Sample c/5 and c/4 glider-processing convoys
Here are four patterns by David Bell, showing a variety of ways (some discovered relatively recently) for passing spaceships to affect an active pattern. The first is an engineless p1080 rake, using a design similar to the recently-posted p360 spaceship:
c/5 puffer converted into a (relatively) small p1080 rake.
Add two gliders to the loop to get p360.
David Bell, 28 October 2005
The next three patterns involve diagonal c/4 convoys (spaceships that travel the same speed as a glider, but have sufficiently isolated edge sparks that they can interact non-destructively with gliders and other active patterns.) Here are some sample convoys that process input gliders to produce various types of output:
diagonal c/4 convoy turns a sideways glider into a forward LWSS: David Bell, 11 November 2005
diagonal c/4 convoy which converts a single sideways glider into a toad. A toad in combination
with other nearby stable/p2 patterns (e.g., 6bo$6bobo$6boo3$11b3o$12b3o3$3o$bbo$bo!)
can be converted to a backward or sideways glider by a passing convoy, making it
useful as a 'memory bit'. David Bell, 12 November 2005
Period doubling reaction for diagonal c/4 rakes, demonstrated with a p800 glider stream.
Diagonal c/4 rakes are constructible with period 28, 24, 16, or 0 (mod 32).
David Bell, 2 November 2005