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Nov-7-2005 03:44

Is the number of questions you can ask before a suspect or people in town clams up again purely random?

Nov-7-2005 03:44

*or one of the people in town*

Nov-7-2005 04:25

You can ask up to a max of 3 questions before they clam up the first time.
If you can convice them (interrogation, intimidation and so on) to answer more you can ask them one, two or three more questions.

The number of questions you can ask before they clam the first time depends on the case level, while how much they'll tell you more after you convice them depend also by your charm/smart bonus.

Nov-7-2005 05:24

Just to confirm, Charm and Smart?

So even if I use Interrogation or Indimidation, whatever bonus I have to Toughness at that time won't affect the number of extra questions I get?

Also which of the two stats, Charm or Smart is more effective in terms of getting more questions? Or are they equal? Are they added up or is the higher of the two stats taken?

Nov-7-2005 05:29

Sorry, it was charm or toughness bonus.

This reply has been deleted by a Moderator

Nov-7-2005 05:32

Okay, apparently refreshing posts my message again. Sorry for the double post.

Nov-7-2005 20:10

Charming and tough skills vary in their effectiveness according to the level of your skill, your gear, and which method your interviewee is more likely to respond well too. If you get the judge of character skill, you can see the numbers laid out for you, but in general, most of us who have been around a while tend to agree that it is best to focus on tough OR charming, along with smarts, until you have built your character up a good bit, then add whichever of the two (charming or tough) you're missing. This makes the judge of character skill unnecessary until your agent has a choice about whether to use tough or charming skills with a particular person.

In case that didn't answer your questions directly enough:

Smart skills have no bearing on the interviewing, and you have to choose between a tough approach and a charming approach each time. They aren't equal, and you are the one who chooses your approach. You will only know which one is higher for sure by getting the judge of character skill, and this is not what I recommend at this point in your character's development.

Good luck!

Nov-8-2005 00:22

Actually to be more specific, the question I was asking is somewhat related to that but not exactly.

I know that the Charm and Toughness Bonuses from equipment are helpful in terms of the chance of success with the Intimidate/Interrogate and Sweet Talking/Rule Bending actions respectively.

What I want to know though is what determines or effects the number of questions you can ask a suspect or townsperson before the clam up again. Which was answer by An Zo, albeit vaguely, not that I'm complaining but I'm curious regarding the magnitude of the effects of the Charm/Toughness bonus to the number of questions you can ask after you unclam a suspect.

Is it huge? Like a bonus of 10 can lead to a significant chance of getting an extra question or two as opposed to having no bonus at all? Or is it minor?

A more technical way of stating my question would be...

Given the Situation :

-Person Clams up
-Detective uses Unclamming Skill
-Person Unclams
-Person can now be asked X more questions.

What are the factors for the variable X? And how effective are each of these factors in determining the value of X?

Nov-8-2005 04:08

if you use "tough" detective skills, such as interrogation and intimidation then X is determined by what skills your detective has in these areas - for more detailed info about various skills look in the help bar under skills. The same is obviously true for a charm detectives' "bend the rules" and "sweet talk" skills.

You can further enhance your chances by wearing tough or charm gear(up to +23 I think).

This seriously improves your chances of getting more X.

Another factor affecting x is the fear/pliability factor of the suspect/townie. This is variable from case to case as well as from difficulty level to difficulty level.

To a certain degree I think there is also a random factor which means that you are not always certain of success.

To sum up. The main thing affecting x is skill. If you don't have the skill, you can't use it.

the second most important thing is the level of difficulty.

To counter the level of difficulty it is essential to have a combination of high skills and high level clothing.

er...

thats it

Nov-8-2005 04:20

Much thanks.

One more question, although unrelated to the topic. By help bar do you mean the link "http://newyork.hypoware.com/help/index.html"?

Or is there another help file? Because that one, while helpful, only gives rather, uh, basic and not indepth information about how each skill works.