I've heard that you need to wear a mask and change your clothes before and after crimes, and of course, get out of the area when they're "Investigating". I didn't know about custom guns though. Does it count if you have them equipped or just brandish one? And the horse? Considering you're generally meant to use and bond with one or a few horses(thus why they don't respawn if killed) that seems a bit much.
The whole Witness thing isn't a terrible thing out in the country because you can chase one down and...do something about them.... but in St. Denis it's almost impossible to avoid witnesses. I ended up on the rooftops to avoid the cops and let the heat die and I was getting serious AssCreed vibes from the whole thing.
Admittedly the fact the cops will show up to investigate does make things really tricky at times. There was some mission where I ended up shooting up an area full of baddies near Strawberry(I think it was a story mission or something like it), the other guy rode off and I stuck around to loot the bodies....and then the cops showed up and spotted me. So that was fun. I guess I'm still having to remind myself that this game does actually have the cops show up to investigate crimes, but it only seems to happen in certain circumstances(sometimes I've killed everyone and I'm free to hang around and loot as long as I want).
Also, I want to say. Fuck Cougars. I got the legendary elk skin, was on the way to the nearby trapper and two of those fuckers jumped and killed me on the way up there, so I couldn't sell the skin to the trapper. Everyone else in your inventory stays with you. Those animal skins? Gone. At least the legendaries aren't lost forever but everything else is, and it's not like the trappers are easy to find and/or get to.
So I know its a dumb question, but once you upgrade the camp, what else is there to spend money on besides guns and customizing your guns/horse/clothes? Because everything else is pretty cheap and some of the big jobs(like the bank heist in chapter 3) can get you a ton of cash. I'm not even going to get into how wierd the money system feels in this game, since due to inflation and such, money is presumably worth a lot more in 1899 then in 2020(which is why most of the mooks you kill carry a couple bucks on them) and a money clip might be like $20 or so, a fence carraige yields like $60, but then you have a chick coup that costs $150 and tent upgrades that cost $200-300, and guns that cost hundreds, which should make them nearly unaffordable to most people....But in the first game a doctors bill for lethal injuries on John is $15 and it's treated as a lot.
Or am I overthinking this way too much?
I think any equipped weapons or clothing is what people might recognize, along with the horse and I think even facial hair/styles. It doesn’t really matter though unless you plan on playing evil Arthur with a bounty vs paying it off somewhere soon after. I recently tested this by getting a small bounty in Saint Denis and hiding in a freight car. The cops would still call me out if they saw me after a search ended, but I was able to avoid detection until I got to a P.O. to pay it off and be back to neutral status.
Stuff like the cougars is what I switched to lock on aiming for after beating the main story. Dealt with them way too much in online making deliveries and such, so it made a quick way of stopping them on horseback with a good shotgun (repeater’s my fav and almost always on me). Same for bear attacks.
IIRC any Legendary skins you collect are automatically transported to the Trapper if you die, so you should see that item there available for getting special outfits. Additionally the other unique parts can be used for crafting or sold to Fences. In any case due to freak accidents I’ve gotten into a habit of manually saving after getting these, in case auto save activates at an odd time.
Yeah, as odd as the economy is in the story, it’s only a fraction as eyebrow-raising as the online version. This is almost certainly a game balance issue, as accurate pricing would mean being able to acquire everything very quickly unless the scores from heists and such were reduced dramatically as well.
On topic, I finally got the ninth Gambler challenge for three consecutive wins at dominoes after a third night of trying. Started with a couple rounds of Draw at Emerald Ranch which proved more futile than ever, so headed down to Saint Denis for All 5’s. There were two people so that wasn’t any easier; tried eliminating one via antagonism and finally lassoing but the cop nearby didn’t appreciate it much.
Finally said what the hell, let’s try the camp at Blackwater. All 3’s was the game with a single opponent, and I took to it pretty well. Got the three wins within about a half hour or so, and left the table maybe four or five times (an exploit that still works to keep your full game win streak going as long as you don’t get to where the computer knows you have a statistically null chance of winning); most of those for the last win to be cautious more than anything. It was quite the opposite experience I thought I’d have and was rather enjoyable because I felt I had a good competitive advantage vs just throwing down bones.
Rounds went pretty fast too. I didn’t focus so much on blocking as much as making sure I had point opportunities, especially building off any existing doubles. I think chances to block can work against you as it limits your scoring chances. Basically only use that strategy if you’re losing the round on points but can force them to draw so you can at least get out first.
Anyways, I ended up getting my last win with exactly 90 points which was risky because my opponent would’ve almost certainly gotten out first and won off my remaining pips if I didn’t have a winning bone. Once that was done I headed down to the Blackwater saloon and got the three wins of poker within five or six hands at a table with three others. The first few hands were duds but once I had somewhat of a winning hand the first time I was able to go all in to get at least two people to fold. The leading player always called my bet even after going all in, but I was able to squeak out a better hand each time. For the hell of it I stayed at the table after my three wins and eventually had enough chips to get everyone to fold and bust out.