Ambient Designs   Proprietary                           5-9-84

                 CONVERSATION MODULE DESCRIPTION

Index:

 1. INTRODUCTION
 2. HOW COMMUNICATIONS ARE ESTABLISHED
 3. HOW COMMINICATIONS ARE TERMINATED
 4. HOW THE PERSONALITY OF THE ALIEN EFFECTS COMMUNICATION
 5. HOW PLAYER STRENGTH EFFECTS ALIEN POSTURE                        
 6. HOW PLAYER SELECTS A POSTURE
 7. HOW PLAYER POSTURE EFFECTS ALIEN POSTURE
 8. HOW PLAYER RESPONSES EFFECT ALIEN POSTURE
 9. WHAT IS THE PHRASE INTERVAL?
10. HOW THE ALIEN'S TALKATIVENESS EFFECTS CONVERSATION FLOW
11. WHY AN ALIEN TERMINATES A CONVERSATION
12. WHAT ARE THE PLAYER'S OPTIONS?
13. HOW ALIEN LANGUAGES ARE SIMULATED
14. HOW THE ALIEN DECIDES WHAT PHRASE TO SEND 

1. INTRODUCTION
    
The function of this module is to simulate a conversation between 
the   player   and  an  alien  for  information   gathering   and 
entertainment. 

2. HOW COMMUNICATIONS ARE ESTABLISHED

If  the player wishes to establish communications he  selects the 
the  "HAIL/RESPOND"  option on the Communications  Officer  Menu. 
Either the player or the computer-controlled alien may attempt to 
Hail,  but  communications  are not established until  the  other 
party responds.  When communications are established a picture of 
the alien appears in the main view screen.


3. HOW COMMINICATIONS ARE TERMINATED

The  player terminates communication by selecting the "END  COMM" 
option on the Communication Menu. 

The alien will terminate communication for a variety of reasons.

When communications are terminated, the message "-- COMMUNICATION 
TERMINATED --" is displayed. 

Once  communications  have  been  terminated  it  cannot  be  re-
established   during  the same alien  encounter.  If  the  player 
selects the "HAIL" option after communications are terminated the 
player's  hailing  message  is sent but there will  be  no  alien 
response.



4. HOW THE PERSONALITY OF THE ALIEN EFFECTS COMMUNICATION

The Emotional Disposition Level (EDL) of the alien determines the 
posture  the  alien adopts when making a statement  or  asking  a 
question.  The  EDL  is  a variable which fluctuates  during  the 
conversation and may have a value from 0 to 100,  where 0 is most 
calm and 100 is most agitatated.

                           EDL RANGE

            Friendly   Diplomatic   Hostile    Fight
         |-----------A------------B==========C========|
         |                         Obsequious  Flight |
         0                                            100

POSTURES  - The  EDL  range is divided  into  4  posture  regions 
demarked  by threshold markers A thru C.  The posture regions are 
defined as follows:  

     REGION    POSTURE                 COMMENTS                      
   -----------------------------------------------------------  
     0-----A - FRIENDLY      cooperative, positive attitudes   
     A-----B - DIPLOMATIC           neutral, aloof                     
     B=====C - HOSTILE/OBSEQUIUS    abusive OR groveling
     C===100 - FIGHT/FLIGHT         [NO COMMUNICATION]
   -----------------------------------------------------------  

The "personality" of each class of aliens is partially defined by 
the  placement  of the posture threshold markers which  subdivide 
the  EDL  range.  The  alien's current posture is  determined  by 
comparing   where  his  current  EDL  is  relative  to  his   EDL 
thresholds   AND  determining  whether  he  will  be  Hostile  or 
Obsequious  while  in  region B====C (See  "How  Player  Strength 
Effects Alien Posture").







5. HOW PLAYER STRENGTH EFFECTS ALIEN POSTURE                        
                 
The  "rational alien" will curb his tendency to be  hostile  when 
confronted with a stronger opponent until he can come to terms or 
escape. To simulate this, a comparison of the attack strengths of 
the   player  and  the  alien  is   made  and  modified  by   the 
aggressiveness  of the alien to determine if the alien is HOSTILE 
or  OBSEQUIOUS  when  his  EDL is between the  B  &  C  threshold 
markers  (see  illustration  above).   This  strength  comparison 
results in a number called the STRENGTH-DIFFERENTIAL.

If the STRENGTH-DIFFERENTIAL is positive,  the OBSEQUIOUS posture 
is selected;  if negative,  the HOSTILE posture is selected. 

The formula for computing the STRENGTH-DIFFERENTIAL is as follows:

STRENGTH-DIFFERENTIAL =  
  PLAYER-STRENGTH - [ALIEN-STRENGTH*(AGRESSION-LEVEL/5)]

   where: STRENGTH-DIFFENTIAL=player-alien strength comparison 
          PLAYER-STRENGTH = player's current strength
          ALIEN-STRENGTH  = alien's current strength
          AGRESSION-LEVEL = alien's agressiveness as defined  in 
                            the  "personality"  record  for   the 
                            alien  ( see ORIGINATOR RECORD FORMAT 
                            in TEXT DATA RECORDS)


6. HOW THE PLAYER SELECTS A POSTURE

The  player  has direct control over which posture he  adopts  by 
selecting  it from a list of options on the  communication  menu. 
The  player's  posture remains in effect until he opts to  change 
it. The player may adopt any posture but FIGHT/FLIGHT which isn't 
a communication posture.


7. HOW PLAYER POSTURE EFFECTS ALIEN POSTURE

Each class of aliens has, as part of it's "personality" record, a 
constant  for each of the possible postures that the  player  can 
adopt which is applied to the alien's EDL when the player  issues 
a  statement  or  question.  This constant is  called the "Player 
Posture Effect" (PPE).
      
The  rules for applying the Player Posture Effect to the  alien's 
current EDL are as follows: 

     1  - If the player issues a statement:

          DELTA-EDL = PPE * [1/(#-THIS-POSTURE + 1)]

     2  - If the player issues a question:

          DELTA EDL = {PPE * [1/(#-THIS-POSTURE + 1)]}/2

     where: DELTA-EDL      = the amount added to the current EDL
            PPE            = the Player Posture Effect associated 
                             with the player's current posture.
            #-THIS-POSTURE = a count of the phrases issued by the 
                             player since he selected his current
                             posture.







8. HOW PLAYER RESPONSES TO ALIEN QUESTIONS EFFECT ALIEN POSTURE

Aliens  can either issue statements,  respond to player questions 
or ask the player a yes/no question. If the alien asks the player 
a yes/no question the following rules apply:

   1  - The player can select either "yes" or "no" or ignore  the 
        question.

   2  - If the alien becomes impatient (the phrase  interval  has 
        elapsed)  while  waiting for the player to  respond,  the 
        alien will send a "What is your answer?" type phrase. 

   3  - If the alien tires of waiting after prompting the  player 
        with a "What is your answer?" type phrase, the alien will 
        assume a "no" response to the pending yes/no question.

Each  phrase has an EDL Effect for  both "yes" and "no" responses 
which  is simply added to the alien's EDL.  (see  PHRASE  CONTROL 
RECORD FORMAT in TEXT DATA RECORDS).

9. WHAT IS THE PHRASE INTERVAL?

The Phrase Interval is the amount of time that the phrase display 
routine    will  wait after displaying a phrase before  the  next 
phrase  can  be displayed.  The real time clock is used  for  the 
timing  of this interval. 

When  the  player  sends a phrase,  the Phrase Interval  for  the 
previous  phrase  is set to the minimum,  2  seconds.  The  alien 
cannot issue any phrases until after the Phrase Interval for  the 
last phrase has elapsed. 

The  value of the Phrase Interval for each type of phrase  is  as 
follows:
                                             PHRASE      
          PHRASE TYPE                     INTERVAL(SECS)   
        -------------------------------------------------  
         Alien: Hailing Request................10          
         Alien: Hailing Response................6          
         Alien: Statement......................10          
         Alien: Conversation Lag...............10          
         Alien: Hostile    Y/N question........10          
         Alien: Diplomatic Y/N question........15          
         Alien: Friendly   Y/N question........20          
         Alien: Obsequious Y/N question........30          
         Player: Statement......................6          
         Player: Question.......................6        
        -------------------------------------------------         
                 





10. HOW DOES THE ALIEN'S TALKATIVENESS EFFECT CONVERSATION FLOW?
                 
Each  class  of aliens has a Talkativeness Percentage as part  of 
their "personality" record. The Talkativeness Percentage controls 
the  likelyhood  that  the alien will issue or answer  a  hailing 
request.  The alien will send a hailing phrase if a random number 
between  1  and  100 falls below it's  Talkativeness  Percentage. 
                 
Once  communications  have been  established,  the  Talkativeness 
Percentage  for  all aliens is 70%.  This figure  influences  the 
frequency of alien conversation lags, where he sends no phrase.
                 
11. WHY AN ALIEN TERMINATES A CONVERSATION

An  alien will terminate a conversation when one of the following 
cases occurs:

     1  - TOO AGITATED TO TALK - this occurs when the alien's EDL 
          increases  to the point where the FIGHT/FLIGHT  posture 
          is selected.

     2 - TIRED OF TALKING - this occurs when the number of  alien 
         phrases  given equals the number of phrases allowed  for 
         the  conversation.  When the conversation is initiated a          
         maximum number of alien phrases for the conversation  is          
         computed  by  selecting  a random number  in  the  range          
         determined by the alien's initial posture, where:
                                
                                      # ALIEN PHRASES 
                      POSTURE         MIN        MAX
                ---------------------------------------
                      OBSEQUIOUS      10         20
                      FRIENDLY         5         15
                      DIPLOMATIC       3          8
                      HOSTILE          2          5
                ---------------------------------------



















12. WHAT ARE THE PLAYER'S OPTIONS?

The  illustration below shows the options available to the player 
throughout the communication procedure.

                  
                      BRIDGE
                        |
                        |
  ---------->---COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER---
  |          | [1] HAIL or RESPOND---------->
  |          | [2] DISTRESS             |   |
  |          | [3] HOMING DRONE         |   |
  |          | [4] BRIDGE               |   |
  |          ----------------------------   |
  |                                         | 
  |                      <-------------------
  |                      |
  |      --------------->|
  |      |               |
  |      |      -- POSTURE OPTIONS ---                    
  |      |      | [1] HOSTILE        |
  |      |      | [2] DIPLOMATIC     |
  |      |      | [3] FRIENDLY       |
  |      |      | [4] OBSEQUIOUS     |
  |      |      ----------------------
  |      |               |
  |      |               |<-------------------------
  |      |               |                         |
  |      |               |                  --QUESTION TOPICS---
  |      |    --COMMUNICATION OPTIONS--     | [1] THEMSELVES   |
  |      |    | [1] SEND STATEMENT    |     | [2] OTHER RACES  |
  |      |    | [2] ASK QUESTION----------->| [3] OLD EMPIRE   |
  |      <----| [3] CHANGE POSTURE    |     | [4] ANCIENT ONES | 
  <-----------| [4] END               |     | [5] GENERAL INFO | 
              |{[5] YES}--            |     -------------------- 
              |{[6] NO }-|            |      
              -----------|-------------      
                         |                   
                         ----- NOTE: Only displayed when an
                                     alien question is pending.














13. HOW ALIEN LANGUAGES ARE SIMULATED

To  simulate that the player is communicating with an alien race, 
all  or  none  of each phrase originated by  the  alien  will  be 
scrambled.  (All player initiated phrases    are displayed in  an 
un-scrambled  form.) The factors which control the scrambling  of 
alien phrases are as follows:

        1 - All phrases will be un-scrambled if any member of the             
            player's  crew  is the same race as the race  of  the             
            alien.

        2 - The  setting  of  flag  SCRAMBLE  in  the   alien's 
            "personality" record. 

        3 - The skill level of the communications officer,  where 
            the percentage of unscrambled words is equal to:

            %UNSCRAMBLED = COMM-OFFICER-SKILL * 2 

Scrambled  words  are  replaced with words composed of  a  random 
number of syllables (from 1 to the maximum for that alien  class) 
selected from a Syllabary Table characteristic of that race. (See 
Text Data Record Format document). 

The phrase frequency bytes is incremented only for phrases  given 
entirely un-scrambled.


14. HOW ALIEN DECIDES WHAT TYPE OF PHRASE TO SEND

If the player has asked the alien for information:

    1  - A  check is made for phrases in the alien's phrase  pool 
         that match the question topic and whose frequency counts 
         don't exceed the frequency limit for the phrase. 

    2  - If a phrase is not found, send an "I don't know phrase". 

    3  - If more than one phrase exists for the topic select  the 
         one with the lowest frequency count.

If the alien can initiate a phrase:

    1  - If a random number between 1 and 100 falls in the region 
         above 70,  the alien doesn't send a phrase but sets  the 
         phrase interval for a conversation lag.

    2 - else,  build a list of the least frequently given phrases 
        and randomly select from amoung that list.

    3 - if no phrase is found with a frequency count less  that 
        the frequency limit, issue a conversation lag.

                                #







