Let's all play Spacechem

i could see easily how to make half the thing but i'm having difficulty figuring out how to space the rest, particularly with this number of bonders. i think i'll get it though

I'm still hoping to get a solution in tomorrow. I forgot about it last week, and I would have worked on it tonight except Comcast decided to take the night off.

Since I won't be able to get around to the solution video until the weekend, I'll leave submissions open for one more day. 22 hours to get solutions in!

Ted, you can post your puzzle anytime.

Quick update on my puzzle results: solutions are recorded, but I haven't quite finished processing everything yet. Should be able to get everything completed tomorrow.

Cool; I'll post it tonight after work.

#8: Smelly Filled Donuts

There may or may not be something in the fish cake, but something's definitely up with these nose-blistering Berliners. Your task is to pump out prodigious amounts of these putrid pastries.


You can import this challenge into ResearchNet with the following code:
Solution Criteria: Least cycles. Tiebreaker: least symbols.

Solution Deadline: Solutions are due to me via PM by Friday, August 21 at 11pm EDT (or so).

Attached Thumbnails

 

Challenge 7 Results



Voice was kind of hoarse, sorry. Caught a small cough. Hope it's still informative and interesting.

My solution was definitely cycle-optmized; I'm not really used to symbol optimization. I knew I could use the sensor as a loop, but that would be haaard. I do love the elegance of low-symbol solutions.

This challenge is legitimately hard to complete in the first place if you don't realize you don't need to replicate the shape of the output molecule. My solution rearranged it a bit, but DFalcon of course did one better. Nice job.

Yeah, I hate to think how complicated it would have been without being able to assemble two identical halves.

I was especially thrilled everything worked out to reuse the + in my solution without adding another symbol somewhere.

This might have gotten mixed up when I asked to repeat in the same order, but I think I'm meant to be the next puzzlemaster after Ted.

Oh, good -- I was just thinking that I should do a recruiting drive or something.

We're now one puzzlemaster from the end of the queue, so it's time to volunteer or re-volunteer. Don't be shy!

I've been thinking about it, but I want to actually have a puzzle in mind before I commit. But maybe.

Many thanks to those who submitted solutions! I was out of town this weekend so I'll begin preparing the results tonight. Might not get things posted until tomorrow or so, though.

Sorry I've been slacking off in doing these. Just been slammed with other things. I put about a half hour into MrBlarney's challenge, but didn't even get a working solution and then just had no time.

(It doesn't help that TIS-1000 has been taking up much of my puzzling time).

No worries; I know my Spacechem fever has abated substantially.

Puzzle 8 - Smelly-Filled Donuts: Results

275/19 - aturtledoesbite

Turtle takes the honors of being the only solution to use the sensor and having the lowest symbol count. It's pure simplicity in motion (always a good thing in my book)!

132/27 - Mogri

Coming in third is Mogri, who's solution is probably as optimized as it can get while remaining true to the 3x3 dimensions of the donut.

104/36 - MrBlarney

Runner-up is MrBlarney. His solution squishes out the gooey center to achieve higher throughput.

98/43 - DFalcon

On top again is DFalcon, with a solution that churns out rectangular pastries in a jiffy, edging out MrBlarney by a mere six cycles.

Thanks again to everyone who gave it a shot. I'm really glad you enjoyed it! (I'm suddenly in the mood for a raspberry-filled donut.)

#9: Limited Warranty

It just has to last 10 outputs...



You can import this into ResearchNet with the following code:
As usual, since I have significant advantages of time and seeing everyone else's solutions, anything I do won't be ranked.

Reminder: Solutions relying on bonding order will be disqualified.

Solution Criteria: Least symbols, take note symbols. Tiebreaker: least cycles.

Solution Deadline: Solutions are due to me by PM Friday September 4, 11:59 PM Pacific time (or so, it's not like I'll get to anything until the next morning).

Ahh, so that's how you were able to squeeze out an additional cycle per loop in your double-pumped solution. I kept thinking about the bonder formations way too tightly and was just unable to get to sub-100 cycles. I had a much more elegant single-pumped solution that was slightly slower that also used a rectangular formation, but wasn't able to convert it in the way that you did. Well played, DFalcon.

Thanks. The G was a neat take, my next best bet was a single-pumped O.

1 submitter so far, but there's still a few days!

I admit I haven't started on this one because I never completed the corresponding puzzle in story mode. Maybe yours is easier?

I'll give it a go tonight.

I don't remember any puzzles in story mode where you have to leave pieces in the reactor, was there one?

There is a Journal entry where you have to find a place to stash a lot, IIRC 40-50 atoms, which is definitely harder.

Oh, you know what -- I might be thinking of that one. And I might have finished it with a pretty ridiculous solution.

So this has to be easier, then. I'll give it a go.

I was right! I did finish that one, and it was ridiculous. Here it is, and here's what it looks like at the end.

Your puzzle has a much more elegant solution, naturally. My solution is on its way to your inbox.

I should emphasize again that this round will be ranked on symbols.

The Journal of Reaction Engineering puzzle I was thinking of is Oxygen Supply (not a solution spoiler). That makes you stash 40 atoms; I used 85 symbols and didn't even feel bad about it.

Challenge 9 Results

I realize now I misspoke a couple times in the solution video (bonder order isn't legal for the challenge, I meant waldo order!). Hopefully interesting regardless.



Results:

It wouldn't be one of my solutions if there wasn't a small improvement towards optimality to be made. I'm good at finding good solutions, but terrible at finding great solutions. I suppose that's a real-life failing of mine - I do tend to just find results that feel good to me and then just stop there. Of course, in real life, there are cost balances to consider in squeeze out that last bit of performance. (Or at least that's the excuse I'm going to use.)

*jaw drop*

---

So... I can't help but notice that interest has declined substantially. We also don't have a puzzlemaster ready for this week. With that in mind, we're going to take this week off. I'd love to pick this back up if it turns out there's interest beyond me, DFalcon, and MrBlarney. If not... well, we had a good run.

Either way, thanks to everyone who's participated. I can't speak for anyone else, but I've had a lot of fun losing to DFalcon and MrBlarney

seconding that! it's really hard for me to make this a priority right now but i did really like it when i had the time and it was cool seeing other people play with this stuff too.

i actually do have another puzzle but i don't want to administrate it right now, haha. oh well

If you've got a puzzle ready, then it might be best to run it and let that be the conclusion of the current Let's All Play. Two puzzles per puzzlemaster, a nice round ten puzzles total... that seems good to me, yeah?

Done?

I'm going to say done