The Hunting of the Elementary Conduits

[Kazyan]

Speaking of transparent block reactions, for which common objects have ways been searched to place a block (and possibly a beehive) in the path of those objects so that the object is consumed and then regenerated?

Dvgrn is correct in that H, B, and R have been searched this way. Loosely speaking, the scope of such possible searches for current computing power is as follows:

- You can try every reasonably common object in every reasonable position, on its own--e.g. place one Herschel and one block, and see if that block comes out transparent.
- You can try combinations of two catalysts, even for a long list of them.
- You can try three Spartan objects, or more-feasibly a subset of Spartan ones, in a small area. An entire box of 20x20 is about right with the objects fitting in any given 15x15 subregion.
- You can try four blocks.

A 3-block search is how Simkin found the Simkin glider gun, for example.

[wwei23]

You can try four blocks.

What about four tubs or ponds? The search space would be about the same size, because tubs and ponds are also D8 symmetric. The next smallest D8 symmetric still life that I know of would be the small lake at 20 cells:

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 9, rule = B3/S23
4bo$3bobo$3bobo$b2o3b2o$o7bo$b2o3b2o$3bobo$3bobo$4bo!

But I don't think that there's any known way to catalyze anything with this.

[dvgrn]

You can try four blocks.

What about four tubs or ponds? The search space would be about the same size, because tubs and ponds are also D8 symmetric. The next smallest D8 symmetric still life that I know of would be the small lake at 20 cells...But I don't think that there's any known way to catalyze anything with this.

The search space might be about the same size, but the odds of finding anything in it would be many orders of magnitude smaller. We're mostly talking about transparent objects here -- though the line is a little blurry.

Kazyan's example of the B60 conduit that became the Simkin glider gun, and a lot of other recent searches in this space, are CatForce searches. CatForce doesn't care if the catalysts that it tries disappear completely and then reappear, or if they're conventional catalysts that get hit by the active reaction and recover immediately. They just have to still be there when the reaction has gone by. So there are some of each in the Simkin gun.

Paul Callahan's ptbsearch has somewhat more specialized handling of transparent objects, if I remember right -- limiting the number of speculative objects that can disappear completely, before that branch of the search is considered to have failed and ptbsearch gives up and backtracks.

Easy calculations, if you don't mind they're a little rough...
Blocks are so common that it's not too terribly unlikely for four transparent blocks to be consumed and then re-appear in the right positions. It's not absolutely impossible for four transparent ponds or tubs to do that, but it's so ridiculously unlikely that there are thousands of CPU-years' worth of other searches that we should do first (because they're much more likely to find something).

Catagolue has censused 280 trillion blocks in C1, but there have been less than 9 trillion appearances of either ponds or tubs. 9/280 is about 1/31, so we should see a successful four-transparent-ponds-or-tubs catalyst about 1/(31^4) = a millionth as often as a four-transparent-blocks catalyst.

Putting that another way, with the same CPU resources we should expect to be able to find about a million successful conduits containing four simultaneous transparent blocks, before we find the first conduit that contains four transparent [pond|beehive]s. That seems like a good strong hint about what it makes sense to spend CPU time looking for.

[wwei23]

Putting that another way, with the same CPU resources we should expect to be able to find about a million successful conduits containing four simultaneous transparent blocks, before we find the first conduit that contains four transparent [pond|beehive]s. That seems like a good strong hint about what it makes sense to spend CPU time looking for.

What about transparent boats?
EDIT: Asking because I found this a while ago, although the boat stays gold now for some reason.

Code: Select all

x = 17, y = 14, rule = LifeHistory
.A4.2A$2.A2.A2.A$3A3.2A$15.E$14.E.E$7.2A5.2E$8.A$8.A.A3.2A$9.A.A.A.A$
10.2A.2A3$13.2A$13.2A!

[dvgrn]

What about transparent boats?
EDIT: Asking because I found this a while ago, although the boat stays gold now for some reason.

Code: Select all

x = 17, y = 14, rule = LifeHistory
.A4.2A$2.A2.A2.A$3A3.2A$15.E$14.E.E$7.2A5.2E$8.A$8.A.A3.2A$9.A.A.A.A$
10.2A.2A3$13.2A$13.2A!

The stickiness of the yellow state-5 color is a minor design difference between LifeHistory behavior in Golly and in LifeViewer. In Golly the original idea was to have a "marked" state that would show cells that were ON at T=0 and had never turned off. In LifeViewer it was somewhat more efficient to just have state 5 be an alternate "marked" state. It might or might not be adjusted at some point to match Golly LifeHistory/LifeSuper behavior more exactly.

As far as the boat question goes -- you can do the rough math I outlined for tubs and ponds, just as well as I can. What does Catagolue tell you about how often boats appear? (But then divide by four -- the odds are lower for boats because 75% of the time they might appear in the right place but the wrong orientation.)

[Kazyan]

What about four tubs or ponds? The search space would be about the same size, because tubs and ponds are also D8 symmetric. The next smallest D8 symmetric still life that I know of would be the small lake at 20 cells:

Code: Select all

x = 9, y = 9, rule = B3/S23
4bo$3bobo$3bobo$b2o3b2o$o7bo$b2o3b2o$3bobo$3bobo$4bo!

But I don't think that there's any known way to catalyze anything with this.

A four tub-or-block CatForce search is actually a reasonable idea, provided you limit the recovery time of the tub to like 10 generations or so in the input file. This is because tubs can be used as rocks and as conventional catalysts in several different ways. Running this kind of search would take ~16 times as long if you set the tub's recovery time to the same as the block, and probably less if you shortened it.

Throwing a pond into the equation is much less likely to be helpful, since ponds only work as fully-transparent catalysts. They can technically be used as a rock, but only in a way that a block could also handle.

What about transparent boats?
EDIT: Asking because I found this a while ago, although the boat stays gold now for some reason.

Code: Select all

x = 17, y = 14, rule = LifeHistory
.A4.2A$2.A2.A2.A$3A3.2A$15.E$14.E.E$7.2A5.2E$8.A$8.A.A3.2A$9.A.A.A.A$
10.2A.2A3$13.2A$13.2A!

Transparent boats definitely do show up in search results, but they don't have as many lines of symmetry as a block. For every one block placement, there are four possible boat placements. In a four-catalyst search, if all-blocks takes 1 day or whatever to complete, all-boats would take 4^4 days to complete.

This is part of why we haven't really done four-eater searches, even though those would be great. Those have no lines of symmetry, and would take 8^4 days to complete. You can cut that down a lot by using mirrored docks (2^4 days), but then they start crowding each other. Integrals (4^4) are a compromise. Integrals and blocks would be 5^4.

Finally, dvgrn's mention of ptbsearch is correct; that program allows you to control the catalysts better. It's not as user-friendly, so I haven't been able to wrangle it very well.

[wwei23]

Throwing a pond into the equation is much less likely to be helpful, since ponds only work as fully-transparent catalysts. They can technically be used as a rock, but only in a way that a block could also handle.

What about this kind of catalysis?

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = B3/S23
3bo$4o2$4b2o$3bo2bo$3bo2bo$4b2o2b2o$8bo$8bo$8bo!

[Kazyan]

What about this kind of catalysis?

Code: Select all

x = 10, y = 10, rule = B3/S23
3bo$4o2$4b2o$3bo2bo$3bo2bo$4b2o2b2o$8bo$8bo$8bo!

Sure. While it's true that there's no reason that such a catalysis couldn't happen in principle, it's hard to imagine where that would apply in a real conduit, though--the pond is being attacked from two directions at once. You're looking at a pincer-shaped bounding box for the reaction where the two prongs converge at the same time, and the prongs to have 'reach' out in order to avoid bumping into the pond prematurely. In my experience, that is not how chaos in Life propagates. We don't normally expect two things to happen at once at random.

[MathAndCode]

It's safe to assume that R's, B's, Herschels, pi-heptominoes and gliders have had fairly extensive transparent-object searches done. But a lot of that happened in a big push in the mid-1990s, mostly by Paul Callahan. So there is definitely search space that was not reachable in practice back then, that would be reachable now -- even with the same exact ptbsearch code.

For example, not many searches have been done that involve two simultaneous transparent objects. In the 1990s that would have taken too much time and memory, but with the right limits set it might turn up something interesting now. Kazyan might have done some searching along these lines -- maybe he can say more about the boundaries of recent searches.

I was thinking less along the lines of testing more transparent objects and more along the lines of testing more active objects because I know that all of the avenues for searching for interactions with the stereotypically common active objects that are most likely to yield transparent interactions have already been searched, and I believe that certain active objects have been under-investigated. For example, now that I view the I-sequence as a specific methuselah instead of random junk, I notice it all the time. For example, maybe thirty minutes before I posted my incomplete C→G, I noticed that the reaction that forms the pentadecathlon here involves an I-sequence interacting with a perturbed ship. I'm sure that I would have seen the I-sequence as often before reading this post as I did afterwards, but beforehand, I would have dismissed each occurrence of the I-heptomino's great-great-great grandchild as random junk and not noticed that that particular nonaplet kept appearing. This makes we wonder what other fairly common active regions are stuck in the same catch-22 where an active object isn't recognized as common until people know to look for it, and people don't know to look for it until it's recognized as common. For example, consider the result of the interaction between a two-glider octomino and a fishhook.

Code: Select all

x = 7, y = 10, rule = B3/S23
2b5o$bo5$2b2o$3bo$3o$o!

The sequence that creates a loaf and eighteen blonks has a six-cell predecessor.

Code: Select all

x = 5, y = 3, rule = B3/S23
2b3o$bo$2o!

Early on, the sequence's mechanism of expansion resembles the initial mechanism of expansion in some other sequences, such as wing, lumps of muck, and century.

Code: Select all

x = 50, y = 65, rule = LifeHistory
46.C$16.C13.3C12.C.C$15.3C12.C.C11.2C.2C$15.C2.C11.C2.C11.C2.CA$16.A.A12.A.2A11.A2.A$17.2A13.2A13.3A11$16.C13.3C$3C12.3C12.C.CA$C2.C11.C2.CA10.C2.2A$.A.2A11.A2.A11.A3.A$2.2A13.3A12.3A$33.A9$46.C$16.C13.3C12.C.C$3C12.3C12.C.C11.2C.2C$C2.C11.C2.C11.C2.C11.C2.C$.A.A12.A.A12.A.A12.A.A$2.A14.A14.A14.A10$46.C$16.C13.3C12.C.C$3C12.3C12.C.C11.2C.2C$C2.C11.C2.C11.C2.C11.C2.C$.3A12.3A12.A.A11.2A.2A$17.A13.3A12.A.A$47.A9$46.C$16.C13.3C12.C.C$3C12.3C12.C.C11.2C.2C$C2.C11.C2.C11.C2.C14.C$2.2A13.2A13.2A13.2A!

Of course, these facts do not guarantee that this is actually a common sequence, but each makes it more likely. (I admit that I have not been specifically looking for this sequence when observing random soups or when trying to find conduits.) There are probably other sequences as well that are fairly common and might be useful in conduits but are not known to be the former and therefore have not been investigated for the latter. One way to fix this would be some sort of soup search for active objects.
Relating this monologue about the existence of common active regions underappreciated as common back to your post, I would like to see the results of a transparent catalyst search done for the I-sequence because I believe that it has been underappreciated for making conduits. For example, the Elementary Conduits Collection has one way to make a dove and no ways to turn a dove into something besides a glider (I searched for dove-accepting conduits, and I didn't find any stable conduits (although I did find a periodic D→H with help from Extrementhusiast).), while there are three known connectable ways to make an I-sequence and one (two if one only requires immediate connectability, which is a sign that full connectability could come if someone finds more conduits (especially for such an under-investigated region), or if someone completes this CFx112 (which would likely also yield another I→R) or finds another connectable conduit that outputs a century with enough clearance) connectable conduit that turns an I-sequence into something besides a glider, yet the Elementary Conduit Collection lists conduits creating or accepting the dove sequence but not the I-sequence.

[MathAndCode]

It turns out that all of the interesting reactions from Entity Valkyrie 2's pattern only require the honey farm and blockade predecessors, including the ∏F39C input.

Code: Select all

x = 40, y = 27, rule = LifeHistory
32.3D$34.D$31.D.2D$31.2D4$25.A$25.3A$28.A$27.A$27.2A4$31.3D4.2A$33.D4.2A$31.3D6$2.A8.2A$.2A7.A.2A15.A$2A9.A16.A.A$A27.2A!
#C [[ PASTEMODE COPY PASTET 91 PASTE B! 26 14 ]]

Can someone make a conduit from this so that we can use the high-clearance century output?

Code: Select all

x = 67, y = 40, rule = LifeHistory
40.A$38.3A$21.2A14.A$22.A14.2A$22.A.A$23.2A$17.2A$17.2A$44.2A$45.A$44.A$44.2A2$32.D$32.2D$31.2D$31.D$43.D3.2A15.D$42.3D2.2A15.D.D$41.2D.2D18.3D$25.A15.D.2D21.D$25.3A12.2D$28.A$27.A$27.2A12.2A$41.2A3$31.3D4.2A$33.D4.2A$31.3D6$2.C8.2C$.2C7.C.2C15.A$2C9.C16.A.A$C27.2A!
#C [[ PASTEMODE COPY PASTET 91 PASTE B! 26 27 ]]

Here is a way to edgeshoot a honey farm in case it's useful. I will help look for cleanup once I know which direction the blockade sequence will likely be created from.

[dvgrn]

Can someone make a conduit from this so that we can use the high-clearance century output?

Seems pretty likely that we could do G -> H -> correct splitter -> [H-to-LOM] + [H-to-honeyfarm]. But do we really want a high-clearance century output that badly?

A somewhat simpler option than that might be G -> a well-chosen splitter -> 2G -> pi -- no speculative cleanup needed that way:

Code: Select all

x = 25, y = 30, rule = LifeHistory
17.3D$19.D$16.D.2D$16.2D$.C$2.C$3C$10.A$10.3A$13.A$12.A$12.2A4$16.3D
4.2A$18.D4.2A$16.3D7$14.A$13.A.A$13.2A$4.3C$6.C$5.C!

That still requires exact synchronization between two signals, though. Depending on where you need the clearance exactly, a cheaper option might be an H-to-boat plus an unsynchronized following glider:

Code: Select all

x = 127, y = 91, rule = LifeHistory
16$88.2A$89.A$89.A.AB$90.2AB$92.3B$92.4B$93.4B.B$94.7B8.A$95.6B6.3A$
95.2B3D2B4.A$95.2BD4B4.2A$95.B3D4B.4B$95.11B$95.12B$87.4B4.12B$86.6B
4.11B$86.8B5.9B$86.10B2.12B12.2A$86.27B9.A$50.A29.A5.30B3.BA.A$48.A.A
27.A.A5.28B2A2B.B2A$49.2A28.2A5.28B2A4B$86.34B$86.34B$86.33B$46.11BA
28.BA5B3.13B3.3B.B$45.11BABA27.ABA2B8.8B$31.A13.12B2A28.2AB11.B2.2B$
31.3A11.14B$34.A10.13B$33.2A11.11B$33.4B10.10B$35.3B9.9B$35.4B9.8B$
36.10B2.8B$37.5BD4B2.8B$38.2B3D4B2.8B$37.3BDBD4B.9B$38.2BD17B$38.20B$
40.19B$42.16B$43.15B$42.17B$42.17B$40.2AB.14B$39.A.AB4.10B$39.A8.9B$
38.2A8.8B$49.7B$49.7B$49.8B$50.7B$50.B2A4B$50.B2A3B$51.6B$51.5B$52.4B
$50.5B$50.2A$51.A$48.3A$48.A!

[MathAndCode]

Seems pretty likely that we could do G -> H -> correct splitter -> [H-to-LOM] + [H-to-honeyfarm]. But do we really want a high-clearance century output that badly?

A somewhat simpler option than that might be G -> a well-chosen splitter -> 2G -> pi -- no speculative cleanup needed that way:

That still requires exact synchronization between two signals, though. Depending on where you need the clearance exactly, a cheaper option might be an H-to-boat plus an unsynchronized following glider:

I have come across at least two cases where I needed a century, and the only century-making conduit with the necessary output clearance is ∏F39C. The glider synthesis method would work, and I'll try to construct that. However, the method using a boat as a one-glider seed for a century does not seem to work.



Edit: I looked through the Herschel to multiple gliders in the Elementary Conduits Collection, and all of them outputted gliders going in the same direction (although a few outputted three or more gliders with not all of them going in the same direction). Is there a list with all of the conduits that turn a Herschel into multiple gliders, at least two of which are traveling at a 90° angle from each other?

[dvgrn]

I looked through the Herschel to multiple gliders in the Elementary Conduits Collection, and all of them outputted gliders going in the same direction (although a few outputted three or more gliders with not all of them going in the same direction). Is there a list with all of the conduits that turn a Herschel into multiple gliders, at least two of which are traveling at a 90° angle from each other?

Yeah, that's another collection that needs a dedicated caretaker -- the HtoG and HtoGn collection thread. There are quite a few newer discoveries that haven't made it into those stamp collections yet.

However, to synchronize two gliders to make that pi collision, what you really want is the glider pair adjustment toolkit. There's a script there that you run after selecting those two input gliders (after Alt+J to convert to plain two-state Life). That will tell you which class of H-to-2G to use. The stamp collection containing representatives of all sixteen classes is there in the same thread -- again it's not a comprehensive collection, so it would be good to extend it to include more options.

(The idea is that if you pick the right splitter, you don't need anything except Snarks to get a pair of gliders to collide the way you want.)

[Entity Valkyrie 2]

Can someone make a conduit from this so that we can use the high-clearance century output?

Code: Select all

x = 67, y = 40, rule = LifeHistory
40.A$38.3A$21.2A14.A$22.A14.2A$22.A.A$23.2A$17.2A$17.2A$44.2A$45.A$44.A$44.2A2$32.D$32.2D$31.2D$31.D$43.D3.2A15.D$42.3D2.2A15.D.D$41.2D.2D18.3D$25.A15.D.2D21.D$25.3A12.2D$28.A$27.A$27.2A12.2A$41.2A3$31.3D4.2A$33.D4.2A$31.3D6$2.C8.2C$.2C7.C.2C15.A$2C9.C16.A.A$C27.2A!
#C [[ PASTEMODE COPY PASTET 91 PASTE B! 26 27 ]]

Here is a way to edgeshoot a honey farm in case it's useful. I will help look for cleanup once I know which direction the blockade sequence will likely be created from.

This is the best I could do:

Code: Select all

x = 46, y = 40, rule = EV2QuadColor
19.E$17.3E$2E14.E$.E14.2E$.E.E$2.2E3$26.E$24.3E$23.E$23.2E2$11.2J$12.
2J$10.J.J$10.2J$22.J3.2E15.L$22.2J2.2E15.L.L$23.2J18.3L$4.E17.2J21.L$
4.3E$7.E$.2E3.E$.E.E2.2E12.2E$3.E16.2E$3.2E2$10.3J4.2E$6.2H4.J4.2E$6.
2H2.3J$.K$.K.K$.3K$3.K10.3D$14.D$15.D$8.E$7.E.E$7.2E!

[wwei23]

This is the best I could do:

Reduced by using a snake:

Code: Select all

x = 46, y = 40, rule = EV2QuadColor
19.E$17.3E$2E14.E$.E14.2E$.E.E$2.2E3$23.2E$24.E$23.E$23.2E2$11.2J$12.
2J$10.J.J$10.2J$22.J3.2E15.L$22.2J2.2E15.L.L$23.2J18.3L$4.E17.2J21.L$
4.3E$7.E$.2E3.E$.E.E2.2E12.2E$3.E16.2E$3.2E2$10.3J4.2E$6.2H4.J4.2E$6.
2H2.3J$.K$.K.K$.3K$3.K10.3D$14.D$15.D$8.E$7.E.E$7.2E!

EDIT: Fixed snippet
Edit 2: Fixed wording

[MathAndCode]

This is the best I could do:

Just use a two-glider synthesis.

Code: Select all

x = 25, y = 30, rule = LifeHistory
17.3D$19.D$16.D.2D$16.2D$.C$2.C$3C$10.A$10.3A$13.A$12.A$12.2A4$16.3D
4.2A$18.D4.2A$16.3D7$14.A$13.A.A$13.2A$4.3C$6.C$5.C!

[Entity Valkyrie 2]

This is the best I could do:

Just use a two-glider synthesis.

Code: Select all

x = 25, y = 30, rule = LifeHistory
17.3D$19.D$16.D.2D$16.2D$.C$2.C$3C$10.A$10.3A$13.A$12.A$12.2A4$16.3D
4.2A$18.D4.2A$16.3D7$14.A$13.A.A$13.2A$4.3C$6.C$5.C!

That has to be synchronized, though.
Two unsynchronized gliders:

Code: Select all

x = 74, y = 58, rule = EV2QuadColor
47.E$45.3E$28.2E14.E$29.E14.2E$29.E.E$30.2E3$54.E$52.3E$51.E$51.2E2$
39.2J$40.2J$38.J.J$38.2J$50.J3.2E15.L$50.2J2.2E15.L.L$51.2J18.3L$32.E
17.2J21.L$32.3E$35.E$34.E$18.E15.2E12.2E$16.3E11.E17.2E$15.E13.E.E$
15.2E13.E$2E36.3J4.2E$.E32.2H4.J4.2E$.E.2E29.2H2.3J$2.E2.E23.L$3.2E9.
D14.L.L$15.2D.2E9.3L$14.2D2.2E11.L3$36.E$35.E.E$35.2E2$21.2E.E$21.2E.
3E$27.E$21.2E.3E$22.E.E$10.2E10.E.E$10.2E11.E8$63.3D$63.D$64.D!

[MathAndCode]

That has to be synchronized, though.

Yes, but the conduit system seems to prefer conduits with a single signal as an input.

[Scorbie]

That has to be synchronized, though.

Yes, but the conduit system seems to prefer conduits with a single signal as an input.

I'd rather say the conduit system seems to prefer conduits that can reduce the size (roughly bbox) of circuitries made of known conduits.

[dvgrn]

That has to be synchronized, though.

Yes, but the conduit system seems to prefer conduits with a single signal as an input.

I'd rather say the conduit system seems to prefer conduits that can reduce the size (roughly bbox) of circuitries made of known conduits.

Yeah, unfortunately by the time you complete any circuit that needs two inputs to work, you almost always end up with an awkwardly large structure that is basically a solution in search of a problem.

This particular mechanism can be made into a fairly nice adjustable stop-and-go Herschel circuit -- an R383+8N, bounding box under 75x75, recovery time 197+8N:

Code: Select all

x = 148, y = 85, rule = LifeSuper
58.2A$57.B2AB11.2A.A.2A$58.3B4.A.2A.A2.A.2A2.A$57.B.B5.2A.A.2A.A4.A.A
13.A$57.5B8.B2.5A.A12.3A$57.6B6.2ABA4.A13.A$57.8B4.2A.A.A3.A12.2A$58.
13B2.A.A3.A9.4B$56.13B5.A3.2A8.3B20.2A$55.15B18.4B18.B2A2B3.2A$55.15B
4.B12.5B19.4B2.B2AB$54.17B.B.2B11.6B14.B.6B3.2B$54.29B2.8B12.10B2.2B$
53.9B2D2B2A11BD14B11.11B2A2B$52.9BDBD2B2A9B3D13B11.12B2A3B.B$51.2AB3.
6BD13BDBD4B.7B12.18B2A$50.A2.A4.19BD15B12.15B.B2A$49.A.2A5.6B3.B2.2B
2.19B11.15B3.B$49.A7.6B14.17B8.17B$48.2A6.9B14.15B.2B2.19B$55.4B4.2A
15.22BD15B$54.4B5.A16.8B.13BDBD4B.7B$53.4B7.3A11.8B3.2B2A9B3D4B2.6B$
52.4B10.A11.2A3.B5.2B2A11BD4B2.7B$51.4B24.A10.18B4.6B$50.2C2B22.3A4.A
7.B.3B.4B10.6B$49.C.CB23.A6.3A10.4B12.5B$51.C34.A8.4B13.6B$85.2A7.4B
14.6B$85.5B3.4B15.6B27.A$87.3B2.4B16.2B3D2B2.A21.3A$77.2A7.9B17.2BD4B
.A.A19.A$77.A8.8B18.B3D4B.A20.2A$74.2A.A.B3.10B19.8B6.2A10.B.4B$74.A
2.3AB.2B2A2BD4B19.8B6.A8.7B$75.2A2.BA3B2A2BDBD2B19.5B2DB3.2A.A4.3B.8B
$77.4A7B2D3B15.2A3.4B2D2B2.A.A3.14B$77.A.2B3.7B.B2A13.A.A4.6B3.B3.15B
$78.3AB2.7B.BA.A13.AB2.31B$81.A3.5B5.A14.34B$76.5A5.4B5.2A13.33B$76.A
10.4B18.33B$78.A9.4B17.34B$77.2A10.4B15.36B$90.4B10.A3.8B2.B2.2B2.2B.
16B$91.4B7.3A5.4B3.3B8.14B.B2A$92.4B5.A7.4B4.B2AB7.14B.BA.A$93.4B4.2A
5.4B6.2A6.10B3.2B5.A$94.9B4.4B12.2B.7B13.2A$95.6B5.4B12.2A8B$95.4BD3B
2.4B13.2AB.5B$93.7BD7B15.B2.7B$93.5B3D6B19.8B2.2A$93.13B18.12BA.A$91.
2AB.10B19.11B3.A$90.A.AB3.B2A4B20.5B2A4B3.2A$90.A6.B2A3B21.5B2A3B$89.
2A6.4B23.10B$98.3B23.9B$99.2B.BA20.9B$98.B2ABA.A20.8B$97.BABABA.A19.
8B$95.A2.A.A.A.A.2A17.6B$95.4A.2A2.A2.A11.2A4.6B$99.A4.2A14.A4.6B$97.
A.A20.A.AB.7B$97.2A22.2AB2.6B$123.8B$123.8B$124.8B$125.7B$126.6B$126.
2B3D2B$126.2BD4B$.A124.B3D4B$.2A123.8B$A.A123.8B$126.8B$127.7B4$132.
2A$131.A2.A$132.2A!

But as usual, the complete circuit ends up over the arbitrary 300-tick limit for Herschel conduits, so it won't get added to that collection. We've already collected a few dozen stop-and-go conduits of this type over the years, and they've hardly ever been used for anything in practice.

For example, there's a Spartan stop-and-go conduit, also using a block turned into a pi explosion, in the "ladder" circuit in the original prototype universal construction arm from 2004. It's bigger, but it's made out of easier-to-construct pieces... and then Gemini came along six years later and proved that the whole ladder component was unnecessary anyway.

[Jormungant]

I though that this "300" was a threshold on the repeat time only, the "target(s)" needs to be generated within a given number of ticks as well?

I fixed that H-to-(R+H), with repeat time +- 230, is this making the cut or not?

Code: Select all

x = 213, y = 165, rule = LifeHistory
20$75.4B58.4B$74.4B58.4B$73.4B58.4B$72.4B58.4B$71.4B58.4B$35.2B33.4B
58.4B$33.5B23.A7.4B58.4B$32.7B20.3A6.4B58.4B$32.8B18.A8.4B58.4B$31.3B
D5B18.2A6.4B58.4B$30.5B2D3B14.6B5.4B58.4B$30.A3B2D3B14.5B6.4B58.4B$
29.ABA8B12.7B4.4B58.4B$29.ABA10B10.8B2.4B58.4B$29.BA14B2.2B2.14B58.4B
$30.11BD14B3A5B58.4B$30.9BDBD14B3A4B3.2A53.4B$32.7B3D13BA6B4.A53.4B$
32.7BD15B2A2BA2B.BA.A52.4B$33.B2.28B2A52.4B$43.4B.17B52.4B$44.19B53.
4B$45.16B10.A43.4B$46.15B8.3A42.4B$47.14B7.A44.4B$48.13B3.B3.2A42.4B$
49.12B.8B41.4B16.2A$50.18B21.A20.4B17.A.A$51.17B12.2A5.3A19.4B20.A4.
2A$52.17B10.B2AB3.A21.4B17.4A.2A2.A2.A$53.18B8.3B4.2A19.4B18.A2.A.A.A
.A.2A$54.21B.2B2.B2.5B18.4B21.BABABA.A$55.15BD15B19.4B23.B2ABA.A$54.
9B.4BDBD14B2A17.4B25.2B.BA$55.7B2.4B3D9B2A3B2A16.4B25.3B$55.B3AB4.4BD
11B2A2B.B16.4B17.2A6.4B$57.5B3.19B17.4B19.A6.B2A3B$60.2A6.14B18.4B20.
A.AB3.B2A3B$60.A6.11BD3B17.4B22.2AB.10B$55.A5.3A2.12B3D2B15.4B18.A6.
13B$55.3A6.A.13BD2B15.4B10.A7.A.A5.5B3D6B$58.A4.2A7B.9B14.4B11.3A4.2B
AB5.7BD7B$57.2A4.B2.15B14.4B15.A4.2B8.4BD3B2.4B$57.8B2.15B12.4B15.2A
5.4B5.6B5.4B$59.6B.15B12.4B4.B.7B3.3B3.6B3.9B4.4B$56.26B10.4B.13B5.3B
2.5B2.4B4.2A5.4B$52.B2.11B2D8B2D2BD4.26BD10BD7B5.A7.4B$51.15B2D9B3D2B
2.4BDB2A18BD10B2D6B7.3A5.4B13.A$50.2A26BD3B2.4BDCDA17B2D11B2D4B10.A6.
4B10.3A$50.2AB.8B2A3B3.B.11B.BA2BDBDA14B2A2B2D16B5.2A11.4B8.A$51.B3.
7BABAB3.3B.9B2A2BA3BD15B2A3BD16B5.A13.4B7.2A$57.6BAB3.B2AB2.7BA5BA6B
2.2B3.27B2.BA.A14.4B3.5B$56.7B6.2A2.7B2AB2A6B11.10B2.B3.B.9B.B2A16.4B
2.3B$55.7B11.8B4A3BA16.6B9.11B19.9B7.2A$54.4B.5B10.4B3DBA4BA19.3B10.
11B5.A14.8B8.A$41.2A10.4B5.2A9.5BD5B3A2B20.B8.2AB.9B3.3A15.10B3.B.A.
2A$42.A9.4B6.A8.2AB.2B3D4BA4B20.2A6.A.AB2.7B3.A18.2BABC2B2A2B.B3A2.A$
40.A10.4B8.3A4.A.AB.13B22.A6.A5.8B2.2A17.2BDAC2B2A3BAB2.2A$40.5A5.4B
5.2A4.A4.A4.12B20.3A6.2A4.13B17.3BCD7B4A$45.A4.4B5.A9.2A4.12B20.A14.
11B17.2AB.7B3.2B.A$42.3AB2.7B.BA.A15.13B33.13B15.A.AB.7B2.B3A$41.A.2B
3.7B.B2A17.11B14.A20.12B4.2A9.A5.4B4.A$41.4A7B2D3B17.13B4.2A6.3A20.
12B4.A4.A4.2A5.4B5.5A$39.2A2.BA3B2A2BDBD2B17.2A2.8B5.A6.A22.13B.BA.A
4.3A8.4B10.A$38.A2.3AB.2B2A2BD4B18.A3.7B2.BA.A6.2A20.9B3D2B.B2A8.A6.
4B9.A$38.2A.A.B3.10B15.3A3.9B.B2A8.B20.10BD5B9.2A5.4B10.2A$41.A8.8B
14.A5.11B10.3B19.7B3D4B10.5B.4B$41.2A7.9B19.11B9.6B16.16B11.7B$51.3B
2.4B16.2AB.9B.B3.B2.10B11.18B2.2A6.7B$49.5B3.2B2A14.A.AB2.27B3.2B2.
20B2.B2AB3.BA6B$49.2A7.BABA13.A5.16BD3B2A15BC17B.3B3.BABA7B3.B$50.A8.
A3B11.2A5.16B2D2B2A15BCBC4B.11B.B3.3B2A8B.B2A$47.3A10.4B6.A10.4B2D11B
2D18B3C4B2.3BD26B2A$47.A13.4B5.3A7.6B2D10BD21BC4B2.2B3D9B2D15B$62.4B
7.A5.7BD10BD26B4.D2B2D8B2D11B2.B$63.4B5.2A4.4B2.5B2.3B5.13B.4B10.26B$
64.4B4.9B3.6B3.3B3.7B.B4.4B12.15B.6B$65.4B5.6B5.4B5.2A15.4B12.15B2.8B
$66.4B2.3BD4B8.2B4.A15.4B14.15B2.B4.2A$67.7BD7B5.BA2B4.3A11.4B14.9B.
7B2A4.A$68.6B3D5B5.A.A7.A10.4B15.2BD13B.A6.3A$69.13B6.A18.4B15.2B3D
12B2.3A5.A$70.10B.B2A22.4B17.3BD11B6.A$72.3B2AB3.BA.A20.4B18.14B6.2A$
72.3B2AB6.A19.4B17.19B3.4BA$74.4B6.2A17.4B16.B.2B2A11BD4B4.2BA2B$74.
3B25.4B16.2A3B2A9B3D4B2.4BA2B$71.AB.2B25.4B17.2A14BDBD4B.9B$70.A.AB2A
B23.4B19.15BD15B$70.A.ABABAB21.4B18.5B2.B2.2B.21B$67.2A.A.A.A.A2.A18.
4B19.2A4.3B8.18B$67.A2.A2.2A.4A17.4B21.A3.B2AB10.17B$69.2A4.A20.4B19.
3A5.2A12.17B$75.A.A17.4B20.A21.18B$76.2A16.4B41.8B.12B$93.4B42.2A3.B
3.13B$92.4B44.A7.14B$91.4B42.3A8.15B$90.4B43.A10.16B$89.4B53.19B$88.
4B52.17B.A3B$87.4B52.2A9B4A3BA11B2.B$86.4B52.A.AB.6BA2B2A3BA3B2A2BD7B
$85.4B53.A4.12BA2BA3BA3D7B$84.4B53.2A3.10B5A3BABADBD9B$83.4B58.9B4AB
2A3B2ABD11B$82.4B58.A13B2.2B2.14BAB$81.4B58.BABA2.8B10.10BABA$80.4B
58.2B2A4.7B12.8BABA$79.4B58.4B6.5B14.3B2D3BA$78.4B58.4B5.6B14.3B2D5B$
77.4B58.4B6.2A18.5BD3B$76.4B58.4B8.A18.8B$75.4B58.4B6.3A20.7B$74.4B
58.4B7.A23.5B$73.4B58.4B33.2B$72.4B58.4B$71.4B58.4B$70.4B58.4B$69.4B
58.4B!

[MathAndCode]

This particular mechanism can be made into a fairly nice adjustable stop-and-go Herschel circuit -- an R383+8N, bounding box under 75x75, recovery time 197+8N:

But as usual, the complete circuit ends up over the arbitrary 300-tick limit for Herschel conduits, so it won't get added to that collection. We've already collected a few dozen stop-and-go conduits of this type over the years, and they've hardly ever been used for anything in practice.

Here's a version with a demonstration that the repeat time is at most 234. I'm sure that the actual repeat time is less, but 234 is already low enough to be included in conduit collections.

Code: Select all

x = 138, y = 144, rule = LifeHistory
84.A$82.3A$37.A43.A$36.A.A7.A34.2A$37.A6.3A32.4B$43.A34.3B20.2A$43.2A33.4B18.B2A2B3.2A$64.B12.5B19.4B2.B2AB$64.2B11.6B14.B.6B3.2B$35.D27.10B2.8B12.10B2.2B$35.2D9.2D15.6BD14B11.11B2A2B$34.2D11.2D14.4B3D13B11.12B2A3B.B$23.2A21.2D2.2A11.4BDBD4B.7B12.18B2A$24.A21.D3.2A11.4BD15B12.15B.B2A$24.A.A37.19B11.15B3.B$25.2A40.17B8.17B$69.15B.2B2.19B$70.22BD15B$38.2A30.8B.13BDBD4B.7B$38.A.A6.2A19.8B3.2B2A9B3D4B2.6B$40.A6.A20.2A3.B5.2B2A11BD4B2.7B$40.2A6.A20.A10.18B4.6B$47.2A17.3A12.B.3B.4B10.6B$66.A19.4B12.5B$85.4B13.6B$84.4B14.6B$77.3B3.4B15.6B27.A$21.2A3.3D7.2A39.3B2.4B16.2B3D2B2.A21.3A$21.2A4.D8.A.A38.8B17.2BD4B.A.A19.A$27.3D8.A38.7B18.B3D4B.A20.2A$38.2A37.6B19.8B6.2A10.B.4B$20.A56.BD4B19.8B6.A8.7B$19.A.A55.BDBD2B19.5B2CB3.2A.A4.3B.8B$20.A56.B2D3B15.2A3.4B2C2B2.A.A3.14B$17.3A57.4B.B15.A.A4.6B3.B3.15B$17.A56.2A.4B.B16.AB2.31B$73.A.A.3B20.7BDBD11B2D11B$73.A3.3B20.7BDBD12B3D8B$72.2A3.4B18.8B3D13BD8B$26.2A50.4B17.34B$26.2A51.4B15.4B2D30B$98.3BDBD2B2.B2.2B2.2B.16B$100.3BD3.3B8.14B.B2A$35.2A62.4B4.B2AB7.14B.BA.A$27.2D6.2A61.4B6.2A6.10B3.2B5.A$2A25.D.D68.3B12.2B.7B13.2A$2A27.2D67.2B12.2A8B$98.B13.2AB.5B$113.B2.BDB2D2B$19.3D12.2A80.B3D4B2.2A$19.D.D12.A79.4BD7BA.A$19.D.D8.2A3.3A76.11B3.A$30.A.A4.A76.5B2A4B3.2A$32.A81.5B2A3B$32.2A80.10B$34.A79.9B$5.2A25.3A79.9B$6.A24.A83.8B$3.3A25.2A81.8B$3.A111.6B$109.2A4.6B$9.2A19.2A78.A4.6B$9.2A19.2A78.A.AB.7B$111.2AB2.6B$113.8B$113.8B$114.8B$115.7B$116.6B$116.2B3D2B$116.2BD4B$116.B3D4B$26.3C87.8B$17.2A8.C88.8B$18.A6.3C88.8B$15.3A99.7B$15.A3$122.2A$34.D86.A2.A$35.D86.2A$33.3D3$36.4B10.A$37.4B7.3A$38.4B5.A$39.4B4.2A$40.9B4.B$25.2A14.6B5.2B$25.2A14.3B3.2B2.3B$39.5B3.7B$16.2A.A7.D11.5B3.6B$16.A.2A6.3D5.2A3.13B$25.2D.D5.A2.2AB.10B$35.2A.AB3.B2A4B$36.A6.B2A3B$36.A6.4B$34.A.2A6.3B$34.2A2.A6.2B.BA$37.2A5.B2ABA.A$43.BABABA.A$20.2A19.A2.A.A.A.A.2A$19.A.A19.4A.2A2.A2.A$19.A25.A4.2A$18.2A23.A.A$43.2A3$43.2A$38.2A2.A2.A$32.3D3.A.A2.2A$23.2A8.D7.2A$24.A6.3D8.A$21.3A15.A2.A.2A$21.A16.A.A.2A.A$39.A.A$40.A2.2A$41.2A.3A$47.A$41.2A.3A$41.2A.A2$33.2A$24.2A7.2A$25.A$25.A.A$26.2A4$46.2A$46.2A3$24.3C$26.C$25.C5.A$30.A.A$30.A.A$31.A$28.3A$28.A!

Edit: Here is a slightly smaller version with repeat time 74, which is quick enough to require a different century-accepting conduit.

Code: Select all

x = 110, y = 115, rule = LifeHistory
79.2A$78.B2A2B3.2A$79.4B2.B2AB$50.2A23.B.6B3.2B$51.A21.10B2.2B$38.A11.A22.11B2A2B$38.3A9.2A20.12B2A3B.B$41.A30.18B2A$28.2A10.2A31.15B.B2A$29.A42.15B3.B$29.A.A38.17B$15.2A13.2A38.16B$14.B2AB31.D3.2A15.D15B$15.2B32.2D2.2A15.DBD4B.7B$10.B3.2B34.2D18.3D4B2.6B$9.2AB.4B32.2D19.2BD4B2.7B$9.2A8B51.6B4.6B$10.B.B2A6B2.2B2.B51.6B$13.2A14B.D49.5B$13.16B.D.D38.2A7.6B$9.20B.3D34.A3.2A9.3B$9.19B4.D11.2A20.A.A$8.2A18B16.A20.A.A14.3D4.A$8.2A14B.B19.3A17.A16.D5.A.A$9.B.11B25.A16.2A15.3D2.2B.A$11.10B7.A3.2A46.8B6.2A$12.12B3.A.A3.A46.8B6.A10.B3D$11.14B2.2A3.A47.5B2DB3.2A.A12.BD$12.13B6.A44.2A3.4B2D2B2.A.A11.B.D$12.13B2.5A.A42.A.A4.6B3.B14.B$14.2B.4B3DB2.A4.A.A42.AB2.18B8.B$18.3B.D.B4.A2.A.A43.7BDBD11B2D6.B$18.B.3D.B3.2A3.A44.7BDBD12B3D3.2B$77.8B3D13BDB3.2B2A$77.25B4.2B2A$76.4B2D15B.2B6.2B$76.3BDBD2B2.B2.2B2.2B11.2B$78.3BD3.3B16.B2AB$77.4B4.B2AB14.2BABA$76.4B6.2A6.10B3.A$76.3B12.2B.5BAB6.2A$76.2B20.A.A$76.B16.2A3.A2.A$93.2A4.2A$104.A$103.A.A$104.2A$98.2A$20.2A17.D58.2A$20.2A18.D$38.3D$11.2A.A7.D$11.A.2A6.3D$20.2D.D17.4B10.A$34.B7.4B7.3A$31.2A10.4B5.A$24.B6.A12.4B4.2A$25.B3.A.A13.9B4.B$29.2A15.6B5.2B$22.2B22.3B3.2B2.3B$23.3B18.5B3.7B$15.2A27.5B3.6B$14.A.A4.4B19.13B$14.A6.4B13.A3.2AB.10B$13.2A5.5B12.A.A.A.AB3.B2A4B$37.A.A.A6.B2A3B$38.2A.A6.4B$41.2A6.3B$38.3A9.2B.BA$33.2A2.A2.A8.B2ABA.A$27.3D3.A.A2.2A8.BABABA.A$18.2A8.D7.2A8.A2.A.A.A.A.2A$19.A6.3D8.A8.4A.2A2.A2.A$16.3A15.A2.A.2A9.A4.2A$16.A16.A.A.2A.A7.A.A$34.A.A11.2A$35.A2.2A$36.2A.3A$42.A$36.2A.3A$36.2A.A2$28.2A$19.2A7.2A$20.A$20.A.A$21.2A4$41.2A$41.2A3$19.3C$21.C$20.C5.A$25.A.A$25.A.A$26.A$23.3A$23.A11$.2C$C.C$2.C!

[MathAndCode]

Figuring out how to remove that extra block would yield a new C→G.

This works with repeat time 280 (although conduits requiring sparkers can still be put in the Elementary Conduits Collection as long as they work at any timing).

Code: Select all

x = 47, y = 47, rule = LifeHistory
21.2A$20.A.A$14.2A4.A$12.A2.A2.2A.4A$12.2A.A.A.A.A2.A$15.A.A.A.A$15.A.A.2A$16.A2$29.2A$20.2A7.A$20.2A5.A.A$27.2A3$.A$.3A$4.A$3.2A$17.2A$18.A$15.3A$2D13.A$D.D$D41.2A$13.2A27.A$6.2A5.A.A28.A$6.2A7.A8.2A14.5A$15.2A8.A13.A$25.A.A12.3A$26.2A15.A$40.4A$35.2A3.A3.2A$35.2A4.3A2.A$21.2A20.A.2A$20.A.A20.A$21.A20.2A3$9.A24.2A$10.C23.A$10.DC23.3A$9.DC26.A$8.AC2$29.2A$29.2A!

[MathAndCode]

I saw that eight-cell, two-glider object that makes a glider and traffic light again.

Code: Select all

x = 11, y = 10, rule = Symbiosis
.B$.A$.A$B$9.AB2$8.A$6.A.AB$6.2A$6.B!

Is it common enough that I should look for conduits accepting it?

[bubblegum]

I saw that eight-cell, two-glider object that makes a glider and traffic light again.

Code: Select all

x = 11, y = 10, rule = Symbiosis
.B$.A$.A$B$9.AB2$8.A$6.A.AB$6.2A$6.B!

Is it common enough that I should look for conduits accepting it?

I prefer looking for conduits that produce it first, and then building a receiving converter after the first one.