If you’ve ever spent 20 minutes trekking across a toxic, storm-blasted planet just to grab a rare copper deposit, you know how slow foot travel can get in No Man’s Sky. Learning how to get land vehicles in No Man's Sky is one of the most impactful quality of life upgrades you can unlock early on, and it doesn’t require hours of grinding or late-game story progress. I remember struggling for my first 10 hours of play, hauling tiny stacks of resources back to my base and dying to unexpected storms, until I unlocked my first Exocraft. It completely changed how I play the game, and I’m breaking down exactly how you can get your first rover, plus upgrades for more advanced vehicles, in this guide.
Unlock the Exocraft Terminal First: Your First Step to Land Vehicles
Many new players assume you need to beat half the main story to learn how to get land vehicles in No Man’s Sky, but that’s not the case at all. The only prerequisite is unlocking the base building system, which happens within the first two hours of play for most new users. Once you can place base structures, head to your Construction Research Unit to purchase the Exocraft Terminal blueprint. You only need 3 Salvaged Data to unlock the Exocraft Terminal blueprint, which you can get by digging up buried technology modules on any planet using your Terrain Manipulator. You can spot these modules easily with your Analysis Visor, they show up as small white icons shaped like a computer chip.
Once you have the blueprint, you can build the terminal at any permanent base. The crafting requirements are super accessible: 4 Metal Plating, 2 Carbon Nanotubes, and 1 Sodium Nitrate. All of these resources can be gathered on your starting planet, no interstellar travel required. If you play multiplayer and share a base with friends, you can use their Exocraft Terminal to unlock and summon vehicles too, so you don’t have to waste resources building your own if you don’t want to.
How to Get Land Vehicles in No Man’s Sky: Craft Your First Pilgrim Exocraft
Once your Exocraft Terminal is placed and powered, interact with it to see your available land vehicle options. The first and most accessible option for new players is the Pilgrim, a lightweight, fast rover built for quick traversal. You don’t need any rare resources to build the Pilgrim, and you can likely gather all required materials in 10 minutes or less on your starting planet. The full crafting list is below:
- 50 Ferrite Dust: Easily mined from any rock surface on nearly every planet, no special tools required
- 30 Paraffinium: Mined from tropical or frozen planet flora, or purchased from most space station traders for 20 units each
- 10 Ion Batteries: Crafted from Cobalt and Ferrite Dust, or looted from abandoned buildings and crashed freighters
Once you submit the materials to the terminal, your Pilgrim will spawn right next to your base. You don’t have to return to the terminal to summon it later, either: you can pull it up from your quick menu anywhere on the same planet, as long as you have a small amount of Di-hydrogen for fuel. I still remember the first time I summoned my Pilgrim, I drove it straight through a storm that would have killed me in 30 seconds on foot, and I didn’t take a single point of damage. It was a total game changer for me.
The Pilgrim does have some downsides, of course. It’s not great for steep, mountainous terrain, it has a very small inventory, and it doesn’t come with any built-in tools. It’s perfect for quick runs to nearby resource deposits, but you’ll probably want to upgrade to a more capable vehicle as you progress.
Unlock Advanced Land Vehicles for Specialized Exploration
As you progress, you’ll find that different playstyles call for different land vehicles in No Man’s Sky, so don’t feel pressured to unlock every blueprint right away. All advanced land vehicle blueprints are purchased from the Construction Research Unit for between 5 and 10 Salvaged Data each, so you can pick the ones that fit how you play.
The Roamer is the most popular all-purpose option for most players. The Roamer has the largest inventory of any early-game land vehicle, with enough space to carry full stacks of 10 different resources at a time. It handles well on most terrain, including steep hills, and it can be upgraded with a built-in mining laser so you don’t have to get out of the driver’s seat to harvest deposits. If you only unlock one advanced land vehicle, make it the Roamer.
Next up is the Colossus, the heavy-duty hauler built for extreme environments. It has an even larger inventory than the Roamer, and it can be upgraded with a heavy shield that blocks even the most intense radiation storms and Sentinel walker fire. It’s slow, but it’s perfect for long exploration trips to high-threat planets where you don’t want to risk dying and losing all your resources. Last is the Nomad, the amphibious rover built for ocean planets. The Nomad is the only land vehicle that can cross deep ocean without taking damage, and it can even hover over short gaps and cliffs. It’s a niche pick, but it’s a lifesaver if you love building bases on tropical, island-covered worlds.
Essential Upgrades to Make Your Land Vehicles More Useful
Getting your first land vehicle is great, but a few cheap upgrades will make it 10 times more functional. All upgrades are crafted directly in the vehicle’s inventory slots, no extra crafting stations required, and you can move them between vehicles whenever you want.
Install the Exocraft Mining Laser as your first upgrade, no exceptions. This tool lets you harvest any resource deposit, from copper to gravitino balls, directly from the driver’s seat. It cuts resource gathering time in half, and you don’t have to worry about getting attacked by hostile creatures while you’re mining. It only costs 4 Salvaged Data to unlock the blueprint, and the crafting requirements are very accessible: 100 Ferrite Dust, 20 Tritium, and 5 Wiring Looms.
The next upgrade you should get is the Exocraft Shield. It blocks all storm damage, hostile creature attacks, and most Sentinel fire, so you don’t have to run for cover every time a storm rolls in. If you’re playing on survival mode, the Exocraft Shield is non-negotiable. I learned that the hard way when a Sentinel walker attacked my unupgraded Pilgrim and blew it up in two hits, leaving me stranded 10 minutes from my base with no resources. Finally, grab the Exocraft Signal Booster upgrade. It automatically scans for nearby points of interest, including ancient ruins, abandoned buildings, and rare resource deposits, so you don’t have to stop every two minutes to pull out your Analysis Visor.
You don’t have to slog through hours of slow foot travel to enjoy exploring every corner of the planets you visit. Learning how to get land vehicles in No Man's Sky is a straightforward process that takes less than an hour of playtime for most new players, and the payoff is well worth the small investment of Salvaged Data and common resources. I still get excited when I unlock a new Exocraft for a specific playthrough, and even after hundreds of hours of game time, I never leave my base without a rover summoned and ready to go. Try out different vehicles and upgrades to find the setup that fits your playstyle, and you’ll be zipping across planets in no time.
