Part of the Starships series:
- No Man's Sky Starships Guide Hub: Start here for a full overview of every vehicle and ship class.
- No Man's Sky Exploration & Endgame Guide Hub: Where Exocraft scanning and surface travel pay off most.
Quick Answer
- Exocraft are drivable planetary vehicles. You unlock each one by building its Geobay at a base, using blueprints bought from the Exocraft Technology Merchant on the Space Anomaly.
- There are six: Nomad (cheap, fast, hovers over water), Roamer (balanced all-rounder), Colossus (huge cargo and mining), Minotaur (armored walker mech), Pilgrim (fast ground bike), and Nautilon (submarine).
- The Minotaur and Nautilon use their own dedicated Geobays; the other four share the standard Exocraft Geobay line.
- Once you own an Exocraft, unlock the Exocraft Summoning Station technology (or dock at your freighter) to call any of them to your location on any planet.
- The single best upgrade is the Exocraft Signal Booster / High-Power Sonar, which pings nearby crashed ships, monoliths, and buried resource deposits.
- The Minotaur provides its own life support and hazard protection and can be set to follow you as an AI pilot; the Nautilon is the only vehicle built for deep underwater exploration.
Overview
Exocraft solve the tedium of crossing a planet on foot. On foot your jetpack drains fast and your stamina caps how far you sprint, so scouting a large surface, hauling mined ore back to base, or chasing scanner pings all become slow chores. A vehicle turns those chores into a few minutes of driving, and the right upgrades turn driving into a resource-hunting tool in its own right.
Each of the six vehicles fills a different role, from a throwaway scout bike to an armored combat mech to a full submarine. You do not have to choose one: build the Geobays and you can own all six at once, then summon whichever suits the job. Below you will find how to unlock them, how to summon them anywhere, and which upgrades actually earn their slots.
The Six Exocraft
Nomad
The Nomad is the first Exocraft most players build. It is cheap, quick to assemble, and its standout trait is that it skims over water and terrain, gliding across surfaces that bog down heavier vehicles. It carries little cargo and mounts no weapon by default, so treat it as a scout. If you just want to cover ground on a fresh planet and light up your map, the Nomad does that for the lowest cost. If you would rather travel on something living, tamed creatures can be ridden: slower and less practical, considerably more fun.
The Nomad, Roamer and Pilgrim overlap enough that most players only need one of them — the Roamer, Nomad and Pilgrim comparison works through which to build first.
Roamer
The Roamer is the balanced all-rounder. It carries a decent inventory, mounts a mining laser and a cannon, and handles most terrain without complaint. If you only ever build one full-featured Exocraft, the Roamer is the safe pick. It is comfortable for general driving, light mining, and fending off Sentinels that take an interest in you.
Colossus
The Colossus is the freight hauler. It has by far the largest cargo capacity of any Exocraft and the strongest mining output, which makes it the natural companion to a mining operation. When you are stripping a deposit of Copper, Cadmium, or another mineral and want to carry the haul in one trip, the Colossus does the work. Pair it with a base extractor setup from the automated mining and supply depots guide to keep resources flowing without babysitting. The full Colossus guide covers its upgrade path and the point at which automated extraction makes it redundant.
Minotaur
The Minotaur is an armored walking mech, and it plays differently from the wheeled vehicles. It has its own life support and hazard protection, so it shrugs off extreme heat, cold, toxicity, and radiation that would otherwise drain your Exosuit. That makes it the vehicle of choice for hostile worlds. It mounts heavy weapons (a laser, a cannon, and a flamethrower or bolt caster depending on your upgrades), so it doubles as a combat platform against Sentinels and hostile fauna.
Its signature feature is the AI pilot mode. You can set the Minotaur to pilot itself and follow you on foot, acting as a mobile turret and pack animal while you explore or mine by hand. Deploy it before a Sentinel fight and let it lay down covering fire while you focus on your target. The dedicated Minotaur guide covers the AI Pilot setup and why hazard immunity changes which planets are worth working.
Pilgrim
The Pilgrim is a fast ground bike. It is nimble and quick across open terrain, with a tight turning radius that suits winding valleys and dune fields. It carries less than the Roamer and is built for speed rather than utility, so it works best as a stylish, agile scout when you want to move fast and light. It is also the fastest land vehicle in the game, which makes it the default pick for the Exocraft racing and race tracks guide.
Nautilon
The Nautilon is a submarine, and it is the only Exocraft built for going underwater. Where every other vehicle stops at the shoreline, the Nautilon dives into oceans and abyssal trenches, giving you a pressurized cabin, its own light, and a mining laser for harvesting underwater resources. It is essential for exploring ocean worlds, reaching sunken buildings, and gathering deep-sea materials safely. Its blueprint comes from a different source to every other Exocraft, which catches people out — the Nautilon guide covers that and its separate fuel requirement.
Exocraft at a Glance
| Exocraft | Terrain / Strength | Best Use |
|---|---|---|
| Nomad | Skims over water and rough ground; cheap and fast | Early scouting on a budget |
| Roamer | Balanced handling, decent cargo, mining + cannon | General-purpose daily driver |
| Colossus | Massive cargo, strongest mining | Hauling ore from mining sites |
| Minotaur | Armored mech with own life support and weapons | Hostile worlds, combat, AI escort |
| Pilgrim | Fast, nimble ground bike | Quick agile travel across open terrain |
| Nautilon | Submarine, dives underwater | Ocean and abyssal exploration |
How to Unlock Exocraft
Every Exocraft is unlocked by building its Geobay, a small landing pad you construct at or near a base. You cannot summon a vehicle you have never built a Geobay for.
The blueprints come from the Exocraft Technology Merchant, a vendor found on the Space Anomaly (the large hub station you can summon in any system). Speak to the merchant and purchase the Geobay blueprints you want with Nanites. The standard Nomad, Roamer, Colossus, and Pilgrim share the Exocraft line, while the Minotaur and Nautilon have their own dedicated Geobays you unlock separately.
Once you own a blueprint:
- Go to a base, or place a temporary base computer if you are far from home. See the base building guide for beginners if you have not set one up yet.
- Open the build menu and place the Geobay for the vehicle you want.
- Gather the listed materials, typically metals like Magnetized Ferrite plus refined components, and complete construction.
- The vehicle appears on the Geobay, ready to drive.
The Nautilon's Geobay must be built near or in water so the submarine can launch. The Minotaur's Geobay assembles the mech in place like the others. Exact material costs vary by patch, so check the in-build tooltip for the current recipe rather than relying on a fixed number.
How to Summon Exocraft Anywhere
Building a Geobay ties a vehicle to that spot, but you rarely want to drive back to base to pick it up. Two systems let you call an Exocraft to your location on any planet:
- Exocraft Summoning Station: A base technology, also unlocked through the Exocraft Technology Merchant. Once built, it lets you summon any Exocraft you own to your position from the quick menu, no matter which planet you are standing on.
- Freighter: If you own a freighter, its Exocraft terminal serves the same purpose. With a freighter in the system you can summon your vehicles to the surface below without a summoning station at all.
After either is set up, open the quick menu (hold the summon/utility button), choose the Exocraft you want, and it drops in nearby. This is what makes owning all six practical: you leave them parked and call up whichever fits the moment.
The Upgrades That Matter
Exocraft have technology slots just like your ship and multi-tool, and upgrade modules come from the same Exocraft Technology Merchant. A handful are worth prioritizing.
- Exocraft Acceleration / Boost modules: Faster top speed and a stronger boost. Quality-of-life on every vehicle, and close to mandatory on scouts like the Nomad and Pilgrim where speed is the entire point.
- Exocraft Mining Laser upgrades: Higher mining output and heat capacity. Best value on the Colossus and Nautilon, where you are gathering in volume.
- Exocraft Signal Booster / Scanner: The standout upgrade. It periodically pings nearby points of interest, including crashed ships, monoliths, ruins, and buried resource deposits, and marks them on your compass. This turns any drive into a discovery run and is the reason many players build an Exocraft in the first place.
That scanner is genuinely one of the fastest ways to find crashed ships to claim for free. Drive around with it active, follow the pings, and repair what you find. Our free ships and crashed salvage guide explains how to turn those wrecks into a growing fleet at no unit cost.
The Nautilon has its own equivalent, the High-Power Sonar, which sweeps the seabed for underwater points of interest the same way the surface scanner works on land. Fit it before any serious ocean expedition.
For hostile worlds, the Minotaur's hazard-protection and weapon upgrades let it operate where you could not safely stand on foot. If you are farming a dangerous environment, such as chasing storm crystals during extreme weather, the Minotaur's self-contained life support lets you ride out storms that would drain an Exosuit, and its AI pilot mode keeps it fighting or following while you work.
The Colossus After Remnant
The Remnant update rebuilt the Colossus around hauling, adding customisation modules, new technologies, and a waste-processing loop tied to scrap worlds. If you wrote the Colossus off as a slow cargo box, it does more now. See the Remnant and Gravitino Coil guide.
Unlocking the Minotaur's Best Technology
The Minotaur becomes far more useful once its advanced technology is unlocked through the Trace of Metal questline, which also carries the story of a Sentinel that broke from the hive. See the Trace of Metal questline guide. For the Nautilon and everything it opens up below the surface, see the underwater exploration guide.
FAQ
How do I get Exocraft?
Buy the Geobay blueprint from the Exocraft Technology Merchant on the Space Anomaly using Nanites, then build that Geobay at a base. The vehicle spawns on the pad, ready to drive. Each Exocraft needs its own Geobay, and the Minotaur and Nautilon use dedicated Geobays separate from the standard line.
Can I summon Exocraft anywhere?
Yes, once you build an Exocraft Summoning Station at a base, or if you own a freighter with an Exocraft terminal. Either one lets you call any vehicle you have built to your current location on any planet, so you never have to drive back to the original Geobay.
Which Exocraft is best?
It depends on the job. The Roamer is the best single all-rounder if you only want one full-featured vehicle. The Colossus wins for hauling and mining, the Minotaur for hostile worlds and combat, the Nomad or Pilgrim for cheap fast scouting, and the Nautilon whenever you go underwater. Because you can own all six, most players eventually build the ones that match how they play.
How do I explore underwater?
Build the Nautilon submarine. It is the only Exocraft that dives, providing a pressurized cabin, a light, and an underwater mining laser. Fit its High-Power Sonar upgrade to locate sunken structures and deep-sea deposits, then dive into oceans and abyssal trenches that are otherwise off-limits.
Do I need a base to use Exocraft?
You need somewhere to place a Geobay, which requires a base computer, but that base can be a quick temporary one you drop anywhere. Once the vehicle exists and you have a summoning station or freighter, you no longer need to return to that base to use it.
Can the Minotaur fight for me on its own?
Yes. The Minotaur has an AI pilot mode that sets it to pilot itself and follow you around while you are on foot. In that mode it acts as a mobile turret and escort, laying down fire against Sentinels and hostile creatures while you handle other tasks.
Key Takeaways
- Buy the Summoning Station blueprint alongside your first Geobay. Until it is built, every vehicle stays parked at the pad you made it on, and driving back to fetch one wastes most of the time the Exocraft saved you.
- If you are only building one full-featured vehicle, make it the Roamer. Add the Colossus once a mining run stops fitting in a single trip, and the Minotaur once you start spending real time on hazardous worlds.
- Fit the Signal Booster before acceleration or mining modules. Speed and cargo make driving nicer; the scanner is what turns an aimless drive into crashed ships, monoliths, ruins, and buried deposits.
- Place the Nautilon's Geobay near or in water or the submarine has nowhere to launch, and fit the High-Power Sonar before you set out, not after you are already offshore.
- You do not need a permanent home for any of this. A temporary base computer is enough to hold a Geobay, and once the vehicle exists you never have to go back to that spot.
- Read material costs from the in-build tooltip rather than any written recipe, since the requirements shift between patches.