Finding this solve was a tempestuous journey.

It began with a desire for redemption.  In the PIG puzzle last year, I could tell even in the midst of solving that I did not fully grasp how the metric worked. Only twice have I submitted a final solve feeling like I had not met my potential, and that P6 cabinet was one of them.  Fortunately, at stream time we got to see five beautiful examples of P4 solutions, and from those examples I finally began to understand the metric.

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So when I saw the P metric again this year, I immediately went for the jugular.  P4 or bust! Moreover, with Cycles tertiary, I also committed to Rate 8. My plans drew heavily from the philosophies of RA and TI, both of which favor short periods.

I figured out my monomer, validated a mechanism that could assemble the polymer at 1/2P4, and built prep machinery capable of producing monomers at that speed.  Glorious!

...except there was no was to deliver the prepared monomer to the constructor. It required 3 translations in 4 cycles.  I tried a different constructor that only needed 2 translations, but that one did not allow enough space for arms to advance the polymer.  Foiled...

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But I am persistent.  I was still committed to P4, but perhaps I could relax my standard on Rate.  Borrowing ideas from cabinet Instructions philosophy, I replaced the constructor with a single arm on a track loop, slowly completing all of the necessary steps and stepping aside to let the next monomer pass. After slowing down the prep machinery to match, everything worked! I first saw the victory screen with a 1/12P design, never having compromised on my P4 target.

******

I happily optimized that machine down to 214c when I had a troubling realization.  The track-loop constructor arm that had saved my P4 idea only used 3 instructions.  What if it were possible to make the WHOLE MACHINE period 3?  What if this metric was a cousin not of TI or RA, but of freespace I?

I mean, when you think about it, we still have an infinite canvas here.  The Height metric constrains one dimension, but we can stretch out as far as we want in the others.  Moreover, since I is not a target metric, we can employ as many arms as we want to complete the task--which, technically, should make everything more feasible.  The idea was horrifying, but I had to test it, if only to disprove the possibility.

My dread steadily grew as I built a machine that could indeed assemble monomers at P3, with many arms circling a single large loop.  I was encouraged, though, by my inability to find a polymer constructor.  Single-cycle timing offsets allowed the monomers to be handed off, but the geometry that allowed the handoff also missed one required bond.  

So I relaxed.  P3 was not possible.  Thank goodness.

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However, it seems my brain was still subconsciously working on the problem.  I woke up the next morning with a strange thought rattling around my brain: "Fiesta, you didn't try using wands!"

It's true.  I hadn't.  Moreover, I didn't want to.  The mere idea seemed to make the cursedness of the P3 solution space even worse.  

But you must recall that my goal here was REDEMPTION.  Do the metric full justice.  Reach to the limits of my ability.  So, like it or not, I *had* to explore wands.  

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I first tried a single wand.  One arm on a long loop producing 1 monomer per circuit, with a second loop feeding it material.  The idea didn't work...but that didn't reassure me, because this strategy solved all the handoff problems I had encountered the day before.  I would simply need to abandon one of my favorite children: looping.  "Cursed" felt too weak a word for it at this point.

One day later found me once again looking at the victory screen, this time in despair.  1200 cycles.  850 area.  3100 guilder. 

Height 4.  Period 3.  

I had built a monstrosity, with all of the byzantine cursedness of Freespace I, but with none of the clever elegance.

********

Fortunately, the journey did not end there.  I began to make peace with the solution space as I optimized the solve.  Much credit and deep thanks are due to mr_puzzel and his FTSIGCTU mod.  Without its wonderful tools for editing long tracks, the first P3 abomination I created would have also been the last.  Instead, I was able to substantially exorcise the cursedness to what you see here.

I still cannt shake the feeling that this strategy is a degenerate option that rather ruins the lovely puzzle that zorflax designed.  Hence my decision to dress up the machine with aesthetically nonfunctional parts, amusing G and A numbers, and silly wordplay in the name.  This way, I can focus on the fun and prettiness instead of the inherent cursedness.

Most importantly, though: I have my redemption.  This work does reflect the best of my ability.