The Order of Socrates or La Cosa Nostra? Each will teach you one and only one skill. Go for La Cosa Nostra and its Safe Cracking Skill only IF YOU ARE SUBSCRIBED; otherwise, it is a totally useless skill. The other two organizations can provide skills that subscribers and non-subscribers alike can benefit from.

5. Choose Sweet Talking or Interrogation first then Rule Bending or Intimidation. Get the smarts, advanced & lockpicking skills a little later. Unlike CSI, the evidence alone can NOT nab a killer. Here, the best way to be sure is by getting at least two witnesses to name the killer (regardless of what the evidence says). Sweet Talking or Interrogation will help you weed out names, motives, and the identity of the actual killer. Rule Bending or Intimidation is to be used for townsfolk so you can verify alibis and check on evidence.
Of course if you cannot get 2 witnesses, you'll have to take your chances with the evidence.

6. Don't take Larry /Lucy unless you have lots of extra cash and have no false accusations.

7. If you only have 1 or 2 suspects at the start, ask first if they know of others who have a motive.

Jan-23-2005 13:01

Great work, Ace + Rai, and such selflessness! I agree with most of your points, except perhaps point 5 which I would like to clarify a little.

Physical evidence can indeed be used to nab the killer. In fact, you only need to have 1 Physical Evidence against a False Alibi or Non-Alibi suspect to be sure of guilt. So physical evidence can be very useful.

The reason why the Smarts skills should be bought later than the Persuasion Skills is simply this: because the Smarts skills are DEPENDENT on the Persuasion skills (Interogation/Sweet Talking, etc).

For example, let's say with the Footprint Analysis Skill, you retrieve a Heavy Footprint. With this, you still need to talk to the Shoe Maker to point out the killer or eliminate the suspects with regard to the Footprint, for the evidence to be useful. And clearly, you'll need the persuasion skills to do that effectively.

Therefore, even though Physical Evidence is very useful, the Smarts skills should be bought AFTER the Persuasion skills, for that reason.

Jan-23-2005 15:56

Hi Wayne. On your point, I do believe that I have had one case in which a suspect had no alibi and one piece of physical evidence linking them to the crime. I could not get any witness evidence due to clamming, so I took my chances and, alas, clocked one false accusation to my record.

Jan-23-2005 16:53

Saxon, that should never happen. If there is suspect tied to physical evidence and a false alibi or a stated non-alibi, or a lack of alibi determined by research, you should be all set. I have NEVER had a problem with this, and everyone who has ever had Ben check a case in this regard has found they had made an error. Remember that a suspect who clams up about an alibi doesn't count as not having an alibi but is merely an unknown.

Jan-23-2005 16:55

Sorry, I meant a lack of alibi determined by lock picking.

Research will prove innocence, not guilt, and the person who is indicated as innocent by the research will never be tied to the physical evidence.

Jan-23-2005 21:48

Yes, thanks Moonsh for clarifying. There is often some confusion over what is meant by non-alibi. It means a suspect has replied, "This is none of your business, but I have no alibi." A suspect who has clammed up before answering the alibi question is NOT considered a non-alibi.

Jan-24-2005 00:26

Nic eof your to expound point #5 Wayne. Given the 200 character limit, I guess Ace didn't have any more space to explain. I've had experiences wherein there was evidence against 2 of 3 false alibi suspects. But the witnesses pointed to the third suspect without supporting evidence and indeed, this suspect was the perp. In this regard, it is best to first have the skills that will prevent the witnesses from clamming up. Evidence is of course important, but since we newbies only have very few skill points to spend at the start, might as well get the skills to help us gain more points to buy those other skills.

Jan-24-2005 00:31

There is a limit as ot the number of question you can ask suspects.
If you happen to ask a suspect and alibi, and that suspect turns out to be named in one's Research, the alibi of that suspect will never check out of course.
I wish I got the Research skill earlier. It could have enabled me to ask for the names of other suspects or asking that witness who among the final list of suspects is the acutal perp before he clams up. Asking for the alibi of the suspect named in research is a waste.

Jan-24-2005 14:22

Moonshh: I might have made an error. I know the difference between a false alibi and just not knowing the alibi due to clamming, but I thought it was definitely a false ... ?? Anyway, I'm a tyro so I think I probably made a mistake : o )

Jan-24-2005 16:44

Saxon, if you ever have this experience again, let Ben know the name of the case and the time and date you played it, and he might be able to check it for you. All the posts I've ever seen asking him to check have ended up to be player errors, but on the other hand, there was a time I couldn't log in, and it turned out to be a bug in a case, so I acknowledge that bugs happen!

Jan-25-2005 07:01

well, another good tip is ... QUIT THE CASE if you are not absolutely sure about whodunnit. this will save money in the long run, because shady's prices increase exponentially (or just a heck of a lot) as one's experience goes up.

on equipment, you don't really have to buy at all, only if you want to. besides, doing favors as often as possible will get you contacts quicker, and cash too.