The part above about "tape and constructor" is exactly right for the self-constructing Gemini spaceship and its descendants. But it's not quite right for the waterbear. There's no universal constructor in the waterbear, or in its relatives the Centipede and the original Caterpillar.
Large parts of these macro-spaceships never get constructed or destroyed, they just travel along a support structure. That support structure is the only thing that gets constructed, and the construction recipe is encoded not in a simple "tape" glider stream but in the entire body of the spaceship.
Self-supporting spaceships like the waterbear are built with a very limited "toolkit" that only works at one particular speed. In general they're harder to put together successfully, and thus in a way are more impressive than self-constructing spaceships. Once you have a universal constructor, after all, you can build anything that's buildable. The trick is figuring out how to get along without that much power.
Large parts of these macro-spaceships never get constructed or destroyed, they just travel along a support structure. That support structure is the only thing that gets constructed, and the construction recipe is encoded not in a simple "tape" glider stream but in the entire body of the spaceship.
Self-supporting spaceships like the waterbear are built with a very limited "toolkit" that only works at one particular speed. In general they're harder to put together successfully, and thus in a way are more impressive than self-constructing spaceships. Once you have a universal constructor, after all, you can build anything that's buildable. The trick is figuring out how to get along without that much power.