Solarpunk: All Airship Upgrades and How to Get Them

If you want to progress in Solarpunk, building an airship and upgrading it isn't an optional task. The initial island has enough resources for you to get started, but there's a limit to what you can craft and set up when you only have access to iron, wood, stone, berries, sand, clay, and cotton.

Right now, there are two upgrades for the airship, which means you can basically level up the airship to level three. Each upgrade increases the distance the airship is able to travel, and that gives you the ability to reach locations with resources you won't find on the starting island.

Unlocking the Airship

When you have the research table, you find the option to craft an airship dock. This lets you craft the airship and start flying to the trader bot and the island slightly west of the bot. However, you need an airship component to craft the airship, and you don't get any information regarding how to get or craft one.

Luckily, it's easy enough to get your airship component when you have the builder hammer and some wood. Look at the mountains on the starting island, and you'll spot a smoke plume. That smoke marks the location of a crashed airship that you can collect an airship component from. Pull out the builder hammer and place stairs to climb up the mountains to the smoke. I tried to jump up there, but you won't find a path that allows you to climb higher without the help of stairs.

Upgrading the Airship

After you build your airship, you'll notice that you can upgrade it at the dock, but you need an airship upgrade in order to do so. The only way to get those upgrades is from the trader bot. You'll also get blueprints and other items that help you improve your base, which includes a number of crafts that let you automate tasks like watering your farm.

Basically, the trader bot has two sets of trades for you to go through, and at the end of each set, you get an airship upgrade that you can use at your dock to increase the distance your ship is able to cover. The items you need to give the bot for the first airship upgrade, in the order they're given, are:

1. 4x Watermelons, which gives you sprinklers
2. 12x Cotton, which gives you a blueprint
3. 20x Beeswax, which gives you another blueprint
4. 10x more Watermelons, which gets you a third blueprint
5. 32x Copper, which gives you the airship upgrade

With this, you can upgrade your airship at the dock and access more islands, and you'll need to get to those islands for the materials required to get through the second set of trades with the trader bot. For the second airship upgrade, you'll need to give the trader bot these items in this order:

1. 5x Silicon, which you get by putting quartz in the furnace, and you get a blueprint for turning it in
2. 10x Wheat, which gives you a blueprint
3. 20x Cloth, which gives you another blueprint
4. 10x Bread, which gives you yet another blueprint
5. 6x Eggs, which gives you the final airship upgrade

That upgrade lets you access the rest of the islands on the map, and right now, that's the extent to which you can upgrade your airship. Since the game is in early access, it's possible that other upgrades will be added in future Solarpunk patches.

Released June 8, 2026

Developer(s) Cyberwave

Publisher(s) rokaplay, Metaroot

Multiplayer Online Co-Op

Number of Players Single-player