Thread for basic questions

[dvgrn]

What is a wick/agar where some copies of the main part are shifted by some generations called?

I believe some examples of this were posted in discussion Talk:Honey farm hasslers (an incomplete p26 pre-pulsar hassling wick; a p25 pre-pulsar hassler).

There's a script from the mid-2010s that was called the "repeat script", by praosylen -- posted here -- that could build large patterns based on this idea, with really interesting-looking behavior. The post above the revised repeater-script post has one example pattern, and there are others in that thread, mostly using non-Life rules.

GUYTU6J built some really impressively non-Conway's-Life-looking Conway's Life patterns and wallpapers with the script.

So I suppose that the most recognizable thing that wicks/agars along those lines are called, would be "repeat-script patterns".

[confocaloid]

The output of conga line switch engine extender should count as an example.
If you are willing to include puffers for non-interacting oscillators, the following might be another impressive example.

EDIT: In another rule (to avoid triple posting), here's a really frickin cool puffer:

Code: Select all

x = 6, y = 26, rule = B3-ej6e/S234i
3o$obo$2b2o21$4b2o$2bobo$2b3o!

That is just mesmerizing. It's like a demonstration of transverse and longitudinal waves at the same time.

I couldn't resist posting this simple cleanup:

Code: Select all

x = 15, y = 40, rule = B3-ej6e/S234i
9b3o$9bobo$11b2o21$13b2o$11bobo$11b3o12$2b2o$obo$3o!

[TYCF]

How many 'printers' have been constructed which creates images using spaceships?

[dvgrn]

How many 'printers' have been constructed which creates images using spaceships?

The main ones I can think of are

• the variants of the golly-ticker pattern (from Golly's Patterns/Life/Guns, originally based on Alan Hensel's decimal counter, though there have been p30 and p46 and I think maybe p1 variants built) -- there's a script to build these for any arbitrary bit pattern;
• the LCD (Loafer Character Display) from Jormungant's high-bandwidth telegraph project, and otsimo's 2020 adaptations of it (stationary printer, moving display);
• Mr. T's c/10-based printers that also print bitmaps in the form of fleets of loafers (moving printer, moving display)
• the various c/2-based printers by GilGil

That last example of GilGil's work are stationary printers with moving displays, very much along the lines of the golly-ticker patterns but with different technology.

GilGil's original looping printers had images made out of blocks, which were then converted into spaceships such that the whole pattern moved -- moving printer, stationary display. The compilable printers from the Life textbook are stationary printer and stationary display, of course, so not particularly relevant to this question.

Offhand I'm not remembering any other projects that fit the "images using spaceships" description, unless you count metapixel-based things like Brice Due's hexadecimal.mc.gz (in Golly's Patterns/HashLife/Metacell) -- technically that pattern makes images, and the images are made out of spaceships.

Seems like I'm probably missing something else obvious, though. Who has another contribution to the list?

[Haycat2009]

Is it not time for POTY to start? I want to help, but b3s23love is the one hosting it, after all.

[confocaloid]

Pattern Of The Year 2023 Nominations

[muzik]

Has anyone disproven the possibility of a T-nosed p3 so far?

[Haycat2009]

Has anyone disproven the possibility of a T-nosed p3 so far?

No. Pulsar and caterer works the same as one, so suffice to say that it is impossible to disprove.

How do I use Moose antlers as a catalyst?

[b-engine]

How do I use Moose antlers as a catalyst?

One way is to use it as eater 1.
Another way is to lengthen it using a domino and turn it back by using it as eater 3:

Code: Select all

x = 38, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
bo11bo$2bo9bo$3o9b3o2$3b2o5b2o4b2o5b2o4b2o5b2o$3bo7bo4bo7bo4bo7bo$4b3o
b3o6b3ob3o6b3ob3o$6bobo10bobo10bobo$7bo12bo11bobo$33bo$20b2o13b2o$35b
2o!

Here is a demonstration of where the reaction take place:

Code: Select all

x = 30, y = 24, rule = B3/S23
7bo14bo$2o4bobo12bobo4b2o$obo4bo14bo4bobo$2bo24bo$2b3o20b3o$5bo18bo$2b
3o20b3o$2bo24bo$obo7bo8bo7bobo$2o7bobo6bobo7b2o$9bobo6bobo$9b3o6b3o$9b
3o6b3o$9bobo6bobo$2o7bobo6bobo7b2o$obo7bo8bo7bobo$2bo24bo$2b3o20b3o$5b
o18bo$2b3o20b3o$2bo24bo$obo4bo14bo4bobo$2o4bobo12bobo4b2o$7bo14bo!

[TYCF]

What is the longest-lasting collision of a glider and a natural still life?

[confocaloid]

What is the longest-lasting collision of a glider and a natural still life?

T = 1810 with aircraft carrier

Code: Select all

x = 8, y = 3, rule = B3/S23
o5b2o$b2obo2bo$2o2b2o!
#C [[ STOP 1810 ]]

T = 2585 with mango ("A collision w/ an extremely unusual census", Lifeline_Volume_4#Page_5)

Code: Select all

x = 5, y = 8, rule = B3/S23
2b2o$bo2bo$o2bo$b2o2$2bo$b2o$bobo!
#C [[ STOP 2585 ]]

Interpreting "a natural still life" as "a still life with occurrences in b3s23/C1", there should be much longer collisions than that.

T = 3854 with block on table:

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 5, rule = B3/S23
7b2o$2ob2ob2o$bob2o3bo$bo$2o!
#C [[ STOP 3854 ]]

[hkoenig]

From my incomplete records--

8351

Code: Select all

x=11, y=7
2o$obo$3bo$4bo$5bo3b2o$6bob2o$5b2o3bo!

bonus: 1097 with no Gliders

Code: Select all

x=11, y=7
2o$o2b2o$2b2o2bo$5b2o$8b2o$8bobo$8bo!

212 to nothing

Code: Select all

x=7, y=7
2ob2o$ob2o2bo$5b2o2$4bo$3b2o$3bobo!

I also noted a collision between a Glider and a MWSS that will produce only stable objects after 605 generations, but I can't find the exact configuration.

Edit--

Found the old 17Bit census result files:

13555:

Code: Select all

x=6, y=11
4bo$3bobo$2bobo$2bo$b2obo$o2b2o$2o2$bo$2o$obo!

15199:

Code: Select all

x=11, y=7
2o$obob2ob2o$3b2ob2o2bo$9b2o$3bo$2b2o$2bobo!

15370:

Code: Select all

x=9, y=10
7b2o$4b2o2bo$3bobobo$2bo3bo$bo$o$2o$3b2o$3bobo$3bo!

17526:

Code: Select all

x=9, y=9
4b2o$3bobo$o2bo$4o2b3o$6bo$2b2o3bo$2bo$obo$2o!

17641:

Code: Select all

x=9, y=11
6bo$5bobo$4bo2bo$3bo3b2o$obo5bo$2o4bo$6b2o2$7bo$6b2o$6bobo!

[confocaloid]

[...]
I also noted a collision between a Glider and a MWSS that will produce only stable objects after 605 generations, but I can't find the exact configuration.
[...]

I believe this collision matches the description:

Code: Select all

#C final population 71
#C final pattern has bounding box 55x44 and
#C includes 9 blocks, 4 beehives, a tub and a loaf
x = 8, y = 8, rule = B3/S23
bo$o$3o$5bo$3bo3bo$2bo$2bo4bo$2b5o!

[otismo]

Are re-forming catalysts similar enough to oscillators?

[dvgrn]

Are re-forming catalysts similar enough to oscillators?

Similar enough for what purpose, or for what comparison, exactly?

Sometimes reforming catalysts are oscillators.

[otismo]

Are re-forming catalysts similar enough to oscillators?

Similar enough for what purpose, or for what comparison, exactly?

Sometimes reforming catalysts are oscillators.

I think we would have to agree that re-forming catalysts are oscillators.

But since they are mostly still lifes, they are "on the fence" between conduit/periodic.

[dvgrn]

I think we would have to agree that re-forming catalysts are oscillators.

But since they are mostly still lifes, they are "on the fence" between conduit/periodic.

Sure. Lots of oscillators are partly or mostly stable, though. Billiard table oscillators in particular don't necessarily have any recognizable catalysts, but they do have some rotor cells and some stator cells.

Maybe you're thinking about oscillators with different levels of volatility? Volatility-1 oscillators aren't "on the fence" at all, presumably.

[confocaloid]

https://conwaylife.com/w/index.php?diff ... did=144291
https://conwaylife.com/w/index.php?diff ... did=135670
Is period 14 included or excluded in the announced results? For some reason, I don't find forum posts announcing this.

Edit: also https://conwaylife.com/w/index.php?diff ... did=142730

[hotdogPi]

14 is not ruled out.

All of this discussion is on Discord and for some reason has not been crossposted.

[HerscheltheHerschel]

Does this have any octohash and octo3obj results, and what's it's census.rle rank? (B-engine calls this active region B-turner)

Code: Select all

x = 4, y = 4, rule = B3/S23
b3o$o2bo$2bo$2bo!

[hotdogPi]

Does this have any octohash and octo3obj results, and what's it's census.rle rank? (B-engine calls this active region B-turner)

Code: Select all

x = 4, y = 4, rule = B3/S23
b3o$o2bo$2bo$2bo!

It's ranked 127th (zero-indexed).

My spreadsheet says it has 119 octo3obj results, but that's dependent on the generation you look at.

[HerscheltheHerschel]

Why do so many rare objects involve pi-heptominos in their formation?

[dvgrn]

Why do so many rare objects involve pi-heptominos in their formation?

Generally, the fewer cells there are in the smallest predecessor of an object, the more often that object will show up. Pi heptominoes have a very common pentaplet predecessor, and various fairly common six-cell predecessors... so they show up a lot in soups.

Then, the longer an active region lasts before stabilizing, the more likely it is to be able to participate in a rare-object creation. Pi explosions last a long time, so you get a lot of rare pi-related stuff showing up in soups, just by the luck of the draw.

On top of that is the specific lucky fact that it's very easy to "catch" the almost-stable house induction-coil stage of a pi-heptomino with another forming induction coil. So you get a lot more "rare objects that involve a pi" just by adding houses to other rare objects that aren't quite stable by themselves.

[confocaloid]

Why do so many rare objects involve pi-heptominos in their formation?

As an example, looking at the commonness of a compact three-object constellation (two blocks and a pentadecathlon), a very common way for a pentadecathlon to form happens to be a certain pi+block collision (which itself evolves from a glider+mango collision "with an extremely unusual census").

[...]
The xp15 and xp30 tabulations together have 18 occurrences of constellations, all of which would normally be occurrences of a pentadecathlon. The two most common are the following constellation (6 occurrences) and a clean pentadecathlon (5 occurrences):

Code: Select all

#C https://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xp15_w66z033zxeaeeeeae_gvppfz7447z0eehlhwhlhee/x2xb3s23clustersv0
x = 13, y = 15, rule = B3S23clustersv0
.4B$.B2AB$.B2AB$.4B$4B$B2AB$B2AB$4B3$3.3B2.3B$.2B8A2B$.2BAB4ABA2B$.2B8A2B$3.
3B2.3B!

Code: Select all

#C https://catagolue.hatsya.com/object/xp15_sksy033w66zvnv/b3s23
x = 13, y = 10, rule = B3/S23
7b2o$7b2o2b2o$3o8b2o$obo$3o$3o$3o$3o$obo$3o!

The reason for the commonness of that constellation seems to be the pi+block collision:

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 6, rule = B3/S23
b2o$obo$o$obo$b2o5b2o$8b2o!

[...]

[Haycat2009]

Can you tell me more about the differences in the 1-letter finds? I am not sure whether to use qfind or afind.