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Paranoid_Android
Paranoid_Android
Story Teller

Dec-1-2005 04:47

This is from a Newbie Thread [me being the newbie] someone suggested I pose here... >> So...
I was toying with the possibility "that wouldn't it be gr8 if your 'PE' [contact] just answered you straight up... eg. "Penelope Pins knew my time was important to me so she didn't beat aound the bush, the thread you've given me belongs to Joe Bloggs".
Having thought about it some more, it is kind of an authentic response too, in the sense that someone you'd built a realtionship up with, wouldn't 'stuff you around' by making you ask about A,B,C...

Replies

ichiban
ichiban
Well-Connected

Dec-13-2005 04:52

Well research and PE contacts are not the same research allows you to eliminate one potential suspect on your own. Contacts just help identify evidence. So for a contact, say the tailor to ID who's thread was found they need you to bring in thread so they can compare with evidence from crime scene. So it makes sense that you would have to not only know who possible suspects are but also have met with them, how else would you get thread sample from them to compare against crime evidence??
So research will verify somebody as being innocent. Contacts match-up crime scene evidence to suspect evidence that you must bring to them to compare.


ichiban
ichiban
Well-Connected

Dec-13-2005 05:50

Besides LastTrain you are not correct when you say research immediately gives you the individual. What actually happens is you go to the hall of records and you research all your current suspects. I don't care for all the clicking back and forth but seems to me it is more logical now. Not to mention that as your contact merchant will not clam-up on you that is the benefit of having contact.
A lot of people seem to bring up ideas that make the game easier/conveniant. I wonder why sometimes because if you build your skills up and are in agency most cases are almost impossible not to solve.

LastTrain
LastTrain

Dec-13-2005 10:24

*Besides LastTrain you are not correct when you say research immediately gives you the individual. What actually happens is you go to the hall of records and you research all your current suspects.*

Why did you cut off my statement in the middle of the sentence? My quote was "it immediately gives you the individual as long as you've uncovered that person as a suspect". That seems to be exact the same thing you are saying.

That's exactly the way I would like to see your contact work regarding PE. If you've uncovered the suspect to whom the PE belongs, your contact could tell you who it is. If you haven't uncovered the suspect, your contact could respond with some generic "I'm currently of no help to you."

Research and PE matching are certainly not equal, I fully agree. The context being discussed is making PE matching faster when the townsperson is the PE contact.

One issue with that, as duly noted by R Anstett, is how your contact could respond if you hadn't yet identified a person as a suspect. I made the suggestion that it could be handled the way research handles that dilemma. Your contact could make some general statement to the effect of "I cannot currently help you with this case."

CzechRazor
CzechRazor

Jan-16-2006 23:47

I originally agreed that PE contact and research skill are similar enough that they could be done the same, but there is one thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread: You can find more than one item at a crime scene to ask a PE contact about.

If I have found 8 out of 10 possible suspects and found 4 threads at the crime scene (extreme, but possible), how would that work? It would be nice if you could ask one question and have the contact say something like "The 1st thread belongs to A, the 2nd thread belongs to B, the 3rd thread doesn't match anyone, and the 4th thread belongs to C." Whether that's possible, I'm not sure, but it is at least different from the research skill.

LastTrain
LastTrain

Jan-19-2006 12:31

The programming would probably be a bit rough, but it would sure save a ton of clicks. It could potentially take 26 tries to match the 4 threads in your scenario (8+7+6+5), and even then you might have to come back later once you've identified the final two suspects. 26 tries means at least 52 clicks if you use the back key between tries. Actually, it would be a few more than that, since you'd occasionally have to go ask a different question to choose thread #2, #3, #4.

One click would be so much more efficient.

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