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WHAT IS IT?
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This model simulates assassins (red) trying to kill the general population (white), and being hunted by cops (blue). At the end of the simulation, it displays a short message indicating which side won (cops or assassins).


HOW IT WORKS
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The assassins are relatively intelligent, they always kill targets in their own square, then look at their surrounding squares, picking the highest population square to eliminate, then moving into that square. The cops search randomly for assassins, but are always effective at changing an assassin when they meet one. There is a conversion probability which regulates how often an assassin is killed by the cop or is converted to a different role. An assassin can be converted into either a cop (violet) or a target (yellow). If he is converted into a target and later meets an assassin, he will be converted back into an assassin, or killed (based off of the conversion factor). Cops can be killed by assassins, but only if more than 1 is next to them.


HOW TO USE IT
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The controls are pretty self-explanatory. The sliders adjust the starting values of the simulation.


THINGS TO NOTICE
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The cops have an incentive to group together, in that the more of them that are close to each other, the higher the probability of surviving an encounter with an assassin. Also, for every cop close to one another, the range they can inspect goes up.


THINGS TO TRY
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Play around with individual sliders independantly at first, and see if you can notice any interesting patterns develop.


EXTENDING THE MODEL
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You may want to make the cops a little more intelligent. If they get too smart, though, the assassins can never win.


CREDITS AND REFERENCES
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Model developed by Warren M Myers at the Shodor Education Foundation Aug 2004.