RandomBot replicator in 7 min!

[Martian]

Using the randombot generator here several times I made a RandomBot with a DNA length of 3000.

I then started a sim with one RandomBot at 1000 for point mutations and delta mutations disabled. I gave it a starting energy of 32000. I made it a veg at 10 energy per cycle. I also set all costs to 0. 7 min later, at 400 cycles a second, a replicator.

The more bots, the better chance of a replicator evolving. But because the number of bots slow the sim exponentially, it takes a lot less time with just one bot for a replicator to evolve.

[Martian]

Oops.  
I made a huge mistake! I assumed a 125 for point mutations at 1/8 mutation rates is the same as 1000 for point mutations at 1/1 mutation rate.

[googlyeyesultra]

True, to get a first replicator, I usually won't use more than 15 bots. Unfortunately, once you get something that always moves and always reproduces, keeping the population under 500 is quite a feat (and, of course, above 0).