yeah, spaceships are pretty common (fun fact: 2 spaceships were found on the same day including this one in GOL), also in CA it's called a "spaceship". However until now there was no 1D one (1D is also called 1-cell-thick or linear).
Also, you are actually wrong, it is actually much easier to move than to self-synthesize and then remain alive like a replicator. There has been no true replicator found yet in Life as far as I know (arguably, linear propagator may be a replicator) but like millions of spaceships have been found.
dvgrn|2 months ago
Actually more than one true replicator has been constructed. The 0E0P metacell
https://conwaylife.com/wiki/0E0P_metacell
can be programmed to self-replicate in any number of ways, but it's so big that it's very hard to simulate it through a full cycle. By contrast, Pavel Grankovskiy's "DOGun SaGaQR"
https://conwaylife.com/forums/viewtopic.php?&p=138191#p13819...
only has one pattern of replication, but it's much simpler than the 0E0P metacell and can easily be run through many cycles in Golly.
HTHThreee|2 months ago