Seed
A seed is a constellation that when triggered (normally hit by a glider) evolves into a target object, possibly with some extra junk.
Seed constellations are commonly used in self-constructing circuitry. For example, to create a faraway target object to start construction of a new copy of a construction arm at a safe distance, it is often useful to use a seed for a complex spaceship or wickstretcher -- something that can be stopped when it reaches its destination by following it with a faster spaceship or wick burning reaction.
One-glider seeds, or "1G seeds", are particularly useful in slow salvo construction because the constellation can be built up incrementally, with changes made one glider at a time. When it is complete it can be triggered by the final glider in the recipe. Triggering a seed will usually create several precisely synchronized gliders that then co-operate to construct the target object, similar to a standard glider synthesis.[1]
See also
- Slow salvo
- Glider synthesis
- List of one-glider seeds
References
- Goldtiger997 (July 7, 2020). One Glider Seeds (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums