Thread for basic questions

[Sokwe]

I downloaded jslife, but I don't know how to open .lif files. Can someone help?

You can open .lif files directly in Golly.

[muzik]

Is it at all possible to make this 5c/7 blinker fuse clean? Can the backend be modified such that no ash is left behind?

Code: Select all

x = 203, y = 5, rule = B3/S23
2o$obo3bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo$2b
o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b
3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b3o3bo3b
3o$obo3bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo9bo$2o
!

[I6_I6]

What's the rarest object produced by a puffer, not counting ones that use syntheses?
This looks pretty rare:

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x = 63, y = 87, rule = B3/S23
34b3o5b3o$33bo2bo5bo2bo$33bo3bo3bo3bo$36bobobobo$32b2o4bobo4b2o$32b2o
2b3ob3o2b2o$34b5ob5o2$36b2o3b2o$32b2o11b2o$32b2o11b2o2$36b2o3b2o$36b2o
3b2o2$30b3o$29bo2bo13b3o$33bo11bo2bo$33bo11bo2bo$29b6o7bob2ob2o$32bob
o9bo2bo$30b2o12b2ob2o$30b2o3bo6b5o$35bob2o6bo2bo$37b3obo4bobo$36bo2b3o
6b2ob2o$26b2o7bo2b2ob2o4b2ob2o$28b3o4bobo5b2o2b2ob2o$28b3o5bo11b2o$7b
3o5b3o11b2o$7bo2bo3bo2bo$7bo9bo$5b2o2bobobobo2b2o$5b2o2bobobobo2b2o$4b
o5bo3bo5bo$5bo2bobo3bobo2bo$6b2o9b2o$7bo9bo2$5b2o11b2o$5b2o11b2o$27b2o
$9b2o3b2o11b2o$9b2o3b2o$19b3o$3b3o12bo2bo$2bo2bo12b2obo$2bo2bo2$o2bo3b
2obo5b3o$o6b3o7b2o4b2o21bo7bo$bo2b2o10b4o2b3o20b3o5b3o$2bo19bo21b2obo
5bob2o$3b2o40b2obo3bob2o$43bob2o7b2obo$4bo37bobo2bobobobo2bobo$3bobo3b
2o31bobo3b2ob2o3bobo$3bobo2b3o32b3obo5bob3o$44b3o7b3o$7bob2o11b3o19b2o
9b2o$o2b2o4bo6bo4bo3bo18bo11bo$o6bo6bobo3bo5bo16b2o11b2o$7bo3b2o3bo3b
o5bo16b2o11b2o$3b2o5bo4bo4bo5bo$10bo4bo5bo3bo21b2o3b2o$11bo2bo7b3o17b
o4b2o3b2o$41b3o14bo$40b2o2bo12b3o$42b3o11b2o2bo2$45bo$44bobo8bo$38bob
o12bob2obo2b2o$38bobo2bo2bo7bo6bo$40bo3b2o11bo2bo$29b2o28bo$33bo24b2o
$29b4obo23bo$29bobo3bo5bo10bobo2bobo$27b2o3bo3bo3bobo9bobo$26b3o7bo$24b
o2b2o3bo3bobo5bo7b3o$26bo4bo3bo2b2obob3obo4b2o$32bobo11bo7bo$33bo12bo
4bo$46b2o4bo$47b2o2b2o!

[Resu]

What is considered high-period?

[PK22]

Does there exist a gliderless gun which fires a non-standard spaceship?

[Chris857]

What is considered high-period?

From what I hear, for spaceships beginning around periods 7-10 is where stuff gets rather high period to search for.

[mmmmmmmmm]

What do the forums look like to someone who is banned?

[b-engine]

What do the forums look like to someone who is banned?

If not signed in, the same as guests (you could see that by signing out). However I don't know what would it look like if you're signed in as banned user, and I'm not going to get banned just to know it.

[Resu]

Are there filters for standard spaceships?

[ThePlayzr]

What are the smallest still lives that are yet to appear naturally? Is there a list somewhere?

[Chris857]

What are the smallest still lives that are yet to appear naturally? Is there a list somewhere?

"Small Unnatural Objects Watchlist" has some info, but looks like it hasn't been updated in a bit (edit: at least in the first post) since long^9 snake has had a C1 appearance.

[ThePlayzr]

Is there a 1-cell skewed D2+2 symmetry on catagolue, like the soup below?

Code: Select all

x = 12, y = 7, rule = B3/S23
4obo$4o2bob4o$b2obo3b4o$obo2bobob2o$bobob2o2bobo$4ob2obobo$6bob4o!

[hotcrystal0]

Continuing with the cell frequency spam, here is a p6 with frequency type "3,6":

Code: Select all

x = 17, y = 11, rule = B3/S23
4bob2ob2o$4b2obobobobo$9bob2obo$2b9o3bo$bo10b2ob2o$bo3b2o3b2o3bo$2ob2o
10bo$2bo3b9o$2bob2obo$3bobobob4o$6b2obo2bo!

It seems very likely that p6 oscillators exist with types "1,4,6", "4,5,6", "1,3,6", and "3,5,6". After that, the only remaining unsolved cases with stator cells would be "1,2,6" and "1,5,6". Considering statorless p6 oscillators, there are known trivial "2,3,4" oscillators made from statorless p2 and p3 oscillators, but no known nontrivial example.

I also determined that a p5 of type "2,4,5" would need a rotor width greater than 8. I might try some symmetric searches in this case, as I think the full rotor-width-9 search would take too long.

How do you search for those?

[Sokwe]

Continuing with the cell frequency spam...

How do you search for those?

I made some modifications to my fork of LLS that allow the user to apply frequency and subperiod restrictions to cells. I describe somewhat how it works in this post.

[ThePlayzr]

Does anyone have the rle for the c/3 greyship? It isn't on the wiki page for greyship. (It should be though, because 2c/5 and c/4 is there)
Also, does anyone know how to use LLSSS to search for with-the-grain grey ships, and negative against-the-grain ships?

[Resu]

How common is this constellation?

Code: Select all

x = 12, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
2o$2o3b2o$5b2o3$5b2o$6b2o$5bo3$10b2o$10b2o!

[hotdogPi]

How common is this constellation?

Code: Select all

x = 12, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
2o$2o3b2o$5b2o3$5b2o$6b2o$5bo3$10b2o$10b2o!

About 1/1500 as common as the honey farm

[splitterrules]

Can there be Tutorials/CatForce?

[muzik]

$ is used in RLE files for moving to the next line and / is used in RLE3 files for moving to the next plane. Are there standard symbols for moving to the next position in a 4D, 5D or so on RLE file?

[muzik]

How exactly is the crystallisation and decay oscillator extended? The pentadecathlon reflector needs to be moved 15 cells diagonally each time, but then the fishhook explodes, and it's not obvious to me where it should be moved in order to actually get a period increase.

Code: Select all

x = 153, y = 165, rule = B3/S23
5b2o$5b2o3$5bo$4b3o$3bo3bo$5bo18b2o$2bo5bo15bobo$2bo5bo10b2o4b3o12bo$
3bo3bo7b4o2bo4b3o8b4o4bo$4b3o8b3ob2o4b3o8b4o5bo$24bobo9bo2bo9b2o$24b2o
10b4o9b2o$28bo8b4o$27bo12bo$7bo19b3o3$7bo$5bobo$6b2o4$2o3b2o$14bo$bo3b
o9bo$2b3o8b3o$2b3o5$2b2o$2b2o7$20b2o$20bo$21b3o$23bo5$53bo$51b3o$50bo
$50b2o11$52bo$50bobo$51b2o35$89bo$90bo$88b3o42$141b2o6b2o$140bo2bo4bo
2bo$139b6o2b6o$140bo2bo4bo2bo$141b2o6b2o8$134b3o$134bobo$134b3o$134b3o
$134b3o$134b3o$134bobo$134b3o!

[ThePlayzr]

How exactly is the crystallisation and decay oscillator extended? The pentadecathlon reflector needs to be moved 15 cells diagonally each time, but then the fishhook explodes, and it's not obvious to me where it should be moved in order to actually get a period increase.

Code: Select all

x = 153, y = 165, rule = B3/S23
5b2o$5b2o3$5bo$4b3o$3bo3bo$5bo18b2o$2bo5bo15bobo$2bo5bo10b2o4b3o12bo$
3bo3bo7b4o2bo4b3o8b4o4bo$4b3o8b3ob2o4b3o8b4o5bo$24bobo9bo2bo9b2o$24b2o
10b4o9b2o$28bo8b4o$27bo12bo$7bo19b3o3$7bo$5bobo$6b2o4$2o3b2o$14bo$bo3b
o9bo$2b3o8b3o$2b3o5$2b2o$2b2o7$20b2o$20bo$21b3o$23bo5$53bo$51b3o$50bo
$50b2o11$52bo$50bobo$51b2o35$89bo$90bo$88b3o42$141b2o6b2o$140bo2bo4bo
2bo$139b6o2b6o$140bo2bo4bo2bo$141b2o6b2o8$134b3o$134bobo$134b3o$134b3o
$134b3o$134b3o$134bobo$134b3o!

Turns out the fishhook also had to be moved:

Code: Select all

x = 168, y = 180, rule = B3/S23
5b2o$5b2o3$5bo$4b3o$3bo3bo$5bo18b2o$2bo5bo15bobo$2bo5bo10b2o4b3o12bo$
3bo3bo7b4o2bo4b3o8b4o4bo$4b3o8b3ob2o4b3o8b4o5bo$24bobo9bo2bo9b2o$24b2o
10b4o9b2o$28bo8b4o$27bo12bo$7bo19b3o3$7bo$5bobo$6b2o4$2o3b2o$14bo$bo3b
o9bo$2b3o8b3o$2b3o5$2b2o$2b2o7$20b2o$20bo$21b3o$23bo$49bo$47b3o$46bo$
46b2o15$52bo$50bobo$51b2o35$89bo$90bo$88b3o57$156b2o6b2o$155bo2bo4bo2b
o$154b6o2b6o$155bo2bo4bo2bo$156b2o6b2o8$149b3o$149bobo$149b3o$149b3o$
149b3o$149b3o$149bobo$149b3o!

Every time you move the pentadecathlon 15 cells diagonally, you must move the eater 4 cells the other way. If it is too close to the gun and gets destroyed, then move it back to where it was, and then 15 cells towards the pentadecathlon. I don't know why it's 4 cells, but apparently it is.
I found this by simply moving the fishhook 1 cell diagonally until it didn't explode.
Edit: dvgrn, I am not new here - I joined in april...

[dvgrn]

I don't know why it's 4 cells, but apparently it is.
I found this by simply moving the fishhook 1 cell diagonally until it didn't explode.

This kind of experimenting is a good start! There aren't really any mysteries here that you can't solve by a bit more testing.

First, check how far apart the pairs of beehives are. It turns out adjacent pairs are not exactly lined up -- they're off by (9,10) and then (10,9), so you get back to another cycle with everything looking exactly the same, only every 19 cells diagonally.

So that's your mysterious "4" number. You're moving the pentadecathlon reflector only 15 cells, because that keeps it synced with incoming gliders -- but to keep that key eater in the same spot, you'd be better off moving the reflector 19 cells (and then rephasing it so that the glider hits it in the same phase).

Once you start thinking of the gun in the northwest as the arbitrarily movable piece, and the fishhook location as the key adjustable piece that controls the oscillator period (in 19-cell steps diagonally) it gets s lot easier to make adjustments. Just keep the reflector and the incoming glider stream invariant, and move the gun northwest as needed to make room to move the fishhook in 19-cell steps.

[ThePlayzr]

What other crystals are known that climb up or get pushed down a singular glider stream?

[Resu]

Are there xWSS crystals?

[WhiteHawk]

Is this p45 block hassler known?

Code: Select all

x = 47, y = 28, rule = B3/S23
30b6o$29bo6bo$28bo8bo$29bo6bo$30b6o2$22b2o$22bobo$23bo3b2o4b2o$27b2o3b
obo$26bobo2b3o7bo3bo$7b2o23b2o12bo$7b2o34b3o$19b2o22b2o$19b2o2b2o2$31b
2o$7bo23b2o$6b3o$3bo$2bo4bo8bo$7bo7bobo$3b2o11b2o3$2o3bo2bo3b2o$5o4b5o
$2o3bo2bo3b2o!

EDIT: or this p80 blinker hassler?

Code: Select all

x = 55, y = 28, rule = B3/S23
48bo$46b3o$28bo16bo$10b2o4b2o10b3o14b2o$10bobo2bobo13bo$12bo2bo14b2o$
11bo4bo26b2o$11bo4bo26b2o$6b2o3bo4bo23bo$13b2o24b3o$5bo3bo28bobobo$4b
o4bo27b3ob3o8bo$3bobobo30bobobo8b3o$2bobobo32b3o8bob3o$o4bo8bo12b3o10b
o8bo3bo$o3bo7b3o33bo3bo$12bo34b3obo$2b2o8b3o33b3o$49bo$41b2o$39b2o2b2o
$39bo4bo$24b2o14bo2bo$24bo13bobo2bobo$9b2o14b3o10b2o4b2o$10bo16bo$7b3o
$7bo!