Help needed with synthesizing my methuselah

[Extrementhusiast]

Is it possible to synthesize the following form?

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OO..
O.O.
..OO
..O.

It is critical to synthesizing my methuselah by one method. Here it is:

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..O.....
.O...O..
O..O...O
..OO...O
.....OO.
....O...
....O...

Gen. 4 (from mold):

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OO...
O..O.
O....
.OO.O
...O.

Gen. 32 (from form mentioned above):

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..O....
.O.O...
O..O...
.OO....
.......
.......
.......
.......
...OO..
...O.O.
.....OO
.....O.
.......
...O...

Gen. 47:

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....O...
....OO..
.....OOO
...OO.OO
.....OOO
..O...O.
......OO
.......O
.....O..
O..O....
O...O..O
.O......
..O.....
...OOO..

...which is equivalent to:

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......OO
......OO
........
O.......
O.......
.O......
..O.....
...OOO..

Gen. 122:

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.........OOO.
........O..O.
........O..O.
.........OO..
.............
.............
.............
...........O.
...........O.
.....OO...O.O
.......O...O.
.....OO....O.
.............
.............
.............
.............
.............
........OO...
........OO...
.............
.............
.............
...........O.
..O.......O.O
.OO.......OO.
OO...........
.O...........
..O.OOO......
....OOO......

After about that, it starts to get chaotic.

[Jason Summers]

Is it possible to synthesize the following form?
...

Sure. Here are some ways to do it with three gliders.

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x = 188, y = 15, rule = B3/S23
bbobo27bobo37boo4boo30bobo30bo33bobo$bboo29boo36bobo3boo31boo29bobo34b
oo$3bo29bo39bo5bo31bo30boo34bo$152bo32bo$152bobo30bobo$152boo31boo$60b
3o$3o30b3o26bo$bbo32bo25bo42b3o38b3o$bo32bo71bo40bo$105bo40bo$182b3o$
3o30b3o74boo72bo$bbo32bo74bobo70bo$bo32bo75bo!

[Sokwe]

What methods would you generally use to find syntheses such as these?

[Jason Summers]

What methods would you generally use to find syntheses such as these?

In this case, I used gencols to search for 3-glider collisions whose product has a population of exactly 45 cells, then manually scanned the results for the target object.

For some objects, there is no gencols filter that works well enough. In those cases, I might start with a random soup search that can scan each generation for the desired pattern. But that's much harder.

[Sokwe]

For some reason, I have been having trouble compiling gencols.

[Extrementhusiast]

THANK YOU! I was trying to do things like modify an eater and such, not raw construction.

Final synthesis of methuselah, which is called "familiar fours" because it has all of the familiar fours or predecessors of them:

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x = 20, y = 23, rule = B3/S23
12bo$12bobo$12b2o7$5b3o$7bo$6bo3$12b2o4b2o$11bobo3b2o$13bo5bo4$3o$2bo$
bo!

P.S. An interesting part about this methuselah is that it is very close to being a c/32 diagonal puffer train. Gen. 4 of original:

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OO...
O..O.
O....
.OO.O
...O.

Gen. 36:

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..O.....
.O.O....
O..O....
.OO.....
........
........
........
...OOO..
...O..O.
...O....
....OO.O
......O.