Many patterns oscillate in density. The most common oscillation is a p2 oscillation between dense (resulting in a lot of deaths from overpopulation) and sparse/edgeshot. (Good examples of this include the XWSSes, p4 emulators, toad, generations 5–18 of the pi-heptomino, and generations 6–9 and 14–27 of the R-pentomino.) However, other density oscillation periods can occur. The more exaggerated the density oscillations are, the less specific cell placement matters. At the most extreme density oscillation, the entire pattern either is a collection of small sparks in an edgeshootable arrangement or becomes that way by the next generation. Density oscillations often help destroy still lives, which more dense phases killing large groups of cells, including inducting regions, which allows overpopulation to occur again two generations later. (Again, higher-period density oscillations can occur but are less common.) For this reason, when I'm trying to stabilize a potential synthesis base, I focus on trying ways to perturb the region that will counteract/dampen the density oscillation that the base already has. (Before I originally had the idea of the density-focused view, I would try perturbations that reinforced the base's density oscillation as often as perturbations that dampened it, and these would pretty much always fail, sometime dramatically. Realizing this is what led me to conceive the idea of a density-focused view of ConwayLife in the first place.)
A density-focused view of ConwayLife can also help explain catalysts. For example, the first recovery phase of catalysts should be a less dense phase (immediately following a phase of overpopulation) so that the catalyst is separated from the chaos. On c/2 forward movement mechanisms, fishhooks tend to work more often than blocks. This is because fishhooks synchronize their density oscillations with those of the c/2 frontend so that this clearing occurs, while blocks' density oscillations are desynchronized with those of the c/2 frontend. A fishhook first interacts with a c/2 frontend when the frontend would otherwise have one leading cell, which is practically always the c/2 frontend's more dense phase, so the overpopulated phase of the fishhook corresponds to the overpopulated phase of the c/2 frontend, resulting in sufficient clearing that allows the fishhook to recover without having to hit the chaos again. On the other hand, a block first interacts with a c/2 frontend when the frontend would otherwise have three leading cells, which is practically always the c/2 frontend's less dense phase, so the more dense phase of the block corresponds to the less dense phase of the c/2 frontend. The result of this is that the cells in the frontend next to the block don't really die of overpopulation when the block wants them to because the block's more dense phase is counteracted by the frontends less dense, and these cells tend to mess up the block's recovery. Here is an example:
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x = 16, y = 12, rule = B3/S23
9bo$9b3o$b2o9bo$b2o8b2o6$b3o9b3o$o2bo8bo2bo$3bo11bo!
A density-based theory also explains why the block is more likely to be successful in the particular types of situations that it is actually more likely to be successful in. Here's an example
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x = 30, y = 25, rule = B3/S23
2b2o10b2o10b2o$2b2o10b2o10b2o2$3bo11bo11bo$2bobo9bobo9bobo$bo3bo7bo3b
o7bo3bo$bo3bo7bo2bo9bobo$bo3bo7bo2bo10bo$2bobo8bobo$3bo6$2b2o10b2o10b
2o$2b2o10b2o10b2o2$3bo11bo11bo$2b3o9b3o9b3o$b2ob2o7b5o7b2ob2o$3ob3o5b
3ob2o8b3o$b2ob2o6b2ob2o10bo$2b3o9bo$3bo!
As another example, the following is a demonstration of the first phase of the B-heptomino with one live cell in the front row/column (corresponding to when the frontend is more dense for most c/2 forward movement mechanisms) where placing a block in either front-center position results in a successful catalysis (although the chaos comes back in each case):
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x = 15, y = 15, rule = B3/S23
b2o9b2o$b2o9b2o2$2bo9bo$b3o7b3o$o2bo6bo2bo$2o8b2o$bo9bo$3b2o8b2o$b4o6b
4o$o2bo6bo2bo$2bo9bo2$bobo7bobo$2b2o8b2o!
Even the exceptions prove the rule. For example, here is an example where the region to be eaten by the block (the bullet heptomino) is especially dense/overpopulated in the generation immediately before the block's first phase of overpopulation:
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x = 3, y = 6, rule = B3/S23
3o$3o$bo2$b2o$b2o!
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x = 12, y = 6, rule = B3/S23
3o6b3o$3o6b3o$bo8bo2$b2o$b2o!
[[ T 3 PAUSE 1 ]]
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x = 28, y = 15, rule = B3/S23
2bo12bo$2bo12bo$3o10b3o$4b2o11b2o$4bobo9bo2bo2b2o$6bo9bobo4bo2bo$6b2o
9bo5bobobo$20b2obo2bo$20bo2bo$17bo4bo$17b5o2$19bo$18bobo$19bo!
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x = 3, y = 9, rule = B3/S23
o$bo$bo$2bo$obo$bo2$b2o$b2o!
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x = 22, y = 13, rule = B3/S23
5bo13bo$6bo13bo$6bo13bo$7bo13bo$5bobo11bobo$6bo9bo3bo$15bobo$6b2o7b2o
3b2o$2b2o2b2o12b2o$bobo$bo$2o17b2o$19b2o!
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x = 30, y = 38, rule = B3/S23
2bo$obo$b2o4$7bobo$8b2o$8bo2$11bo$12b2o$11b2o4bo$17bobo$17b2o9$14b2o2b
2o$15bo2b2o$12b3o$12bo5b2o$17bo2bo$18b2o7$28b2o$27b2o$29bo!
In conclusion, a density-focused view of ConwayLife is a useful tool in several areas. Because of this, I believe that it merits further investigation.