When you search the crime scene, you want to have the maximum amount of smarts on you as you can, to make sure you get the most detailed evidence to make solving the case easier. Swap gear if you need to. Otherwise you may very well end up with evidence that is not identified!
Now construct the suspect list. It’s best to ask for motives first, because case solving is easier when you’re missing the alibi rather than the motive, because then there’s no way to accuse.
Use the Judge of Character skill to figure out which mode of persuasion is better, and get the best results. The higher the success number, the higher the chance also that the person will answer the question you are asking, as well as answer more questions after that, either one or two.
There are 10-11 suspects in an AI case. **If you have 3 pieces of evidence, that automatically means 10 suspects**
Consult the fortune teller to see if you have everybody. Always check when you get up to 10 suspects. If you have all the suspects, then the fortune teller will say:
Your journey nears its end, for good or ill I cannot say. All of the actors have taken the stage and they now prepare to deliver their final lines.
And if you’re missing one, the fortune teller will say:
I sense that you have already passed many signposts on your journey, but there are still others with whom you must speak.
With 10 suspects, there are 3 people with real alibis, and 6 people with fake alibis after you research. The person whose name comes up in the research always has a fake alibi, but they are never guilty. With 11 suspects, the extra person is someone with a real alibi.
At this point, if you have a PE contact, match up the evidence and check the person’s alibi. If they’re guilty, accuse. If not, then keep going.
Now’s a good time to ask your WE contact if they’re seen or heard anything suspicious. It’s easiest to start at the top of the suspect list and work your way down by getting each alibi and checking it right away. Once you get either 3 or 4 real alibis or 6 fake alibis, STOP, because the other alibis are whatever you didn’t get all of. Look at the case page to see the attributes of your suspects.
Try matching up the people with real alibis to the PE you found at the crime scene. Whatever PE is left belongs to the guilty person. Now before you rush off to match it, check to see if anyone died. It’s very handy for eliminating a suspect and not wasting a PE question. A villain hunt is no time to be cheap. If you have to pay a bribe to get an answer, pay it.
If after eliminating some people with the remaining PE, but you still have suspects left, it’s time to resort to WE. Go around to all the rest of the WE townies and ask them if they’re seen or heard anything suspicious. AI cases usually have anywhere from 1-3 townies saying something about suspects. So if you have 3 already, then stop. If a townie says someone knows something, then that person most likely knows who did it. If a townie says someone doesn’t know anything, then don’t even bother asking them for WE, because all they feed you is lies. If you have a clammed suspect and someone who you know “doesn’t know anything” suspects them, then that person you asked about pretty much has a real alibi. If you have a clammed suspect and you ask “someone who knows something,” then there’s still a 50% chance that they’ll give you false info. If you manage to get two WE on any clammed person, then they are guilty.
Now we move on to the WE questioning process. Start asking the “person who knows something” about the remaining possibly guilty people on your list, and work your way down the list. When that person won’t answer any more, move on to the next person on the suspect list and continue questioning about the possible guilties where you left off. This circular method of asking about suspects is most useful when you have 3 or more remaining suspects. If you only have two suspects left, and ask EVERY person on the suspect list only about one of the suspects, and get no results, you know that the other person is guilty. As always, remember the formulas.
PE+ Fake/No Alibi=Guilty
PE+WE+WE=Guilty
If all else fails, try surveillance on the “person who knows something.” If that doesn’t help, then it’s best just to quit rather than to chance an FA. Happy Hunting!