What to watch
- It advances orthogonally after seven generations.
- Its speed is slower than the classic lightweight spaceship.
- The compact seed makes non-standard spaceship speeds approachable.
Spaceships
Loafer
A small orthogonal spaceship with an unusually slow c/7 speed.
Loafer matters because it is a modern named spaceship that does not fit the classic c/2 LWSS, MWSS, HWSS family. It gives advanced readers a clear reason to look beyond the earliest objects.
Loafer is a slow orthogonal spaceship
Loafer moves orthogonally at c/7, making it a useful comparison with the classic c/2 lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight spaceships.
Spaceships20 cells9 x 9 boxperiod 7
- Category
- Spaceships
- Period
- 7
- Movement
- c/7 orthogonal
- Population
- 20 cells
- Bounding box
- 9 x 9
- Known since
- 2013
How to use it
Use it after LWSS to show that spaceship speed and period are still active areas of discovery.
Compare this pattern with its family
Open the pattern in the lab, reduce the speed, and use single-step mode when a phase change is hard to see. The green preview marks births in the next generation; red outlines mark live cells that will die.
Next experiments
Compare nearby patterns
Move between similar structures to see which facts change: box size, lifespan, extinction, motion, and final ash.
Glider
The smallest spaceship and the standard signal in Life.
- Size
- 3 x 3
- Lifespan
- 4
Middleweight spaceship
A wider c/2 spaceship with a larger body than the LWSS.
- Size
- 6 x 5
- Lifespan
- 4
Heavyweight spaceship
The broadest of the classic lightweight, middleweight, heavyweight trio.
- Size
- 7 x 5
- Lifespan
- 4