Marine March

Puzzle Number 503

Update: Solved! see below :)

2 functions. 

3 instructions each!

Aaaargh!

See it on:

http://robozzle.com/js/play.aspx?puzzle=503

or

http://www.robozzle.com/beta/index.html?puzzle=503

or on the Android app.

Some useful-ish hints can be found on the puzzle sites forum here (after the spam...ffs):

http://www.robozzle.com/forums/thread.aspx?puzzle=503

•  I didn't find it too hard. You have to move and you have to turn. Might have been more difficult with more redundant cells to confuse.
•  Looks like a sewing machine at work
• funny one! spin, spin, spin...
•  Easier to think of this as one function I found.
• Easy to come up with but took a long time to actually run. Not sure if there's a better way but it worked
• easier to solve if you think you're given one function with five comands
• easy to overcomplicated such an easy problem
• Just like that, I got it. Didn't solve it how I was expecting it, but obviously the answer works. Good puzzle, simply because the answer is not what it first appears. It's a lot simpler.
• there are not too many variations you need to try in order to get the right solution. It's nice that you have to wait to the bitter end to see if your solution will clear the star from the red square to the left of the start point... Persevere !!!
•  It took me ages to figure it out... Fortunately F1 and F2 hadn't can only hold three commands.
• hard one... red is tricky.
• Went around the course 3 times before it got all the stars  
• This puzzle has driven me crazy, I was trying a completely wrong approach, and it took me a lot to realize it.

So anyone with any solutions, ideas, similar frustrations? please feel free to comment below.

UPDATE: SOLVED (with a little help from my son)

My son did it! He's 10 years old!...dammit

So what's the solution?

As the clues suggest, F1 rolls on to F2 so it would be the same as a single function with 5 blocks.

(scroll gap...for drama)

Okay, what else?

So don't make the mistake I made and think you have to go up to the top edge. 

What would you do to solve the inner layer?

What would you do to solve this... 

See where I'm going with this?

(scroll gap...for tension)

 

You'd have some combination of a turn on green, 2 turns on red and a forward.

The amazing thing is that is all you can have and is all you need as this is such a brilliantly designed puzzle (kudos to ammonzing).

So you must have got it by now, if not see below...

(scroll gap...for the hell of it)

The Solution