The veteran will shoot anybody: he doesn’t need a reason and he doesn’t need to hate or like you for that matter. If anyone goes to his house while he is on alert, he will kill them. You can assume that when he is not on alert, he is probably sleeping. If you are playing the role of the veteran, you have three chances to go on alert, and those are precious and you don’t want to waste any of them. On the first night, if you said nothing on the day, I would advise not using up an alert as the odds of you being targeted are very very low unless you have picked a highly offensive name or an obscure name. In these situations, I would suggest the barreling out the alerts on the first three nights because if you are offensive, people will try and kill you outright. However, you can also get this a bit more controlled if you are careful.
The most important thing about the veteran role and about Town of Salem, in general, is that you can identify the roles and characters of different people by the names they are using and which type of conversation record they have in the chat box. For instance, I have seen many people using names like brownie and pinkie, and in the end of the game, it turned out that these were the killers. On the other hand, the conversation you have with the other people and your use of words and language also tells a lot about you. If somebody is aggressive, he is certainly having an aggressive role. This is why recently a new tradition is prevalent among people in Town of Salem namely whoever is being aggressive, just kill them. So, keeping all these things in mind, first of all, you need to choose your name carefully; it’s better if it is a sophisticated name. Then in your conversation with other people, there is no need to be aggressive or harsh. Just let the things flow where they would.
Taking advantage of randomness is something that a veteran should certainly do. Let’s assume that on the first night of the game, nobody targeted you, what can you do then? It’s obvious that these people aren’t going to rage out and attack you randomly, and the only way they will be able to guess about your role is if you are shouting and blasting out loud. Some people will also think that you are a jester which is extremely bad for you, but it still isn’t going to get you killed, so in the longer run it’s good as well because when nobody is going to listen to you, they aren’t going to lynch you either. You can also fake being investigator: there is no need to go out and proclaim out loud that I am the investigator because it will get the attention of real investigator and it can cause problems for you. On the other hand, what you should do is that if somebody is being lynched, then make comments like this person is innocent. Now, the people who play the game very seriously, they might be able to get the hidden message of your remark, and maybe they will think that you really are an investigator.
Claiming out to be investigator has a bad side too which is if you claim to be an investigator, all the bad roles, and mafia community will turn against you and you will become their prime target.
Jailor as a Problem
The biggest ever problem for a veteran is a jailor. I know it is weird to have the biggest problem as one of your own teammates but a jailor jailing you is a bad thing. If you are aggressive and are trying to get the attention of mafia and serial killer, the jailor will go ahead and will decide to execute you. You have just ruined the jailor’s chance to kill anybody else and you yourself are dead, which is quite a problem. So, in case you are jailed by a jailor, you go ahead immediately and tell him that you are a veteran and then word for word recite your text from the ability screen on your top right. Every worthy jailor will take this proof as valid and will think that you are innocent. While there are other bad jailors as well who would just go ahead and kill you despite the fact that you have given them the best proof possible that you can ever give. But let me assure you that this second instance doesn’t happen very often in Town of Salem and which is quite optimistic and refreshing I believe.
So, let’s assume that you managed to kill somebody on a night and in their will they put that they were investigating you at that time, and then everyone will read their will and you will be pronounced guilty of killing the investigator. At this point, don’t use anything until you are down to the last five people because this is the time where mafia will start taking risks. You don’t have to use it earlier as well because you will be wasting your alerts or possibly killing innocent townies which is not a very good thing. Remember, you only have three shields and you are supposed to use them when they count.
Let’s say that it’s just you and an enemy at the end of the game. This enemy will tell you that he knows you are a veteran and that’s why he is never going to attack. The standard rule is that they won’t attack the first night, so hold your alert. There are ninety percent chances that he will attack you the second night without informing you or giving you any clue whatsoever. It doesn’t matter what they say, the highest possibility is that they will attack the second night because they won’t want to draw themselves in an ever prolonged game. There are certainly some exceptions here, like, if there is a psychopath and he is willing to wait for ten days before he finally attacks you, then it is just your bad luck because I can say nothing about it. The more time your enemy has got, the more it is bad for you. For instance, if the enemy is willing to wait at least five nights, then it is certain that you will use your alert in any of these five nights and then after that you are dead. So, that’s something you should consider.
Finally, once you are out through somebody’s will, please make sure that the townies know not to target you. Once your identity is revealed, you can do nothing except making a strong strategy for your survival. First, convince the townies that you didn’t murder anybody and once they are convinced, the second danger is the mafia. The mafia at this point will start making plans to kill you and you can also threaten them by saying that you are going to use your shield. You can also blackmail mafia: for instance, at this point, the mafia will need as many votes as possible and if you make a deal with them that you will vote for them, perhaps they will spare you for the time being. I am not saying that you have to keep your promise. Whenever you get the first chance to dump the mafia, avail that and throw them in the waste bin.
If somebody is suspected of being a member of the mafia community and there is not enough proof yet, make sure that you lynch them yourself because lynching them yourself will put a fright in the hearts of the people who are guilty in real. So that night one of these guilty people will come forward and will try to kill you. What you need to do at this point is that turn your shield on, so whosoever will attack you will be trapped and killed.
So, in short, it’s all about the strategy you use. You can be mild and you can be aggressive depending on the situations. The biggest weapon of a veteran is an alert, so make use of the three alerts that you have to their fullest use. Also, make sure that you have some alerts left for the end game.