RimWorld - kind of stuck

[Nyum]

OK so I've recently come back to RimWorld again after almost a year, the addiction is real.  Vanilla version on Steam, no Royalty pack.  About my fifth playthrough of this time around and I decided to go with Naked Brutality on a small island in the ocean.

The problem is this - I have the spaceship almost ready to go, it is only missing a persona core.  Because of my isolated location, most of the caravans who have come to trade have been independent.  So, through trading I have only one faction above 0, and it is only a +4.  Thus, nobody will sell me a hint to find a persona core.
The random quests that pop up seem to be all the same.  Either rescue a prisoner, or collect the same loot items over and over... I've already picked up multiple groups of (Power Claw + Shield Belt) and (Masterwork Double Marble Bed + Masterwork Recurve Bow).  And even after completing the random quests I still see the same ones over and over, same rewards, same text, same location, etc.
I tried building a transport pod launcher but the only settlement within range, on the next island, is -100 Hostile, so sending gifts isn't doing much with them.
Is my only option to send people to that island, build another colony, then launch people to the mainland and build a third colony in hopes that someone will give me a quest or a tip to get a persona core?  Or is this playthrough a lost cause?  I've only managed to get 9 colonists and only one is high enough crafting skill to make components, so labor might be an issue to maintain 3 bases with launchers...

[Ark]

Next time the traders come, note the the "gift" button at the bottom right corner. Bribe them for goodwill with your extra stuff.
Also, high goodwill increases the odds of them sending a trading caravan to you spontaneously, so it's kind of a high priority if you live on an island in the middle of nowhere.
I assume you know of the fuel setting on the pod launchers, which defaults to 50% for some reason.

[Canute]

At the options you can increase the numbers of settlements you can create.
Then create mining/trading/forward outpost with minimal defence/comfort/wealth. And when you got a raid there you could send over troops with podlauncher for defence.
From this forward outpost you can send out caravan's to do some shoping or send out gift's with pod launchers.

Or you just wait until an orbital trader got a persona core for sale.

When you maybe like to add some mods, there are reuseable pod launcher or aircrafts which allow you to do trade tours around the world (when you got enough fuel).
Or a mod that double the fuel capacity of existing pod launchers.

[Nyum]

Thanks.  Yes I had upped my launchers to 100% fuel setting.
I thought I had seen in previous games the orbital traders selling them, but I had not yet seen that this time around.  I'll also have to keep an eye out for the faction affiliated caravan to pass through.
Does the quality of the gift item affect the gained reputation?

[Canute]

So far i know the exotic orbital trader can sell this, but it is rare.
Most people get the core from item stashes, but i don't know how big your isle are and if you get these.
If they appear on the continent, you would need a base there anyway to podlaunch over to your main colony.

Do you mean item quality ?
Yes higher quality items have higher market value give more reputation.

[Nyum]

I managed to launch enough high-value items to buy enough reputation to buy a clue, which sent me to the far end of my island (where the other random stashes had been).  Thanks for the tips everybody!