Rules of engagement
Life, with allegiance
Naim's War of Life extends Conway's cellular automaton by giving every living cell a faction. Factions can follow classic Life or entirely different birth and survival rules, expressed in the familiar B/S shorthand. The default faction begins at B3/S23. The rules below define this site's variation.
Every faction views its neighbours through its own diplomacy: its own cells and allies count +1, neutral cells count +0.5, and enemies count −1. Living cells test that effective count against their survival rule. Empty cells test every faction independently against its birth rule.
Reading the rules
- B means birth. B3 lets a faction claim an empty cell when its relationship-weighted neighbour count is exactly 3.
- S means survival. S23 keeps a living cell alive when its effective count is 2 or 3 from that cell's faction perspective.
- Diplomacy has weight. Own and allied cells add 1; neutral cells add 0.5; enemies subtract 1. Relationships are mutual, update both factions immediately, and default to Neutrality.
- Births compete. If several factions qualify, the greatest positive support wins: own and allied cells add 1, neutral cells add 0.5, and enemies add nothing to this tie-break score. Enemies still suppress the effective count but never claim a cell without qualifying themselves. Ties produce no birth.
- Spontaneous births are optional. Only when no faction meets its birth rule does each enabled faction get an independent 1-in-X roll for that empty cell. One successful claim wins; simultaneous spontaneous claims cancel out. A tie between normal birth candidates leaves the cell empty without a spontaneous roll.
- Everything updates together. Claims and deaths use the current generation, then appear simultaneously in the next one.
B36/S23, for example, means birth at an effective count of 3 or 6 and survival at 2 or 3. A fractional result such as 2.5 does not match an integer rule.
How to command the field
Pause the simulation, choose Place on a faction or select Erase, then click or drag across the grid. Add factions with the + button and edit names, colours, births, survival counts, spontaneous birth chance, and each faction's view of every rival at any time. Randomise distributes living cells across every current faction. Use Fast-forward to resolve an exact number of generations as a single turn while preserving the complete population history.
A quick example
Red treats Blue as an enemy. Around an empty cell, three Red neighbours and one Blue neighbour give Red an effective count of 2. Blue performs its own independent calculation from Blue's perspective.
Updated · factual and copy review Return to Conway's Game of Life