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[qwertyuiopas]

I also have a one-armed Very Dark Thread:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[ChairmanPoo]

I'm really interested in this game, but would rather buy through humble or GOG. Is there any mention of that anywhere?

[MCreeper]

I also have a one-armed Very Dark Thread:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Damn, your thread is so dark, that when i open a spoiler, it makes almost all firefox windows black. Even if i close the tab, it's still black!

Edit: And now it isn't. Wonky bugs.

[qwertyuiopas]

Perhaps because of the unlimited space and time, plus the greater range of movement options. If you build yourself into an inefficient layout halfway through the solution you can just keep expanding.

[qwertyuiopas]

It can lead to some silly first solutions, such as this Universal Solvent (spoiler note: last puzzle of the campaign)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I probably made multiple poor choices in when and where to assemble subcomponents, but I could always find some combinations of movements that brought the awkwardly-placed molecules out into an open space again without compromising on input rate. It was actually a bit fun at times, routing molecules without having to massively backtrack on existing parts of the design, though I expect there's room to save tens of cycles with a more efficient form-scratch design.

[qwertyuiopas]

Assembling the 4-salt molecules and converting the atoms afterwards caused excess complexity and startup delay, then splitting the two types afterwards was inefficient and caused awkward routing later, and finally, I did not know you could rotate groups of selected components with A/D, so was hesitant to re-orient the Life/Death producer even though it might have helped routing a bit.

Also, I focused on minimum loop duration, starting from the two inputs, and just tried to fit everything else in the 8-cycle loop that implied. Coming back a day later, having seen problems with my earlier solution and slept on it, I was able to make a better variant.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

A further cycle might be saved by grabbing the final molecule from the top.

[bloop_bleep]

I am very intrigued by this, and am feeling a sudden urge to develop an AI to solve this in the general case.

[Karlito]

Yeah, compared to previous Zachtronics games, I've found it's easier to find some solution to puzzles, even if your solution isn't very good (like all of mine).

[frostshotgg]

What I've seen of it so far is that it restricts you far less than the previous games. It's easier just by virtue of there being way more ways to do any given task. Compare with Shenzen I/O where space is absolutely crippling, or TIS where you're severely limited in terms of what commands you can do.

[lordcooper]

Fast:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Faster, smaller, good rhythm.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[MagmaMcFry]

Fast:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Faster, smaller, good rhythm.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fastest.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Smallest/Cheapest.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Folly]

Spoiler: Life Sensing Potion (click to show/hide)

]

I wasted entirely too many hours optimizing this for cycles.
Anyone who can do it faster I shall decry as a witch!

[MagmaMcFry]

Hmm, I see at least 2 easily saved cycles there, near the end of the line. Your products don't need to wait on the last four bonders if you don't let go of them. I think you can maybe even save one or two more ticks with a different approach, using only 2 ticks for bonding, either in three groups of two, or using the tribonders.

[Folly]

Spoiler: Life Sensing Potion v1.1 (click to show/hide)

Okay, good call on not letting go of the product at the end. Saved 1 cycle. Witch.
Your dream of a sustained 2-cycle bonding however is pure folly!

[Egan_BW]

This sounds exactly like a conversation that alchemists would have.