Annihilation
(Published on 2. September 2023, 19:05 by Kafkapharnaum)
Much like Leviathan, the main objective of this one here is really to make the others feel easier, as it's based almost exclusively on the hardest part of this ruleset. So again I'm adding links here to all the other Still Life puzzles: Sktx's, SSG's, dodomos's, and mine
Context: Named after the strange and wonderful movie with Natalie Portman... but why? Play the game and find out! – Three cellular automata are chilling in their perfect Still Life world, oblivious to the chaos you're about to unleash upon them. Because meanwhile, you'll be working in your corner lab, creating a monster that will eventually break free... Follow its trail of destruction to see what will happen
Solve on the CTC app
This is a Still Life sudoku puzzle with an evolving Conway's Game of Life middle part. The puzzle is solved in 3 phases (on the app, you will see cells marked with a small asterisk; they are to be shaded per the image here above; they will come into play in Phase II):
PHASE I – STILL LIFE
– Phase I is confined to the 4x4 region in the top left corner. Following the clues in this 4x4 region, and using the digits 1 to 9 of the larger grid, create a 4x4 Still Life
– For the purpose of this phase, all cells outside this 4x4 region should be treated as nonexistent
STILL LIFE RULES
Inside the 4x4 region, shade some cells ("live cells") such that the – up to – eight cells neighboring each live cell contain exactly 2 or 3 other live cells and the neighbors of each unshaded cell ("dead cells") do not contain exactly 3 live cells
– A CIRCLED cell's digit indicates the number of cells that are in the SAME state as its own in its neighborhood, INCLUDING its own cell
– A SQUARED cell's digit indicates the number of cells that are in a DIFFERENT state from its own in its neighborhood (therefore not including its own cell)
The digits entered in Phase I stay in the grid. They are to be come back to in Phase III
PHASE II – GAME OF LIFE
– Once the nature (live or dead) of all 16 cells inside the 4x4 region has been determined (only the shading matters here), the region barrier will fall. At this point, the 4x4 region will reintegrate the 9x9 grid, where both will thus cease to form valid Still Lifes
– Adhering strictly to the Conway's Game of Life parameters, play the ensuing Game of Life to its conclusion – ie, to the point where the 9x9 grid becomes a Still Life again
– ***WARNING***: The Game of Life will evolve free of any contradiction, other than the player's mistakes. Any oversight here will lead to complete, unsalvageable chaos
GAME OF LIFE PARAMETERS
At each step in time (a "generation"), the following transitions occur (the fall of the 4x4 region barrier corresponds to generation 0):
– Any live cell with fewer than two live neighbours dies, as if by underpopulation
– Any live cell with two or three live neighbours lives on to the next generation
– Any live cell with more than three live neighbours dies, as if by overpopulation
– Any dead cell with exactly three live neighbours becomes a live cell, as if by reproduction
BOOK OF LIFE (outside clues)
?...
PHASE III – FINAL STILL LIFE CONFIGURATION and SUDOKU
With the 9x9 having reached a Still Life configuration, all the other clues outside the starting 4x4 region become valid. Enter the digits according to the new Still Life, and solve the remaining sudoku
Solution code: The digits in the LIVE cells of column 9 (top to bottom), followed by the digits in the LIVE cells of row 9 (left to right)
Comments
on 3. April 2024, 06:37 by Sapio
Still Life is now one of my favorite variant sudoku rulesets. Missed a slight modification to the ruleset, but after having been pointed in the right direction, it was easier to see the solution path. And the reward of a very easy sudoku in Phase III after all the trial and tribulations... all around, just a really fun puzzle. Thank you so much for this masterpiece!
...............
Well done! I'm glad I realized quickly what the problem was and didn't leave you with a bunch of "pointers" that would have left you even more confused XD
Always great to see the Still Life ruleset win over a new fan, and should you want more, well this very page can be used as a platform to all the other Still Life puzzles (on LMD that I'm aware of, anyway; I have some more easy ones over on Discord too). Anyhow, thanks so much again for tackling that obscure one, glad you enjoyed!
on 10. September 2023, 09:24 by wullemuus
What an incredible puzzle!!! So many different requirements- congratulation for your extraordinary creative achievement!
The first part was the easiest one for me (thanks to the training). For never haven't seen a GoL animation before the second part was a big challenge. The scanning process really needed so much attention and produced little, but decisive mistakes as you forsaw. Without the book of life clues I would have been totally lost and that for very appreciated! Thanks to Sktx the interpretation of these clues was no problem XD. And I'm so proud being able to solve them without any help by a website :DD ... .
The ending wouldn't have been difficult anymore if I had always chosen the most obvious way (esp. r5c5). But anyway- it was worthwhile every moment and I hope that a lot more solvers will try it!
What other puzzle you are talking about??
................
Thank you so very much! I'm thrilled by the response to this one, which for I while I was feeling really unsure about posting haha. And you can certainly be proud to have solved Phase II without any outside help, it is no joke and quite a logistical challenge to keep track of everything, bravo! :O So, many thanks again, on top of all my thanks so far for your streak of solves on my puzzles, I'm absolutely honored!
About the other puzzle, it's by the other solver Yann -- I think he'll be pleased if you want to try it, so here's the link:
Penpa: https://tinyurl.com/28tghg4x
CTC: https://tinyurl.com/27k829pk
(EDIT: My apologies for the multiple edits on the message -- if you do indeed try Yann's puzzle, you can send me a message here and I will relay it to him :-)
on 3. September 2023, 21:13 by Yann
OOh, what a brutal 4x4, followed by a fun evolving phase, I kinda cheated, by evolving generation after generation on my own, and checking on a GoL website if I didn't miss any cells, but it was still fun ( even though I solved it on paper and kept drawing a 10x10 grid for I don't know which reason).
I also liked a certain still life's behaviour...
Now I just have to solve the first Still life, and my still life journey is complete (I haven't solved them all, but I think it's enough) !
..............
Haha, yeah, that first Still Life is something else, good luck
And thank you so very much for solving this one after solving Leviathan, I don't even know what to say! :O Your solving process is more than fair, since as you can well imagine, I also had assistance from a GoL engine when setting it, to test my starting automata and make sure I got that 'desired behavior', hehe, and also a reasonable number of generations. And for sure, that 4x4 has been made as tough as I could, so that it'd serve as a gatekeeper of sorts XD
So all my thanks again -- now I have really no excuse to not see your own monster to the end. I gave it some time yesterday night but didn't make much progress I'm afraid, but I'll give it another go tonight :-)
..................
Hello! Well I had some time tonight and gave your puzzle a fair shot, but I'm afraid I came up short, and it's one of those times where I was just so sure I had it, that now that I'm seeing it's wrong, I'm really at a loss... Was I anywhere close?
https://tinyurl.com/2m8d8rxd
Note that half of the doublers highlighted in that attempt were highlighted 'after the fact', as to be honest, when I though I had finally figured it out, I just went and filled the whole grid almost in one swoop, not thinking at all about my box two doubler...
So I tried to fix it like that...
https://tinyurl.com/2xedf44u
... but that doesn't seem to work either, so something must be wrong at a more fundamental level and I just cannot see what it is... :-/ It feels like maybe C could have a doubler on its arrow (eg, 5 = (1x2) + 2 + 1, but again, this always breaks row 3
