Written by Andrew Hammel

RimWorld: Odyssey adds gravships, new tech, and a mobile way to survive across the planet and beyond. This tips & game guide covers how to get started, build a working gravship, power it, and expand into a moving base. It’s focused on early survival, setup, and smart planning.

How to Start Playing Odyssey

Use The Gravship scenario

The Gravship scenario gives you instant access to a small ship, three colonists, and some scattered supplies. You start with gravtech unlocked and a working Grav Engine. Nearby materials can be used to expand your ship right away.

You’ll be hunted by mechanoids over time, so grab what you need and prepare to take off. It’s not constant pressure, but the game encourages you to stay mobile.

Starting from scratch

If you pick a normal scenario, wait about six in-game days for the Mechanoid Signal quest. This will drop a Grav Engine and Gravlite Panels on the map. Investigate the wreck, then research Basic Gravtech to unlock shipbuilding. From there, you can build your own gravship once you gather enough materials.

Gravship Building Basics

The gravity field

Click on your Grav Engine to view its gravity field. It’s a blue circle. Anything you want to move with the ship must be built inside this zone. If a tile or object shows up red, it won’t move with you.

Substructure tiles

Use Gravship Substructure to build floor tiles inside the field. These are required for placing anything that should move with your ship. Each tile costs 1 Gravlite Panel and 4 Steel.

Your starter engine supports up to 500 tiles. Plan your layout carefully, especially around doors, walls, and thrusters.

What You Need to Fly

To launch your ship, you must build and connect:

1 Pilot Console
2 to 4 Small Thrusters
1 Small Chemfuel Tank (filled with at least 50 chemfuel)

Fill the tank with more fuel if you want to fly longer distances. Thrusters don’t use fuel directly, but they do need open space behind them to function. If something blocks their thrust path, they won’t work.

Launch using the Pilot Console once everything is built and connected.

Launch Quality and Risks

Every launch has a quality score, based on:

Pilot skill (mostly Intelligence)
Crew count
Thruster count
Console setup

Low scores can trigger Minor Incidents, like damage to ship parts or system failure. These events are not fatal, but you’ll need Components to repair damaged systems after landing.

Always assign your smartest, healthiest colonist to the pilot seat.

Power and Fuel Tips

Use Solar Generators or Chemfuel Generators
Batteries are important for night power and ship systems
Wind turbines don’t work in space
Build a Biofuel Refinery to turn crops into chemfuel

Power your cooler, research bench, and other equipment early. Without steady power, you can’t keep food cold or research upgrades.

Freezer and Food Setup

Coolers work in space. Build a small room with a cooler facing out into vacuum. This will dump heat and keep the room cold. Seal the room with walls and use shelves for storing food.

Use Hydroponics Basins to grow crops for food and fuel. These require power but work in any biome, even in orbit.

Sealing Your Ship

Use Gravship Hull walls if you want to go into space. These are airtight and prevent depressurization. Unsealed rooms will vent air in space, which can kill colonists.

You don’t need sealed rooms for land-based travel, only for orbital launches.

Research Goals

Build a Simple Research Bench as soon as possible. Useful early techs include:

Batteries
Biofuel Refinery
Solar Generator
Hydroponics
Grav Field Extender (requires a Gravcore)

Unlocking these will help your ship become self-sustaining so you can travel longer and settle less.

Expanding Later

After progressing far enough, you’ll get a quest for a Gravcore. Once recovered, you can build a Grav Field Extender. This lets your ship carry more tiles and increases your gravity field range.

This is required for large ships and late-game expansion.

How to Play on the Move

Each time your ship lands, a new map generates. You can mine, loot, and harvest before flying away again. Odyssey makes it easy to play nomad-style, hopping from one location to the next.

This playstyle rewards flexible setups, compact ship design, and smart supply management. Don’t overbuild early. Keep things simple and mobile.

Final Blurb

RimWorld Odyssey changes how you survive. Instead of building one base forever, you build a base that flies. Learn the basics, keep your ship powered, and explore one hex at a time.

If something goes wrong, fly somewhere else and try again.