How to get better frigate missions?

[MeltedLemonade]

Everything I have is 3 stars at most. How do I get to where I'm able to access 4-5 star expeditions?

[Mr. Bufferlow]

There is nothing above three stars. Basically, the odds are set up so you can't lose once you have some decent ships. It appears the S class vessels can never be harmed no matter what. (Normandy and Organic Frigate are prime examples of why this is true- you can't land on them)

As with a lot of the sideshow stuff- settlements being the prime example- the game logic is set up so it is difficult for you to lose- if not impossible.

[Ender's games]

Originally posted by Despistao:

There are 4 star and 5 star missions, this was already discussed quite a while ago, mostly 1,600,000 from the center

I do not doubt you, but I've played 700 hours more or less and I have yet to find one mission above 3-stars.

[DennisM the Diligent]

I have a section in my guide about frigates and frigate missions.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2897201809

[Wizard of Woz]

Originally posted by Despistao:

There are 4 star and 5 star missions, this was already discussed quite a while ago, mostly 1,600,000 from the center

Screenshot or it didn't happen.

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by Ender's games:

Originally posted by Despistao:

There are 4 star and 5 star missions, this was already discussed quite a while ago, mostly 1,600,000 from the center

I do not doubt you, but I've played 700 hours more or less and I have yet to find one mission above 3-stars.

exactly... 2500+ hours in-game here and i've never seen missions with more than 3 stars...

the missions are ranked from 1 to 3 stars in difficulty and the Frigate Fleet you send on a mission is ranked from 1 to 5 stars in strength... this is so you can more easily tell what your fleet's rank is against the overall mission...

• if you send a 1 star fleet on a 1 star mission, you might get some damaged Frigates...
  
• if you send a 1 star fleet on a 2 star mission, you are more likely get some damaged Frigates...
  
• if you send a 1 star fleet on a 3 star mission, you are almost guaranteed to get some damaged Frigates...
  
  
• if you send a 2 or 3 star fleet on a 1 star mission, your fleet will "win" most all encounters...
  
  
• if you send a 3 star fleet on a 3 star mission, you might get some damaged Frigates...
  
• if you send a 5 star fleet on a 1, 2, or 3 star mission, your fleet should "win" all encounters...

so, if your fleet's star rank is equal to or less than the mission rank, you may have some damaged Frigates when they return...
it is best to always send a fleet with at least one star more than the mission rank...

[time passes]
i did also take a look at the fandom NMS wiki (https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Frigate#Expeditions) and it does appear to have wrong/incomplete information... specifically this line...

Frigate expeditions are rated in difficulty between 1 and 5 stars.

and there's no line speaking about the Frigate Fleet rank stars... IM(h)O, the above line should read

Frigate Fleets are rated in strength between 1 and 5 stars.

and there should also be a line that reads

Frigate expeditions are rated in difficulty between 1 and 3 stars.

it does already say that it is best to send a "frigate team[sic]" (aka Frigate Fleet) that is at least one star higher than the difficulty of the mission...

if there's the possibility of 5 star missions, then there's no way to have a fleet with at least one more star than the mission rank...

personally, even during the time i spent exploring the furthest outside systems of a Galaxy, i have never seen any Frigate missions with more than 3 stars... i spent a lot of time in the right side of the Galaxy Map in Euclid with much of that time split between the upper right corner and the bottom right corner... i know i was more than 1600000ly from the center and yeah...

what's that saying? "(recent) pics or it didn't happen"

[aandaie]

The highest difficulty Frigate mission is 3 stars.

The person saying there are 4 and 5-star ones is incorrect.

I have sent out frigate missions every day for years, they are never more than a 3-star difficulty.

[AmberAnvil]

Early in the game, your frigates are usually inexperienced. If, for example, you select a 3 star Exploration mission, you begin assembling your fleet with scientific frigates. You can easily add enough to handle the exploration requirement of the mission. However, it's possible to inflate the overall star rating of the mission to 4 or 5 stars because of your significant deficiencies in other areas, such as combat or trade. The frigate expeditions never start at more than 3 stars, but can be inflated with deficient fleet composition.

Edit: I believe this is what leads to player confusion about 4 and 5 star missions. 4 and 5 star missions indicate that your fleet is overmatched.

[Spocks Toupee]

He's probably confusing the star rating when you pick the frigates to send
BEcause you can get 4-5 star ratings from the frigates you pick to send on the 3 star missions.

[Spocks Toupee]

Originally posted by Despistao:

Originally posted by aandaie:

The highest difficulty Frigate mission is 3 stars.

The person saying there are 4 and 5-star ones is incorrect.

I have sent out frigate missions every day for years, they are never more than a 3-star difficulty.

si quieres screen de las estadisticas de mis fragatas las subo
que no sepas donde no quiere decir que no exitan
veo ,mucho inesperado y poco experto
abur este tema me aburre

Luego publica una captura de pantalla.

[Lindy Bomber]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

There is nothing above three stars. Basically, the odds are set up so you can't lose once you have some decent ships. It appears the S class vessels can never be harmed no matter what. (Normandy and Organic Frigate are prime examples of why this is true- you can't land on them)

As with a lot of the sideshow stuff- settlements being the prime example- the game logic is set up so it is difficult for you to lose- if not impossible.

Any frigate that has the "damage reduction" buff will never take damage no matter how many encounters you fail. The Normandy and the Leviathan have this buff as well. Other living frigates do not and will need food if they are damaged.

Any frigate that doesn't have that buff can be damaged and destroyed if you use it below mission level. An S class frigate with a lot of freighter upgrades can solo a mission.

If you understand the frigate mechanics and play correctly your frigates will never take damage.

[Wizard of Woz]

Give us time stamp in your video. No one wants to watch a 24 min video for something that should take about 30 seconds.

[Spocks Toupee]

I didn't see one 5 star mission anywhere, what I saw was 24 minutes of your loading screen, you running through your entire frigate fleet one-by-one, TWICE, and for a few second, a mission screen showing Three Stars, One star and Two stars.

[wahl35]

Originally posted by Despistao:

minuto 9:45 estadisticas de las fragatas antes de la expedicion (lo primero que se ve es lo que tarda en cargar el juego, llegar a mi carguero y ver los informes).
21:02 las estadisticas de las fragatas despues de la mision
aun me quedan fragatas que tienen que ganar experiencia

The stars for missions are not the same as stars for your frigates. None of your missions are above 3 stars

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by wahl35:

Originally posted by Despistao:

minuto 9:45 estadisticas de las fragatas antes de la expedicion (lo primero que se ve es lo que tarda en cargar el juego, llegar a mi carguero y ver los informes).
21:02 las estadisticas de las fragatas despues de la mision
aun me quedan fragatas que tienen que ganar experiencia

The stars for missions are not the same as stars for your frigates. None of your missions are above 3 stars

exactly... this is why i specifically used the terms "Fleet Strength Rank" and "Mission Difficulty Rank"... hopefully this further discussion will help the OP and others who are confused...

[Mr. Bufferlow]

I would be really interested to see a screen shot showing a mission above five stars. Never seen one in 4000+ hours and been close and very far from the center plenty of times so seems unlikely that is the secret sauce to get one.

Maybe a mod?