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I don't formally understand what knightship means in this context. I'd really love an ELI5. I've always been interested in Conway's game, and I'm excited to fin

I don't formally understand what knightship means in this context. I'd really love an ELI5. I've always been interested in Conway's game, and I'm excited to find this forum but I feel like I'm missing something big here. I have run the things in the viewer and this looks to be a collective that is extremely strong in one direction. The follow up posts are throwing other gliders at it and them being destroyed. Knightship maybe is just being impervious to disruption? What is the elementary context? That it is huge and the pattern can now be reduced? EDIT: carlob's post below pointed me to the wiki[1]. I still feel like my questions stand and could be elaborated on. [1] http://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/Knightship http://www.conwaylife.com/wiki/Knightship

pasabagi 9y ago
A knightship is any spaceship that moves like a knight in chess - i.e. neither orthogonally, nor diagonally but rather at a slant. A spaceship is any cyclical pattern that ends in a different position to where it started. Elementary means it's not composed from other, smaller entitiies. You can compose a lot of stuff from gliders and other elements.
- stuntkite 9y ago
  Thank you! Very informative. I'm excited to play with GoL this weekend and experiment with it.
  - pasabagi 9y ago
    I can reccomend Golly - one of the algorithms it uses (Hashlife) is interesting in itself. Also, the lifeWiki is fascinating.
    - Maybestring 9y ago
      There's a good Dr Dobbs article about Hashlife, 'An algorithm for compressing space and time' http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/an-algorithm-for-compressing-space-and-t/184406478 http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/an-algorithm-for-compressing-spac...
- samfriedman 9y ago
  Wow, the Elementary constraint really blows my mind. I've seen all sorts of crazy machinery built up out of gliders and reactions and such, but the fact that this new entity is "purpose-built" without any sub-elements is what I find to be the most impressive.

pasabagi 9y ago

A knightship is any spaceship that moves like a knight in chess - i.e. neither orthogonally, nor diagonally but rather at a slant. A spaceship is any cyclical pattern that ends in a different position to where it started. Elementary means it's not composed from other, smaller entitiies. You can compose a lot of stuff from gliders and other elements.

stuntkite 9y ago
Thank you! Very informative. I'm excited to play with GoL this weekend and experiment with it.
- pasabagi 9y ago
  I can reccomend Golly - one of the algorithms it uses (Hashlife) is interesting in itself. Also, the lifeWiki is fascinating.
  - Maybestring 9y ago
    There's a good Dr Dobbs article about Hashlife, 'An algorithm for compressing space and time' http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/an-algorithm-for-compressing-space-and-t/184406478 http://www.drdobbs.com/jvm/an-algorithm-for-compressing-spac...
samfriedman 9y ago
Wow, the Elementary constraint really blows my mind. I've seen all sorts of crazy machinery built up out of gliders and reactions and such, but the fact that this new entity is "purpose-built" without any sub-elements is what I find to be the most impressive.