Nomad is a space exploration, trading, and combat game. Its basic gameplay mechanics revolve around trading with various alien races (based on bartering rather than currency), as well as defending the ship against hostile crafts in action-oriented space combat. Compared to other space simulations, the game is more story-driven, featuring scripted conversations with characters and information-gathering. The game world includes several hundreds of planets and eleven alien races. The player-controlled ship can be customized with weapons (such as missiles), loaders, shield generators, engines, scanners, and jamming devices.