Loafer

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Loafer
x = 9, y = 9, rule = B3/S23 b2o2bob2o$o2bo2b2o$bobo$2bo$8bo$6b3o$5bo$6bo$7b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ TRACKLOOP 7 -1/7 0 THUMBSIZE 3 ZOOM 27 GPS 5 HEIGHT 480 WIDTH 480 ]]
Pattern type Spaceship
Number of cells 20
Bounding box 9 × 9
Direction Orthogonal
Period 7
Mod 7
Speed c/7
Speed (unsimplified) c/7
Heat 14.6
Discovered by Josh Ball
Year of discovery 2013

Loafer (also the loafer) is a c/7 orthogonal spaceship found by Josh Ball on February 17, 2013.[1] Its name refers to its slow speed and loaf-pushing behaviour.

It is the fifth smallest known spaceship in terms of cell count (after glider, lightweight spaceship, middleweight spaceship and heavyweight spaceship), being tied with some nontrivial flotillae.

Loafer ranked second place in the Pattern of the Year 2013 competition in a belated vote held on the ConwayLife.com forums, behind the Snark.[2]

Uses and reactions

On February 22, 2013, Paul Tooke built a sawtooth that uses loafer's ability to turn a middleweight spaceship into a loaf.[3]

On March 9, 2013, Mike Playle found a stable loafer-to-Herschel conduit, apparently by means of the same search program (or its earlier version) that gave the world the Snark a month and a half later.[4]

On June 11, 2016, Simon Ekström created a loafer-to-glider conduit, based on a loafer-to-pi found by praosylen.[5][6]

Nico Brown noted that the loafer can be cleanly destroyed by an eater 1 positioned at the loafer's foot.[7]

x = 51, y = 19, rule = B3/S23 18b2o$18bo9b2o$19bo2bo2bo3bo$16b4o2b4o2bo$16bo11b2o$19b4ob2o$19bo2bob 2o2$11bo$9b3o$bo6bo12bo9b2o15bo$obo5b2o10bobo8b2o15bo$o2bo16bo2bo24b3o $b2o18b2o27bo2$o5bo13bo5bo$bo3bobo13bo3bobo$2o3bo2bo11b2o3bo2bo$o3b2o 2bo11bo3b2o2bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 12 WIDTH 720 HEIGHT 400 THEME Book AUTOSTART GPS 7 PAUSE 2 T 36 PAUSE 1 GPS 15 T 95 PAUSE 2 LOOP 96 ]]
Left: a loafer eater found by Nico Brown. Right: a loafer-to-B-heptomino converter by Mike Playle, shown with BFx59H and ghost Herschel.
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RLE: here Plaintext: here

Occurrence

See also: List of common spaceships

Despite the loafer's remarkably small size, it did not occur naturally until April 1, 2020,[8][note 1] making it the first spaceship of a non-standard speed to occur in an asymmetric soup. A second soup was found by Rob Liston on June 2, 2020,[10] and a third soup in August.[11] Nine loafer-producing soups (of which two are symmetric) have been found as of February 2024.[12]

Construction

Adam P. Goucher found an 18-glider synthesis for this spaceship on the day of its discovery which Matthias Merzenich reduced to 8 gliders the following day.[13] Two loafer guns were built by Shannon Omick on February 19th of the same year, using these syntheses.[14]

An one-glider seed for the loafer was constructed in February 2013,[15] followed by a smaller version in March 2015.[16]

x = 41, y = 37, rule = B3/S23 2bo$obo$b2o$32bo$30b2o8bo$31b2o5b2o$39b2o3$36bo$34b2o$15bo19b2o$14bo$ 14b3o2$6bo$7bo$5b3o8$b2o$2b2o$bo7$34b2o$34bobo$34bo! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 560 HEIGHT 540 THEME Book AUTOSTART GPS 24 ZOOM 10 T 0 PAUSE 2 T 102 PAUSE 1 LOOP 103 ]]
A 8G synthesis for the loafer
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x = 46, y = 45, rule = B3/S23 13b2o17bobo$14bo17b2o$14bobo16bo$15b2o2$3bo$2bobo$bobo$b2o$14b2o$13bob o$13b2o4$20b2o$19bobo$10bo9bo$9bobo4bo$10b2o3bobo$14bobo$14b2o2$45bo$ 25b2o16b3o$20b2o3b2o15bo$19bo2bo19b2o$bo17bo2bo$obo17b2o$b2o4$21b2o$ 21bobo4b2o$22bo5bobo$29b2o$33b2o$33b2o3$22b2o$21bo2bo$21bo2bo$22b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 WIDTH 560 HEIGHT 540 ZOOM 8 X 0 Y 4 THEME Book AUTOSTART GPS 32 T 0 PAUSE 2 T 299 PAUSE 1 LOOP 300 ]]
An 1G seed for the loafer[16]
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In other rules

In 4diagonal (Life with the B4c transition added), there is a 16-cell c/7 spaceship, formed from two copies of half of the loafer's foot mutually supporting each other.[17]

x = 22, y = 9, rule = B34c/S23 20bo$19bobo$18bo2bo$19b2o$20bo$2bo5bo6bo$bobo3bobo4bobo3bo$2obo3bob2o 2b2obo3b2o$3b2ob2o8b2o2b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 ZOOM 32 WIDTH 805 HEIGHT 420 X 1/2 Y 7/4 AUTOSTART GPS 7 TRACK 0 -1/7 ]]
The double-foot spaceship and loafer
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See also

Notes

  1. Coincidentally, this occurred exactly two years after Dave Greene posted a fake loafer-producing soup on April Fools' Day 2018.[9]

References

  1. Josh Ball (February 17, 2013). Re: c/7 orthogonal spaceships (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  2. 77topaz (March 29, 2018). Re: Belated Pattern of the Year 2013 competition: Voting (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  3. Paul Tooke (February 22, 2013). Re: c/7 orthogonal spaceships (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  4. Mike Playle (March 9, 2013). Re: c/7 orthogonal spaceships (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  5. praosylen (18 February 2015). Re: The Hunting of the New Herschel Conduits (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  6. Simon Ekström (11 June 2016). Re: Thread For Requesting Help (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  7. Nico Brown (February 20, 2013). Re: c/7 orthogonal spaceships (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  8. Billabob (April 1, 2020). Re: Soup search results (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  9. Dave Greene (April 1, 2018). Re: I have constructed a lightspeed spaceship in B3/S23! (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  10. Lewis Patterson (June 3, 2020). Re: Soup search results (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  11. toroidalet (August 17, 2020). Re: Soup search results (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  12. Adam P. Goucher. "Loafer". Catagolue. Retrieved on February, 2024.
  13. c/7 Orthogonal Spaceship at Game of Life News. Posted by Adam P. Goucher on March 10, 2013.
  14. Shannon Omick (February 18, 2013). Re: c/7 orthogonal spaceships (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  15. Dave Greene (February 21, 2013). Re: c/7 orthogonal spaceships (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  16. 16.0 16.1 Dave Greene (Mar 14, 2015). Re: Quadratic-Growth Geminoid Challenge (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums
  17. PHPBB12345 (January 1, 2017). Loafer-like spaceship (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums

External links