Seems the best way to play The Gravship is:
>start on a mountainous tile because it doesn't have a resource penalty
>mine as much of the steel and components as possible
>expand your ship immediately and build shelves on it
>harvest berries and hunt animals for food
>fast track weapons and armor research
>recruit every pawn capable of combat
>throw them at the endgame quest as soon as possible so your good colonists can set up a more permanent base
Or am I wrong?