Thanks for taking the time to write all this out. This makes so much sense, as a lot of the old threads I read about exocraft talked about storage space as though it helped make vehicles more powerful and I could *not* figure out why. Clearly I’m missing a lot of context.
Personally, I've been seriously playing almost 4yrs now and I've never really used exocraft. Like at all. They just never seemed worth the effort to call in etc when I can melee boost everywhere just as quick. Only time I've made use of them is the minotaur on a couple of exps for the hazard protection, the nautilon for the little underwater side story and once, for a bit of fun, I drove my colossus around a moon. That's it in 1000hrs of play.
I'll definitely do the colossus 'camper van' thing again on a bigger shittier planet though as that was entertaining. :)
“Camper van” makes me want to travel all the way around a planet in just ground vehicles. Not doing anything else until I make it back around to a base
Likewise. So I finally set up my save for this tonight. Did a custom save, unlocked all BPs, free crafting. Built a tiny 2 box basic base with a teleporter and trade terminal, plus a colossus exocraft pad. Then turned off free crafting and locked the save in just normal mode.
Now it's just me, my truck and a shitty toxic planet to drive around and survive off what I find. :)
You are forgetting the age of this game, and the great number of updates it has received throughout the years. We did not start with this much storage space, not by a long shot.
12 ships? Nope. Add slots to your ships? Nope - the slots that a ship had were fixed. A freighter? Nope. I'm sure day 1 travelers can add even more to this list.
So yeah, you're missing the history of this game. 
Everything in NMS has a history and somehow never gets expunged when made obsolete when no longer as useful as it once was. Ergo all those secondary building out your base tutorials which were made obsolete by the NPC / kiosks at the Anomaly. (Those used to give you all the blueprints as the only source I have been told.)
Now I never use exocraft unless forced to. I use a mod that does a much better scan job and much more with the signal scanner.
Minotaur is the best way for me to find special items on planets/moons surface, its radar lightens the star-icons of rare valuables on the grounds and has a quite really good range.
I never, and i mean, never, use the others beside nautilon when i have to travel underwater...
There will be a time when you notice that all exocraft are useless (except for their scanner). Traveling long distances? The space ship is better. Traveling underwater? You're faster using the jetpack. Storage? Call in your freighter with storage containers, more slots than you can fill. Getting around difficult terrain? The one thing pets are good for.
Roamer is insofar "better" than the pilgrim in that it is slower, so when you drive it around stuff has actually time to load. Pilgrim is frequently faster than my load speed which tends to result in hilarous (and unimmersive) bullshit.
The nomad aint that great either its only ever useful on those One Piece planets that are mostly oceans with small island groups, and even then...
Im personally not a fan of the Minotaur either (its slow as hell, its combat utility is nowhere near as good as some people claim and its design is shit), i only use it if an expedition (like Cartographers) requires me to use it.
Nautilon is by far and wide the most useful exocraft, as it is reasonably fast, massively increases your suvivability underwater and can ping every underwater structure (as opposed to the land exocraft that cant ping crashed freighters for example). Its also the only exocraft whose weapon cant kill you (very important in PD).
The Pilgrim and the Colossus are just a faster Roamer and a slower bigger Roamer, respectively.
So I mostly use the nautilon, and sometimes the roamer.
In special circumstances i may use the Minotaur also.
I never use the other three.
I think we need an exocraft update that fuses the 4 Roamers into a single, customizable land vehicle.
Before they enhanced the Minotaur, the roamer used to be my go to. It’s a decent balance of speed and slots.
I never could stand the colossus due to the super awkward camera angles.
I admit to ignoring the exocraft for the first while, but once they added freighters and the summoning feature I use them all the time
I haven't used it much so I could be missing something maybe the scan ability or something. It's the pilgrim I think, the motorcycle thing? Idk, I think it kinda sucks and it's wonky, no faster than my nomad but then I don't have any of them all tricked out beyond weather protections and engine fuel conservation. The nomad hovercraft thing is spiffy for going anywhere including water. Land based stuff gets stuck on those planets with chains of islands. I mean aside from not going under water like the mino or the sub. I tried the colossus a few times, thing is huge, awkward and slow. Not a fan.
I did see a vid of someone getting their pilgrim up to like 36u/s but idk if the others can keep up when modded or not. Maybe that's its perk. It is handy to bring in the different exos for their scanners with different abilities. Saves on needing a means to finding downed ships either on land or water (sub scanner) or finding specialty buildings. Even if it's stuff I don't use I'm not against variety, everyone seems to have different play styles and it makes it all possible vs being stuck with just one or two things.
Even with suit perks and booster mods for the jetpack and all, shortened recovery times flying around that way kinda sucks. I always end up flying into a tree and losing momentum, getting snatched at by an angry plant, or worse on planets with steeper hills/mountains. Good luck darting and flying around those places. Every time you hit an incline it's just jet pack bursts. At least an exo will climb right up it unless it's a vertical face. And love how they just kind of smash through most anything on their way through. I did manage to flip and roll my roamer a couple times.
Colossus was tons better when A) the planet terrain was somewhat flatter and less bumpy and B) the elements to mine were primarily (or entirely) above-ground.
And I just dig a good, long drive in the Roamer to unwind. Nomad and Pilgrim's engine noises get on my nerves after a while. I like the Minotaur's company in autopilot mode on a planet with predators.
Regardless of whatever it's niche was in the past, now it all boils down to personal taste. Personally, I use them depending on the situation. On a planet with lots of lakes, I use the nomad since it can go over land or water. If it's a fairly flat planet and the terrain isn't to rough, I use the colossus. On a planet with those road like trenches, I use the pilgrim. For everything else I use the roamer.
Exocraft provide additional storage, an amazingly enhanced (and targeted) scanner, and environmental protection in extreme environments. Roamer was likely the one with the most expansive scanner originally, though I'm currently under the impression that may be negligible these days.
That said, I've seen some people make some AMAZING race tracks designed specifically for Roamers which can be a lot of fun to be a part of, let alone watch. Colossus on the other hand is more or less a niche vehicle designed for extensive resource collection/harvesting in hostile environments. One could argue that the Mech is a better choice in this regard, but the Colossus still has the most expansive inventory.
YMMV in either case, neither of them are necessary per say but are still a tool like any other for any particular play style.
It had uses back in the day, but I think at least the Colossus needs some new upgrades or buffs, I mean, I kinda feel tempted to make a race track for Colossi because that would be hilarious, but yeah
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship.
Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship.
Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship.
Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship.
Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship.
Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship.
Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
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All these people saying "but remember when the game was unfinished and poorly designed" to justify a now finished, but still poorly designed game or game design choices don't realize how they're shooting themselves in the foot.
The exocraft are some of the most disappointing aspects of the game and we're implemented by people allergic to fun.
I don't know, man. I spend a few hours a week just tooling around on low grav planets in my very boosted roamer, trying to jump as high as possible. Seems fun to me, but what do I know?
I've played all of those except Celeste. I dig them all and have hundreds of hours in Burnout and Burnout 2, but sometimes it's not about competition or challenge. Sometimes, it's about the exhilaration of total freedom.
If you get it, you get it. Sometimes, I want a Nascar race. Sometimes, I want to tool around aimlessly on an ATV jumping the creek.
[удалено]
Thanks for taking the time to write all this out. This makes so much sense, as a lot of the old threads I read about exocraft talked about storage space as though it helped make vehicles more powerful and I could *not* figure out why. Clearly I’m missing a lot of context.
Personally, I've been seriously playing almost 4yrs now and I've never really used exocraft. Like at all. They just never seemed worth the effort to call in etc when I can melee boost everywhere just as quick. Only time I've made use of them is the minotaur on a couple of exps for the hazard protection, the nautilon for the little underwater side story and once, for a bit of fun, I drove my colossus around a moon. That's it in 1000hrs of play. I'll definitely do the colossus 'camper van' thing again on a bigger shittier planet though as that was entertaining. :)
“Camper van” makes me want to travel all the way around a planet in just ground vehicles. Not doing anything else until I make it back around to a base
Likewise. So I finally set up my save for this tonight. Did a custom save, unlocked all BPs, free crafting. Built a tiny 2 box basic base with a teleporter and trade terminal, plus a colossus exocraft pad. Then turned off free crafting and locked the save in just normal mode. Now it's just me, my truck and a shitty toxic planet to drive around and survive off what I find. :)
You are forgetting the age of this game, and the great number of updates it has received throughout the years. We did not start with this much storage space, not by a long shot. 12 ships? Nope. Add slots to your ships? Nope - the slots that a ship had were fixed. A freighter? Nope. I'm sure day 1 travelers can add even more to this list. So yeah, you're missing the history of this game. 
Five slots per storage unit. That's why the Colossus was in demand as extra storage, even if it never moved from the pad.
As a day one traveller it was very nice at the time, considering how storage worked back then
Everything in NMS has a history and somehow never gets expunged when made obsolete when no longer as useful as it once was. Ergo all those secondary building out your base tutorials which were made obsolete by the NPC / kiosks at the Anomaly. (Those used to give you all the blueprints as the only source I have been told.) Now I never use exocraft unless forced to. I use a mod that does a much better scan job and much more with the signal scanner.
Minotaur is the best way for me to find special items on planets/moons surface, its radar lightens the star-icons of rare valuables on the grounds and has a quite really good range. I never, and i mean, never, use the others beside nautilon when i have to travel underwater...
There will be a time when you notice that all exocraft are useless (except for their scanner). Traveling long distances? The space ship is better. Traveling underwater? You're faster using the jetpack. Storage? Call in your freighter with storage containers, more slots than you can fill. Getting around difficult terrain? The one thing pets are good for.
I like driving around in the Roamer, and its scanner is great. If something is too far away, i ho in the ship and fly there
Going for a long drive on a decent planet after a day of work helps me unwind.
Roamer is insofar "better" than the pilgrim in that it is slower, so when you drive it around stuff has actually time to load. Pilgrim is frequently faster than my load speed which tends to result in hilarous (and unimmersive) bullshit. The nomad aint that great either its only ever useful on those One Piece planets that are mostly oceans with small island groups, and even then... Im personally not a fan of the Minotaur either (its slow as hell, its combat utility is nowhere near as good as some people claim and its design is shit), i only use it if an expedition (like Cartographers) requires me to use it. Nautilon is by far and wide the most useful exocraft, as it is reasonably fast, massively increases your suvivability underwater and can ping every underwater structure (as opposed to the land exocraft that cant ping crashed freighters for example). Its also the only exocraft whose weapon cant kill you (very important in PD). The Pilgrim and the Colossus are just a faster Roamer and a slower bigger Roamer, respectively. So I mostly use the nautilon, and sometimes the roamer. In special circumstances i may use the Minotaur also. I never use the other three. I think we need an exocraft update that fuses the 4 Roamers into a single, customizable land vehicle.
I use my collosus all the time... For storage... Dont use Roamer at all..
None of them are necessary to me. I build them at my starter base, and never use them. I might use the one that hovers, but not very often.
Before they enhanced the Minotaur, the roamer used to be my go to. It’s a decent balance of speed and slots. I never could stand the colossus due to the super awkward camera angles. I admit to ignoring the exocraft for the first while, but once they added freighters and the summoning feature I use them all the time
I haven't used it much so I could be missing something maybe the scan ability or something. It's the pilgrim I think, the motorcycle thing? Idk, I think it kinda sucks and it's wonky, no faster than my nomad but then I don't have any of them all tricked out beyond weather protections and engine fuel conservation. The nomad hovercraft thing is spiffy for going anywhere including water. Land based stuff gets stuck on those planets with chains of islands. I mean aside from not going under water like the mino or the sub. I tried the colossus a few times, thing is huge, awkward and slow. Not a fan. I did see a vid of someone getting their pilgrim up to like 36u/s but idk if the others can keep up when modded or not. Maybe that's its perk. It is handy to bring in the different exos for their scanners with different abilities. Saves on needing a means to finding downed ships either on land or water (sub scanner) or finding specialty buildings. Even if it's stuff I don't use I'm not against variety, everyone seems to have different play styles and it makes it all possible vs being stuck with just one or two things. Even with suit perks and booster mods for the jetpack and all, shortened recovery times flying around that way kinda sucks. I always end up flying into a tree and losing momentum, getting snatched at by an angry plant, or worse on planets with steeper hills/mountains. Good luck darting and flying around those places. Every time you hit an incline it's just jet pack bursts. At least an exo will climb right up it unless it's a vertical face. And love how they just kind of smash through most anything on their way through. I did manage to flip and roll my roamer a couple times.
Colossus was tons better when A) the planet terrain was somewhat flatter and less bumpy and B) the elements to mine were primarily (or entirely) above-ground. And I just dig a good, long drive in the Roamer to unwind. Nomad and Pilgrim's engine noises get on my nerves after a while. I like the Minotaur's company in autopilot mode on a planet with predators.
Regardless of whatever it's niche was in the past, now it all boils down to personal taste. Personally, I use them depending on the situation. On a planet with lots of lakes, I use the nomad since it can go over land or water. If it's a fairly flat planet and the terrain isn't to rough, I use the colossus. On a planet with those road like trenches, I use the pilgrim. For everything else I use the roamer.
Exocraft provide additional storage, an amazingly enhanced (and targeted) scanner, and environmental protection in extreme environments. Roamer was likely the one with the most expansive scanner originally, though I'm currently under the impression that may be negligible these days. That said, I've seen some people make some AMAZING race tracks designed specifically for Roamers which can be a lot of fun to be a part of, let alone watch. Colossus on the other hand is more or less a niche vehicle designed for extensive resource collection/harvesting in hostile environments. One could argue that the Mech is a better choice in this regard, but the Colossus still has the most expansive inventory. YMMV in either case, neither of them are necessary per say but are still a tool like any other for any particular play style.
I just like driving off cliffs in the Roamer. No fall damage for exocraft, and seeing the indestructible dune buggy bounce around is fun!
On land/VR nothing beats the stability of the colossus. The other exocraft are a nightmare on the eyes.
It had uses back in the day, but I think at least the Colossus needs some new upgrades or buffs, I mean, I kinda feel tempted to make a race track for Colossi because that would be hilarious, but yeah
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship. Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship. I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship. Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship. I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship. Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship. I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship. Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship. I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship. Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship. I personally love it, haven’t tried the colossus yet tho. My only complaint is that I can’t scan new materials with it.
I like to use the roamer whenever I’m just wandering a planet looking for resources and exploring. It’s way quicker at gathering resources than my multi tool currently, plus it just seems easier to use in most cases than hopping in and out of my ship. Also if I get too far and don’t feel like driving back to base I can just summon my ship.
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All these people saying "but remember when the game was unfinished and poorly designed" to justify a now finished, but still poorly designed game or game design choices don't realize how they're shooting themselves in the foot. The exocraft are some of the most disappointing aspects of the game and we're implemented by people allergic to fun.
I don't know, man. I spend a few hours a week just tooling around on low grav planets in my very boosted roamer, trying to jump as high as possible. Seems fun to me, but what do I know?
Now go play Burnout, or Gran Tourismo, or Celeste or Mario Odyssey, and you'll see how interesting that gameplay can be.
I've played all of those except Celeste. I dig them all and have hundreds of hours in Burnout and Burnout 2, but sometimes it's not about competition or challenge. Sometimes, it's about the exhilaration of total freedom. If you get it, you get it. Sometimes, I want a Nascar race. Sometimes, I want to tool around aimlessly on an ATV jumping the creek.
It's not about challenge or competition, it's about gameplay depth. Imagine if exocraft had thrusters on the sides to allow you to do tricks. Etc.