Sleuth Home - Message Boards - Sleuth Talk

Apr-3-2004 04:55

when i ask the town ppl about alibi and learn that a person was there is it possible that the second person claming to be there was also there? did any of u had that situation? or can i assume that if 1 alibi is ok then the other must be lying?

Apr-3-2004 05:54

No, you can't assume that. They can all have been at the same place. (Makes sense...there's several tables at a restaurant, several chairs at a barber's and so on.)

I was once actually laughing about it...I think three or even four people had all been at the butcher's while the crime took place. Must have been a bit crowded. With all that raw meat as well. Yuck.

Apr-3-2004 06:20

Seems like when I have two footprint clues, there are usually two or three claiming to be at the shoe store when the crime happens. Prioritize your questions. The only assumptions about alibis:
If you pick their lock and it says you found nothing in their date book, I think it is safe to assume that they do not have an alibi. If you have eliminated someone based on physical evidence, it is safe to assume that you don't need find out what their alibi is, let alone whether or not it is real.

Apr-3-2004 10:14

I also believe that nothing in date book means 'no alibi.' Always.

Chuck, how do you mean, 'eliminated someone based on physical evidence?' When their hair's curly and the hair found is straight, and such things? I thought those could always be misleading. But I'm no expert, I have no smarts skills.

Apr-3-2004 12:23

Yes, exactly, but they have to be eliminated on all counts. So if your suspect is a slim, lefty with curly hair and your evidence is right handed note, straight hair and heavy footprint, the suspect is in the clear.

As I understand it, there will always be at least one physical and one verbal pointing to the right suspect. It is not necessary to uncover both if you know they have a motive and no alibi.

Apr-5-2004 02:53

Not sure about there always being at least one physical and/or verbal evidence pointing to the right suspect. I just had a case at intermediate level where no physical evidence was found, and the one person, the towns people pointed to as being able to know something, would not implicate any of the people without alibi.

Apr-5-2004 07:12

in that case if the person telling innocent person has done it and he himself doesnt has a alibi, u can deffinatly know he's the murderer.

i think u maybe need some of the smart skills to be able to find physical evidence. not sure if u always find something without them.

Apr-5-2004 10:48

You most definitely don't always find a piece of physical evidence, pointing towards the killer or otherwise, if you have no smarts skills. Sometimes there is no physical evidence, sometimes all the things point towards people with alibis. I'm certain about this.

But I, too, am 100% sure that you only ever need one piece of evidence, verbal or physical, if you already have a motive and no alibi. It's enough to be certain of the person's guilt.

And Greyling - when the townspeople say someone knows something, that means the person DOES always have some evidence to offer. However, it does NOT mean that this person will actually give evidence on the guilty suspect. They can be mistaken, or they can even have done it themselves. All the clue does is tell you that this person has something to say. Not overly useful in the end.

Apr-5-2004 12:08

Of course, I didn't think that there might be physical evidence that people are not recovering because they lack the skill or got a bad dice roll. Sorry if I mislead any one. You, of course, can only eliminate someone on physical evidence if you have all of it. With enough experience you will learn how many pieces to expect.

Apr-6-2004 02:50

Well, for my own part I can say that even with smarts skills you don't always find physical evidence :D But maybe this will change once I've been able to collect all of them?

Based on my current experience the townsfolk usually give out the names of three people who either think they know or haven't heard of the case. And yeah, I have realized that the possible witnesses don't always give out useful information, however, I was sort of counting on this person to do so since there was nothing else to go on in this particular case :)

I guess that although I know that a potential witness might not turn out to be helpful or even lie, I have tended to "trust" them more than when someone, whom the townspeople hadn't mentioned, accused one of the other suspects.

So yes I did begin to contemplate whether or not it would have made a difference if I had had the thread analysis skill since footprints and threatening notes seem to pop up by themselves (so far anyway), and I had recently acquired one of the hair analysis skills. But I guess it’s just randomly generated :)

Apr-6-2004 04:27

Actually, Greyling,I think you're right in your observation. According to the Help Page, you need to have Thread or Hair Analysis to be able to spot a thread or hair evidence.