Alien (BUGFIX 1.7): Routine at 44738

Game-mode handler for "1: Short Game" (dispatched from 43135).

The Short Game is the abbreviated scenario. Several slots in the starting template (ShortGameCrewInit) are pre-stamped with the HostMarker pattern ($FF on bytes +1 and +7) and the alien's first target is hard-wired to crew ID 9 — a value the alien-targeting guard at 41274 treats as "no valid target", so the alien's stalk-the-host logic is effectively disabled. No script-driven randomisation runs. Every Short Game opens from exactly the same configuration, which is what makes it shorter and more deterministic than the Long Game.

Steps:

1. Clear the two run-state bytes at 33708 / 33709.
2. Point the message queue head (MsgQueueWritePtr) at the queue base MessageQueue.
3. Hard-wire AlienTargetID = 9 — disables alien hunt logic.
4. LDIR 64 bytes from ShortGameCrewInit into $737E to populate the alien slot and the seven crew slots with the short-game starting state (four slots wear the HostMarker so they're skipped by normal crew processing, leaving the alien header plus three active crew).
5. JP into the shared common init at CommonGameInit — skipping the Long Game's script-driven host selection and target picking.

Used by the dispatcher at 43134 via the table at 43135.

Game-mode handler for "1: Short Game" (dispatched from 43135). The Short Game is the abbreviated scenario. Several slots in the starting template (ShortGameCrewInit) are pre-stamped with the HostMarker pattern ($FF on bytes +1 and +7) and the alien's first target is hard-wired to crew ID 9 — a value the alien-targeting guard at 41274 treats as "no valid target", so the alien's stalk-the-host logic is effectively disabled. No script-driven randomisation runs. Every Short Game opens from exactly the same configuration, which is what makes it shorter and more deterministic than the Long Game. Steps: 1. Clear the two run-state bytes at 33708 / 33709. 2. Point the message queue head (MsgQueueWritePtr) at the queue base MessageQueue. 3. Hard-wire AlienTargetID = 9 — disables alien hunt logic. 4. LDIR 64 bytes from ShortGameCrewInit into $737E to populate the alien slot and the seven crew slots with the short-game starting state (four slots wear the HostMarker so they're skipped by normal crew processing, leaving the alien header plus three active crew). 5. JP into the shared common init at CommonGameInit — skipping the Long Game's script-driven host selection and target picking. Used by the dispatcher at 43134 via the table at 43135.
44738	XOR A	A = 0
44739	LD (33708),A	clear run-state byte 33708
44742	LD (33709),A	clear run-state byte 33709
44745	LD HL,33714	HL = MessageQueue (event queue base)
44748	LD (33741),HL	event queue head = queue base (empty queue)
44751	LD A,9	A = 9 (fixed Short Game alien target)
44753	LD (33703),A	AlienTargetID = 9 — no randomisation
44756	LD HL,41508	HL = ShortGameCrewInit ($A224)
44759	LD DE,29566	DE = $737E (alien slot + crew table base)
44762	LD BC,64	64 bytes = 8 × 8-byte records
44765	LDIR	copy short-game starting crew/alien state
44767	JP 42380	→ CommonGameInit (skip Long Game randomisation)