tried a dual automaton idea. there's two separate grids, but the following crossover condition is applied: if an occupied cell doesn't meet the survival condition, the cell is permitted to survive if the birth condition is satisfied on the other grid.
doing this with the Conway's Life rule rapidly causes the grid to fill up, but other rules have produced some hints of unusual behavior, like the oscillators in this animation that are anchored by a still life on the other grid. rule is B3/S35 on both grids