  This article contributes in four ways to the research on time-discrete
continuous opinion dynamics with compromising agents. First, communication
regimes are introduced as an elementary concept of opinion dynamic models.
Second, we develop a model that covers two major models of continuous opinion
dynamics, i.e. the basic model of Deffuant and Weisbuch as well as the model of
Krause and Hegselmann. To combine these models, which handle different numbers
of communicating agents, we convert the convergence parameter of Deffuant and
Weisbuch into a parameter called self-support. Third, we present simulation
results that shed light on how the number of communicating agents but also how
the self-support affect opinion dynamics. The fourth contribution is a
theoretically driven criterion when to stop a simulation and how to extrapolate
to infinite many steps.
