Life Spaceships, Spaceship Flotillae, and Puffer Trains

Basic Spaceships: 5-bit | 9-bit | 11-bit | 13-bit | 18-bit pseudo | 20-bit
Other Spaceships: orthogonal c/2 | 2c/5 | c/3 | c/4 | c/5 | diagonal c/4 | c/12
Flotillae: 2-spaceship | 4-spaceship beehive-pushers
Three-spaceship flotillae: Basic, Complex, Shick-ship
Overweight spaceship flotillae: 7WSS, 8WSS, 9WSS, 10WSS, 11WSS, 12WSS, 13WSS, 14WSS
Puffer trains


All spaceships here move orthogonally at a velocity of c/2 unless otherwise indicated.

The 1 five-bit spaceship (c/4 diagonal):

5b SS
Glider [2]

The 1 nine-bit spaceship:

9b SS
Light- weight space- ship (LWSS) [3]

The 1 eleven-bit spaceship:

11b SS
Middle- weight space- ship (MWSS) [3]

The 1 thirteen-bit spaceship:

13b SS
Heavy- weight space- ship (HWSS) [3]

The 1 eighteen-bit pseudo-spaceship:

18b PSS
LWSS on LWSS [7]

The 5 twenty-bit spaceships:

20-bit spaceships
LWSS on MWSS #1 [7] MWSS on HWSS #1 [7] LWSS on HWSS #1 [7] LWSS on HWSS #2 [7] MWSS on MWSS #2 [7]

Miscellaneous c/2 Orthogonal Spaceships

This is a small sampling of spaceships which move orthogonally at a velocity of c/2.
c/2 orthogonal spaceships
MWSS pushing pushalong [x] HWSS escorting half of X66 [x] X66 [x] Two HWSS dragging boat [x] Two LWSS dragging 'A' [x] Two LWSS and two MWSS pushing comma [x] (unnamed) [x]

Miscellaneous 2c/5 Orthogonal Spaceships

This is a small sampling of spaceships which move orthogonally at a velocity of 2c/5.
2c/5 orthogonal spaceships

Miscellaneous c/3 Orthogonal Spaceships

This is a small sampling of spaceships which move orthogonally at a velocity of c/3.
c/3 orthogonal spaceships
(unnamed) [x] (unnamed) [x] Turtle [x] (unnamed) [x] Dart [x] (unnamed) [x]

Miscellaneous c/4 Orthogonal Spaceships

This is a small sampling of spaceships which move orthogonally at a velocity of c/4.
c/4 orthogonal spaceships

Miscellaneous c/5 Orthogonal Spaceships

This is a small sampling of spaceships which move orthogonally at a velocity of c/5.
c/5 ortho sship
Snail [x]

Miscellaneous c/4 Diagonal Spaceships

This is a small sampling of spaceships which move diagonally at a velocity of c/4.
c/4 diagonal spaceships
Glider [2] Orion [x] Swan [x] (unnamed) [x]
(unnamed) [x]

Miscellaneous c/12 Diagonal Spaceships

Corderman's switch-engine forms the basis for several puffer-trains. Dean Hickerson has found several ways to combine multiple switch-engines to produce clean spaceships which move diagonally at a velocity of c/12. This is the smallest one known.
c/12 diagonal spaceships

The 48 two-spaceship flotillae:

These are all the two-spaceship flotillae composed of the basic spaceships and their known simple variants.
2-spaceship flotillae
LWSS on LWSS [7]# LWSS on MWSS #1 [7] LWSS on MWSS #2 [7] LWSS on MWSS #3 [7] LWSS on HWSS #1 [7] LWSS on HWSS #2 [7] LWSS on HWSS #3 [7] LWSS on HWSS #4 [7]
LWSS on HWSS #5 [7] LWSS on HWSS #6 [7] LWSS on HWSS #7 [7] LWSS on HWSS #8 [7]# MWSS on MWSS #1 [7] MWSS on MWSS #2 [7] MWSS on MWSS #3 [7]* MWSS on MWSS #4 [7]
MWSS on MWSS #5 [7] MWSS on HWSS #1 [7] MWSS on HWSS #2 [7] MWSS on HWSS #3 [7] MWSS on HWSS #4 [7] MWSS on HWSS #5 [7] MWSS on HWSS #6 [7] MWSS on HWSS #7 [7]
MWSS on HWSS #8 [7] MWSS on HWSS #9 [7] MWSS on HWSS #10 [7] MWSS on HWSS #11 [7] MWSS on HWSS #12 [7] MWSS on HWSS #13 [7] MWSS on HWSS #14 [7] MWSS on HWSS #15 [7]
HWSS on HWSS #1 [7] HWSS on HWSS #2 [7] HWSS on HWSS #3 [7]# HWSS on HWSS #4 [6] HWSS on HWSS #5 [7] HWSS on HWSS #6 [7] HWSS on HWSS #7 [7] HWSS on HWSS #8 [7]
HWSS on HWSS #9 [7] HWSS on HWSS #10 [7] Sidecar on HWSS [8]* LWSS on Coe ship [8]* Schick ship behind two LWSS [10]* Schick ship behind HWSS and LWSS [11]* Schick ship behind two MWSS [11]* Schick ship behind two HWSS [14]*

NOTE: The three marked # are pseudo-spaceships; all but the seven marked * can be built from either side, facilitating construction of larger flotillae.

Three spaceship flotillae

There are numerous basic three-spaceship flotillae. There are too many to list individually, but they are summarized here. Some of these syntheses, or at least the mechanisms involved, may be added if time and space permit.

Three-spaceship basic flotillae

There are numerous three-spaceship flotillae based on the three basic spaceships. Two require special syntheses; all others can be synthesized by combining pairs of the above two-spaceship flotilla mechanisms.



Three-spaceship complex flotillae

There are several three-component flotillae which include one or more non-self-sufficient components. One requires a special synthesis; all others can be synthesized by combining pairs of the above two-spaceship flotilla mechanisms.



Three spaceship flotillae with Schick ships

There are several three-component flotillae which involve the Schick-ship engine tag-along. (The last two are dirty puffers, rather than spaceships.) One cannot yet be synthesized; all others can be synthesized by combining pairs of the above two-spaceship flotilla mechanisms.



All of the above can be built in two stages using the mechanisms shown above in 2-spaceship flotillae, except for the following (the second and third involve new escort geometries involving a HWSS escorting a sidecar, but otherwise using mechanisms used elsewhere); the others involve combining two of the 2-spaceship mechanisms which cannot be built from either side):
complex 3-spaceship flotillae
MWSS #3 on MWSS on MWSS #3 [17] HWSS on Sidecard on HWSS #9 [14] HWSS on Sidecard on HWSS #10 [14] Schick ship behind two MWSS on MWSS #3 [x]

These do not include the many spaceships and puffer trains which can be formed by adding an escort spaceship to spark the exhaust plume from a Coe ship (and which can be usually be synthesized using the above methods.)

The 45 four-spaceship beehive-pushers:

4-spaceship beehive-pushers

Overweight spaceship flotillae

Spaceships with bodies greater than 6 cells long (HWSS) are naturally unstable because they produce sparks which survive long enough to damage the spaceship. However, such spaceships can exist in flotillae with escort spaceships which suppress such sparks. Such overweight spaceships (OWSS) with bodies up to 14 cells long (14WSS) can exist in three-spaceship flotillae. Larger OWSS themselves require smaller OWSS as escorts, requiring flotillae of 5 or more spaceships.

There are two fairly general mechanisms which can synthesize many of the overweight spaceships.

The first mechanism involves variations of the two-glider-boat synthesis of the the MWSS, yielding simple syntheses of 7WSS, 8WSS, and 9WSS. Most, if not all, LWSS/MWSS/HWSS escorts can be added on the right side; however, left-side escorts must generally be ahead of or beside the OWSS.

The second mechanism involves colliding four gliders into a long-ship, yielding a double-headed spaceship, which expands in two directions. 2-3 additional gliders are then used to remove one of the heads once the body has reached the desired length. This can produce all OWSS engines 7WSS through 14WSS. Most, if not all, escorts can be added on the left side; however, right-side escorts must generally be behind or beside the OWSS.

For the smaller engines (7WSS-9WSS), these two methods tend to complement each other well, and can produce most configurations.

There is one escort configuration, in which the escort suppresses the body of the OWSS itself rather than its sparks, currently defies all methods of synthesis. This involves one 9WSS, two 10WSS, two 11WSS, and one 12WSS escort configuration.

Seven-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are many three-spaceship flotillae including seven-long overweight spaceships (7WSS). All can be synthesized.



Eight-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are many three-spaceship flotillae including eight-long overweight spaceships (8WSS). All but five can be synthesized.



Nine-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are many three-spaceship flotillae including nine-long overweight spaceships (9WSS). The one intractible escort configuration is used in 15; all but four of the rest can be synthesized.



Ten-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are many three-spaceship flotillae including ten-long overweight spaceships (10WSS). At present, very few of these can be synthesized.



Eleven-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are many three-spaceship flotillae including eleven-long overweight spaceships (11WSS). At present, very few of these can be synthesized.



Twelve-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are several three-spaceship flotillae including twelve-long overweight spaceships (12WSS). At present, none of these can be synthesized.



Thirteen-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There are several three-spaceship flotillae including thirteen-long overweight spaceships (13WSS). At present, none of these can be synthesized.



Fourteen-long overweight spaceship flotillae

There is one three-spaceship flotilla including a fourteen-long overweight spaceship (14WSS). At present, this cannot be synthesized.



Puffer Trains

These are some of the simplest known puffer train engines. All produce plumes which can be modified in many different ways to produce different kinds of exhaust, by adding nearby spaceships or other puffer trains.

puffer trains
Buckingham's P24 puffer [9] Coe's P16 puffer [8] Gosper's P20 puffer [9] Schick ship [10] Wainwright's P8 puffer [10]
Corderman's block-producing switch engine [5] Corderman's glider-producing switch engine [5] Noah's Ark [8]

Other types: still-lifes, pseudo-still-lifes, oscillators and pseudo-oscillators, spaceships, constellations, metheuselahs.

See also: Life objects sorted by: counts, gliders, name, size, or type.

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