Written by Andrew Hammel

Gravships are high-tech flying shuttle bases that let you travel RimWorld’s planet or launch into orbit. They unlock space exploration, rare quests, and the ability to fight the mechanoid hive. This guide covers how to get a gravship, build it up, and use it to survive in Odyssey’s hardest areas.

How to Get Your First Gravship

Gravship Start

Pick the gravship scenario to start with an engine and small thrusters. You’ll get some Gravite Panels too. The catch? Mechanoids will chase you down every few days, so you’ll have to keep moving.

Normal Start

Start with a normal colony. Later, a quest event will crash a grav engine nearby. You can recover it and slowly build a ship. This path is safer but much slower.

Both paths eventually let you fly, but the materials you need are rare.

Gravship Materials and Building Limits

You can only build on special gravship flooring using Gravite Panels. You’ll find these:

• In ruins during quests

• On orbital stations

• From dangerous ancient sites

• Rarely through research if you unlock Advanced Grav Tech and craft them with plasteel and vacstone

Vacstone is a space rock. You won’t be making much early on, so most of your progress comes from quests and ruins. Gravite Panels are your building limit. No panels, no new rooms.

To expand your building radius, you’ll need Gravfield Extenders, which cost Grav Cores. These come from late-game quests, especially in orbit.

Traveling in Orbit and Dealing With Vacuum

Once your gravship leaves the planet, you’ll face vacuum and freezing temperatures.

To survive, you have two options:

1. Seal the ship with Grav Hull walls, vac barriers (instead of doors), and oxygen pumps in every room

2. Equip everyone with a full vac suit and helmet

Vac suits let you ignore ship insulation completely. Without them, you’ll need to carefully build a pressurized ship or your colonists will die in seconds.

Oxygen pumps and vac barriers use very little power, but you’ll need a lot of them. Also remember: space is always -75°C, so bring heaters or wear temperature-proof suits.

Thrusters and How Flight Works

You need thrusters to fly. Small ones use steel and components. Large ones require space rock, only found in orbit.

You can install up to:

• 4 small thrusters

• 6 large thrusters

Thrusters increase your travel range. Fuel cost is based on distance, not how many thrusters you have. More thrusters just give you more options.

Gravships use chemfuel to fly, and there’s always a cooldown before your next launch.

Anchors and Returning to a Base

Leaving a map without a Grav Anchor deletes it forever. If you want to return later, build a Grav Anchor before taking off.

Anchors cost 300 plasteel, but they’re worth it. They let you use your gravship to travel while keeping a permanent ground base too.

Power Systems

You need strong power systems to survive in space.

• Solar generators work in orbit and follow a similar day-night cycle

• Batteries store power normally

• Chemfuel generators are great because you already need chemfuel to fly

• Some mechanoid bases drop power cores you can steal

If your ship loses power, oxygen fails and colonists without vac suits will die fast. Always have backup power systems before launching.

Quests, Grav Cores, and Unique Weapons

Odyssey’s best content is gated behind quests, many only reachable with a gravship.

• Planet quests lead to ruins, bunkers, insect hives, and wrecked launch sites

• Orbital quests take you to mining asteroids, derelict stations, or ancient defense platforms

• Rumors sometimes lead to warlords carrying rare, unique weapons

• Gravcore quests give Grav Cores, which unlock ship upgrades and advanced tech like permanent power cells

Expect traps, drones, and elite mechanoids on most of these missions. Drones like hunter, wasp, and sentry bots will ambush you and trigger the moment they detect movement.

Unique weapons from these areas are one-of-a-kind and come with custom stats, names, and traits. Some even have built-in launchers or special effects.

Mechhive Endgame

The final goal in Odyssey is the Mechhive in orbit. It’s a giant floating factory that controls all mechanoids on the planet.

To fight it, you’ll need:

• A full gravship

• Multiple Grav Cores

• A signal jammer to breach the hive’s defenses

The Mechhive is full of:

• Cyclops mechs with beam repeaters

• Blast doors and gestating machines

• Stabilizers that protect the AI core

Destroy the stabilizers and you can reach the Cerebrex Core. You can:

• Destroy it to end the mechanoid war

• Or harvest it and gain terrifying mech tech

Final Blurb

Gravships are the heart of Odyssey’s expansion. They unlock space travel, quest chains, and the Mechhive endgame. But they take real effort to build and maintain. Gather Gravite Panels, collect Grav Cores, and be ready for vacuum, mech raids, and freezing temperatures. It’s worth it.

FAQ

Q: How do you get a gravship?

Start with one or wait for the grav engine crash quest.

Q: What do I need to build a gravship?

Gravite Panels, which come from ruins or are crafted late-game.

Q: Do you need vac suits in orbit?

Yes, unless your ship is fully sealed with grav walls, vac barriers, and oxygen.

Q: How do I expand the ship?

Build Gravfield Extenders using rare Grav Cores.

Q: Do thrusters affect fuel cost?

Only range affects cost. Thrusters just increase how far you can fly.

Q: What happens if I fly off without a Grav Anchor?

The map is lost permanently.

Q: Can you return to ground bases?

Yes, with a Grav Anchor.

Q: What’s the Mechhive?

It’s the mechanoid HQ in space. Endgame content where you fight the Cerebrex Core.

Q: What do Grav Cores do?

They expand your build zone, power advanced tech, and are key to late-game upgrades.

Q: Where do you get unique weapons?

Ruins, quests, orbital stashes, or hidden locations. They are rare and powerful.

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