If you’ve spent any time playing No Man’s Sky in 2026, you’ve probably already stared at a mountain range full of rare copper deposits, or a distant alien ruin half a kilometer away, and sighed at the thought of walking the whole way. Hazard protection draining, inventory full of random rocks, and a storm rolling in? That’s the exact moment you need a rugged, all-terrain exocraft to make your life easier. Learning how to get exocraft in No Man’s Sky is one of the first big quality-of-life unlocks you can get, and the 2026 Echoes 2.7 update made the process far simpler than it used to be for new players. You don’t have to grind through dozens of main story quests or spend thousands of nanites anymore, either.
Prerequisites to Unlock Exocraft in No Man’s Sky (2026 Updated)
The 2026 update cut most of the old prerequisites for exocraft unlock, so you can get your first vehicle much earlier in your playthrough than before. You don’t need to progress the main story past the first 2 hours of gameplay to access the exocraft quest line, which is a huge change from older versions. The only things you need to have completed first are the first three Awakenings quest steps, up to the point where you unlock your first base computer and base construction menu.
If you’re still stuck on the first few Awakenings quests, focus on finishing those first before you worry about how to get exocraft in No Man’s Sky, since you won’t be able to access the base construction menu until you do. You’ll also want to stock a small stack of extra sodium if you’re playing in survival or permadeath mode, since constructing the exocraft terminal emits small radiation bursts that can drain your hazard protection if you’re working on a toxic or radioactive planet.
You don’t need a large permanent base to unlock exocraft, either. You can place a temporary base computer on any planet you’re currently exploring, build the required structures, and delete the base later if you don’t want to keep it. That means you don’t have to wait until you find your “perfect” base planet to get your first exocraft.
Step-by-Step Process of How to Get Exocraft in No Man’s Sky
Once you have your base computer unlocked, the actual unlock process only takes between 30 and 90 minutes, depending on whether you have the required materials already saved. First, place your base computer on any solid surface and claim the area as your base. Open the base construction menu, navigate to the technology tab, and select the exocraft terminal. You’ll need 50 ferrite dust, 20 carbon nanotubes, and 10 sodium nitrate to build it, all of which are easy to find on most starting planets.
Interact with the exocraft terminal once it’s built, and it will give you a short quest to locate a nearby crashed exocraft wreck to scan for the Roamer geobay blueprint. Follow the marker on your HUD to the wreckage, scan it, and return to your base to build the geobay. The Roamer is the first exocraft you’ll unlock, and it’s the most versatile for general use, so it’s worth prioritizing this build before any other vehicles.
To build the Roamer geobay, you’ll need the following materials:
You don’t have to mine all these materials yourself, either. If you have extra units saved up from selling rare resources, you can pick up all three crafting components from most mid-system space stations for less than 10,000 units total. That cuts the unlock time down to around 30 minutes if you don’t feel like running around caves for cobalt. This process works for all game modes in 2026, including survival, permadeath, and creative, so no matter what your playstyle is, you can follow these steps to figure out how to get exocraft in No Man’s Sky without any extra work.
How to Unlock All Additional Exocraft Variants in 2026
The Roamer is great for general exploration, but there are five other exocraft variants you can unlock for specific use cases after you get your first vehicle. The 2026 update changed how you unlock these variants, so you no longer have to hunt for random blueprints in ruins across the galaxy. Instead, you can purchase all other exocraft geobay blueprints directly from the exocraft technician at the Space Anomaly for 500 nanites each.
The Nautilon is the only exocraft that can traverse deep oceans without taking damage, so it’s a must-have if you’re planning to complete the new 2026 submerged story quests or hunt for rare underwater resources. The Colossus has 48 inventory slots, which makes it perfect for long mining runs where you need to carry tons of ore back to your base. The Pilgrim is a fast, motorcycle-style exocraft that handles steep mountain terrain far better than the Roamer, and the Nomad is a lightweight hovercraft that works best on flat, open planets. The Minotaur is a combat-focused mech exocraft that can fly short distances and take heavy damage from hostile fauna or sentinels.
Once you know how to get exocraft in No Man’s Sky, you can start customizing them with paint jobs, performance upgrades, and even weapon mods to take on hostile planetary fauna. If you own a freighter, you can install the exocraft summoning station upgrade on your freighter bridge, which lets you summon any unlocked exocraft on any planet without having to build a geobay first. That’s one of the best quality-of-life upgrades you can get for exploration, and it only costs 1,000 nanites from the freighter upgrade vendor.
You don’t have to unlock all exocraft variants right away, either. If you only explore land-based planets, you can stick with the Roamer for your first 10 or 20 hours of gameplay, and only unlock other variants when you have a specific use for them. There’s no pressure to collect all of them unless you want to.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Unlocking Exocraft in 2026
Even with the simplified 2026 unlock process, there are a few common mistakes new players make that add unnecessary grind or frustration to the process. The first mistake is building your first geobay on a planet with extreme weather. If a storm hits mid-construction, your build progress will pause, and you’ll have to either wait out the storm or waste extra resources repairing the half-built structure. Try to pick a calm, mild weather planet for your first exocraft build if you can, it will save you a lot of hassle.
Another common mistake is forgetting to install the exocraft signal booster upgrade as soon as you unlock your first Roamer. This upgrade automatically marks nearby points of interest, including buried technology modules, ancient ruins, and rare resource deposits, so it pays for itself in less than an hour of exploration. You can buy the blueprint for this upgrade from the exocraft technician at the Space Anomaly for only 50 nanites.
One of the most frequent questions we get from new players in 2026 is how to get exocraft in No Man’s Sky without spending hours grinding for resources, and the easiest fix is to buy paraffinium and ion batteries from space stations instead of mining them. Most new players spend 45 minutes running around caves looking for cobalt, but you can buy 50 ion batteries for less than 3,000 units if you have extra cash from selling rare resources.
Finally, don’t waste nanites on low-tier C or B class exocraft upgrades. You can find S-class exocraft upgrade modules for 20% less nanites in pirate-controlled systems, and they give far better performance boosts than lower tier upgrades. Wait until you can access pirate systems before you invest heavily in exocraft upgrades, you’ll save thousands of nanites in the long run.
At the end of the day, learning how to get exocraft in No Man’s Sky is a game-changing unlock that makes every part of exploration faster, easier, and more fun. The 2026 updates removed most of the old grind associated with the unlock process, so even brand new players can get their first Roamer within their first two hours of gameplay. Don’t put off this unlock to grind for better starship parts first, either. Your exocraft will help you collect far more resources far faster, so you can upgrade your ship and multitool in a fraction of the time you would on foot.
