Copperhead

Copperhead
b2o2b2o$3b2o$3b2o$obo2bobo$o6bo2$o6bo$b2o2b2o$2b4o2$3b2o$3b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ TRACKLOOP 10 0 -1/10 THUMBSIZE 3 GPS 5 HEIGHT 800 WIDTH 483 ]]
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Pattern type	Spaceship
Number of cells	28
Bounding box	6 × 12
Direction	Orthogonal
Period	10
Mod	10
Speed	c/10 | c/10
Heat	27.8
Discovered by	zdr
Year of discovery	2016
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 – B38/S0238 # of rules 23 = 8 Isotropic rules B3-ceky/S23-cik – B34ceq5aeijk6aen7c8/S0234ceijyz5ekn6-a7e8
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders 13 Catagolue-generated RLE synthesis Uploaded synthesis RLE copperhead_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext copperhead.cells RLE copperhead.rle
Identifiers apgcode xq10_o5995ozes88sezw33 Pentadecathlon ID 28P10H1V0.1

Copperhead is a c/10 orthogonal spaceship discovered by zdr on March 5, 2016 using a modified version of gfind known as zfind. It was the first spaceship of this speed to be discovered, and surprised many due to its small size and high period.

Various names were proposed on the day of the ship's discovery; for example copperhead, blockhauler, decapod, cuttlefish and blockfish. zdr settled on copperhead.

Copperhead ranked second place in the Pattern of the Year 2016 competition on the ConwayLife.com forums, behind the caterloopillars.

Reactions

The ship hauls a block behind it, which makes for interesting reactions involving other ships. Dean Hickerson built a sawtooth that uses copperhead's ability to turn a heavyweight spaceship into a loaf. It can also eat gliders and middleweight spaceships cleanly from behind, and lightweight spaceships from the side of the block. Its front end can cleanly burn through blinkers, creating a c/10 blinker fuse.

x = 27, y = 10, rule = B3/S23 5bo$5bo$6bo2bo$4b3ob2obo$2o6b2ob2o$2o6b2ob2o$4b3ob2ob2obo3bo3bo3bo$6bo 2bo4bo3bo3bo3bo$5bo8bo3bo3bo3bo$5bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 10 ]]

The c/10 copperhead blinker fuse (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

Fireship

Main article: Fireship

Simon Ekström found what appeared to be a tagalong with a large spark on March 20, 2016. Unlike most tagalongs, this tagalong actually temporarily interacts with the hauled block, and is thus not a true tagalong but a whole new spaceship, named fireship due to its unusual spark. However, blocks hauled by the tagalongs in tagalong pyramids are unaffected, and are thus true tagalongs.

A 2c/20 tagalong for the fireship is also known, discovered by Christoph Reinthaler on October 11, 2018.

Cottonmouth

Main article: Cottonmouth

A true pushalong known as the cottonmouth was found by AforAmpere on March 24, 2018 for both the copperhead and the similar fireship. Because its front end matches that of the copperhead, it is infinitely extensible by stacking on itself.

Occurrence

The first copperhead to emerge from the ash of a soup appeared on April 4, 2016 in a D2_+2 haul submitted to Catagolue by Apple Bottom. Several more copperheads have since been found in this and other related symmetries. It was the first spaceship with a non-standard speed to appear in a soup search, and the only such spaceship until the c/7 orthogonal loafer in 2020.

Synthesis and guns

The first final step for a glider synthesis, starting from a large, unsynthesized still life, was proposed by praosylen on the day of discovery. An alternative synthesis utilising fumarole as a predecessor, presented by Tanner Jacobi an hour later, was much more efficient. After optimizations by Mark Niemiec and Chris Cain the total synthesis cost made 22 gliders. In a different approach, gmc_nxtman reduced the copperhead's synthesis cost to 14 gliders on July 9, 2017; 2718281828 posted a 13-glider synthesis on January 9, 2018.

Based on the fumarole route, Alexey Nigin constructed a period-690 copperhead gun on March 6, 2016, and gmc_nxtman constructed a period-376 gun one day later. On August 16, 2018, Goldtiger997 posted a stable glider-to-copperhead converter based on the latter route, allowing for copperhead guns with period at least 197 to be built.

Gallery

x = 47, y = 27, rule = B3/S23 46bo$44b3o$43bo$43b2o3$17b2o23b2o$17bo19bo4bobo$14b2obo18bobo5bo$13bo 2bo19bobo4bo$13b2o22bo6b3o$27b2o17bo$2o26bo$bo26bobo$bobo5b2o18b2o8b2o $2b2o4bo2bo26bo2bo$8bo2bo26bo2bo$7bo4bo24bo4bo$7bo4bo24bo4bo$8b4o26b4o $7b2o2b2o24b2o2b2o$7bo4bo24bo4bo$7bo4bo24bo4bo3$8b4o26b4o$9b2o28b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ ZOOM 12 WIDTH 640 HEIGHT 400 AUTOSTART GPS 5 PAUSE 2 LOOP 80 ]]

Left: a copperhead eater found by Simon Ekström. Right: a copperhead-to-glider converter found by James Pascua. Both involve a claw with tail (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

The phase the copperhead was first found in.

Other rules

DryLife's goldenhead.

In DryLife, an extremely similar spaceship (dubbed the goldenhead) also travels at c/10 orthogonal. It differs from the normal copperhead by 2 cells in one phase. A normal copperhead at this phase will turn into a goldenhead in DryLife, and conversely this phase will return to a copperhead in normal Life.

x = 10, y = 13, rule = B37/S23 4b2o$3b4o$4b2o$2b6o$3b4o2$2b2o2b2o$2obo2bob2o$3bo2bo3$4b2o$4b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ ZOOM 16 HEIGHT 350 GPS 5 AUTOSTART TRACKLOOP 10 0 -0.1 ]]

Goldenhead (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here Catagolue: here

See also

• Loafer

References

External links

• Copperhead at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue
• 28P10H1V0.1 at Heinrich Koenig's Game of Life Object Catalogs
• Copperhead at the Life Lexicon
• Alexey Nigin: New Spaceship Speed in Conway’s Game of Life