Supernova-X

[knightlife]

Experimenting with backrakes many years ago, this pattern has been saved from an old computer. It grows in a chaotic fashion and does not stabilze because there are many interfering streams of gliders. It is called Supernova-X because it looks like a five pointed star that is exploding and always expanding. The repeating X pattern is formed by streams of gliders expanding in all four directions. The complexity increases in the center through millions of generations. It may eventually stabilize but at 280 million generations it is still growing chaotically, although it has a basic star shape. But even the star shape begins to deteriorate eventually.

The pattern is basically equivalent to just two backrakes and a debris pile, but I am posting the original file:

Code: Select all

x = 271, y = 240, rule = B3/S23
232b6o$231bo5bo$237bo$231bo4bo$233b2o2$245b2o$239bob4ob2o$238b2o2b5o$
239bo3b3o3$243b4o$242bo3bo$246bo$237b2o3bo2bo$233b4ob2o$233b6o$234b4o
17$232b6o$231bo5bo$237bo$231bo4bo$233b2o2$245b2o$239bob4ob2o$238b2o2b
5o$239bo3b3o3$243b4o$242bo3bo$246bo$237b2o3bo2bo$233b4ob2o$233b6o$234b
4o37$254b4o$253b6o$253b4ob2o$257b2o4$263b6o$259b4o5bo$259b2obo5bo$259b
2o2bo3bo$265bo$265b2o$264b4o$264b2ob2o$266b2o$255b6o$254bo5bo$260bo$
254bo4bo$256b2o6$258b2o$256bo4bo$262bo$256bo5bo$257b6o$268b2o$266b2ob
2o$266b4o$267b2o$259b3o5bo$258bob2o3bo3bo$258bo5bo5bo$258b3o3bo5bo$
259bo3bob6o$261bo3$259b2o$255b4ob2o$255b6o$256b4o12$51b6o$50bo5bo$56bo
$50bo4bo$52b2o2$64b2o$58bob4ob2o$57b2o2b5o$58bo3b3o3$62b4o$61bo3bo$65b
o$56b2o3bo2bo$52b4ob2o$52b6o$53b4o16$60b2o$57b3ob2o$57b5o$58b3o2$39bob
o16b3o$24bobo10b2ob2o11bobob5o$2o21bo3b2o6b3o3bob3o5b2o10b2o$2o19bo4bo
b2o6bob3o3b2o2b2ob2o3bo3bo4bo$20bo3b4ob2o4b2o3bo5bo2b2obobobo4b2o2bo$
20bo3bo6bo3b4ob2o2b2o6bob3o7b2o$19b3o8bobobo4bo3bobobob2ob2o2bo3b4o$
17b3o2bo2bo2bobobobob3o7bo2bob2o7b2o$17b3o2b2o4bobobobobo11bobo8bo$17b
3o2b2o4bobobobobo11bobo8bo$17b3o2bo2bo2bobobobob3o7bo2bob2o7b2o$19b3o
8bobobo4bo3bobobob2ob2o2bo3b4o$20bo3bo6bo3b4ob2o2b2o6bob3o7b2o$20bo3b
4ob2o4b2o3bo5bo2b2obobobo4b2o2bo$21bo4bob2o6bob3o3b2o2b2ob2o3bo3bo4bo$
23bo3b2o6b3o3bob3o5b2o10b2o$24bobo10b2ob2o11bobob5o$39bobo16b3o2$58b3o
$57b5o$57b3ob2o$60b2o12$44b4o$43b6o$43b4ob2o$47b2o3bo2bo$56bo$52bo3bo$
53b4o3$49bo3b3o$48b2o2b5o$49bob4ob2o$55b2o2$43b2o$41bo4bo$47bo$41bo5bo
$42b6o!

You will need to use hashing and take it out to 5 million generations or more to see what causes the chaos. New X patterns occur at 1 million, 2 million, and then more frequently after several more million generations. There are a few LWSSs and even a couple of MWSSs traveling North and South. Since they are faster than the gliders they show up past the perimeter of the star eventually. I have not seen an HWSS yet, it is remotely possible.

Again, this type of pattern can be made with just two backrakes and a still life or other "debris pile". In this case the "equivalent" backrakes are a P128 LWSS backrake and a P64 glider backrake.

If someone has a fast computer with lots of memory I would like to know if it is still going strong at 1 billion gens and beyond.

[Wojowu]

I'm not able to run this pattern for 1 bln generations, but after almost 100 mln gens it looks more chaotic than ever before. It still doesn't show any regularity nor periodicity

[William Leonard]

Trying this out atm, currently at 6.5m gens.

EDIT: Waiting for goto.py to travel to 100m gens, after getting bored at 9m.

EDIT2: Lol, I stupidly paused the simulation, thus aborting the script. But even at 14,016,768 generations you see a lot of things. You can see a lot of pieces of 'dust' around the rapidly cracking 'star', which are gliders that had split up earlier from the main group.

I should try it on my mum's Mac, which (obviously, being a Mac) has a lot more RAM and processing power.

[knightlife]

At 500+ million gens Supernova-X still has plenty of chaotic glider bursts and the star shape continues to deteriorate. The "debris pile" has become periodic in the sense that while the pile is growing, the patterns left behind repeat after the pile has grown about 2000 cells bigger in horizontal length. However, the stream of LWSSs is disturbed by any random glider that might get in the way, creating variable size gaps, so the overall pattern has not stabilized yet. In fact there are many sequences of glider streams forming the (roughly) vertical line that are unique.

I have experimented with other backrakes to make similar star patterns but it is not as easy as I thought to make them last as long as this one. An LWSS eater forms in the debris pile and then the evolution becomes uninteresting. The patterns last for millions of generations but it is not that easy to make one that lasts more than 100 million gens. The more promising ones last only around 20 to 50 million gens.

EDIT:
I did find one that was chaotic enough to make a HWSS! The backrakes are from Jason's jslife collection:

Code: Select all

x = 159, y = 42, rule = B3/S23
48b2o44b2o$47b4o40b3ob2o$46b2ob2o40b5o$47b2o43b3o$b2o$obo79b2o18b4o$2o
76bo3b2o14b9o$75bo2b5o14bo2bob3ob2o$78b3ob2o12bo3b2o3b2o$57b2o4bo9bo2b
o3b2obo13b3o$62bobo8bo7b3o6b2o10b2o$56bo4bo2bo5b2o2b3o3bo2bo6b3o12bo$
59b3o8bo6b3ob3o6bo2bo12bo$57bo3bobo13bo4bo8b2o9bo3bo$58bobo17b4o9b6o6b
4o$80bo12b5o53bo$93b3ob2o52b4o$96b2o55b2o$156bo$80b4o69b4o$79bo3bo62bo
10bo$83bo62b3o4bo2b3o$79bo2bo65b2o5b3o$149bo6bo$149bobob3o$151b2o2bo$
145b2o2bo3b2o$141b4ob2o2b4o$141b6o$142b4o4b4o$149bo3b2o$151b2o2bo$146b
2obobob3o$145b3obo6bo$139bo4b2o2b2o5b3o$137b2o6bo2bo4bo2b3o$133bo4b2o
6b2o9bo$131b2o20b4o$132b2o22bo$153b2o$151b4o$151bo!

If you really want to see the HWSS, take it out to 109,051,904 gens and look around X=9,702,587 Y=34,927,125. You will see it in the vicinity, traveling north, if the starting pattern was near the origin. Anyway, the spareships are created infrequently so you should be able to find it with this information. BTW, this one has created new spaceships traveling in every direction(!) although most of them are traveling north.