Free Freighter Access Now Changed?

[Aoi Arashi]

OK. I skipped the first free freighter. Got to the second fight. Tried 3 times. Each time I get two situations. A settlement mission at the end, and a free freighter option. BUT the free freighter option is the SAME as the first one. Just and ordinary 17 slot freighter, not the big one that you used to get offered. Is this just me or did Omega change things?

[Foxglovez]

You have noticed this too. I waited once again after 2nd one was just a regional. The first time was offered one of the big boys was fight #3. HG is always making little changes for us to discover. It was the biggest dreadnaught, ugly frog green with rectangular crates and the usual post smack dab in front of the exit hatch. Gotta love those guys. But it was an A so it's my new toy.

[Felis_Exploria]

I believe that the first chance of a larger freighter has been the third fight for a while now. I don't recall ever being offered a capital ship on the 1st or 2nd rescue mission.

[Spocks Toupee]

Originally posted by Aoi Arashi:

OK. I skipped the first free freighter. Got to the second fight. Tried 3 times. Each time I get two situations. A settlement mission at the end, and a free freighter option. BUT the free freighter option is the SAME as the first one. Just and ordinary 17 slot freighter, not the big one that you used to get offered. Is this just me or did Omega change things?

If you're staying in the same system, then the freighter will always be the same.

[GenSec39]

This 'free freighter' obsession is a vivd example why I condemn these so called 'useful' guides for NMS. They are very misleading for the newcomers. They read these bait tips and then just waste time doing absolutely useless stuff. If they spent this time just playing the game and having fun, they'd easily discover that all this ' free freighter thing' literally has no value. At all.

[caseyas435943]

Originally posted by Aoi Arashi:

OK. I skipped the first free freighter. Got to the second fight. Tried 3 times. Each time I get two situations. A settlement mission at the end, and a free freighter option. BUT the free freighter option is the SAME as the first one. Just and ordinary 17 slot freighter, not the big one that you used to get offered. Is this just me or did Omega change things?

Not for me. The 3rd was an A Class. Why wait for an S. The A starts with tons of slots. The difference between a C and a S is starting slots really. Damage doesn't matter. 120 slots or 100 it really doesn't matter.

It's just starting slots. I took the A this time. And see zero difference in a S and an A. Other than slots I'll never fill up.

[caseyas435943]

Originally posted by GenSec39:

This 'free freighter' obsession is a vivd example why I condemn these so called 'useful' guides for NMS. They are very misleading for the newcomers. They read these bait tips and then just waste time doing absolutely useless stuff. If they spent this time just playing the game and having fun, they'd easily discover that all this ' free freighter thing' literally has no value. At all.

Other than cost in units. But they are nice for the free stuff missions get you. But then it's just overkill stuff you sell for more units you can't spend anyway.

[caseyas435943]

Originally posted by Felis_Exploria:

I believe that the first chance of a larger freighter has been the third fight for a while now. I don't recall ever being offered a capital ship on the 1st or 2nd rescue mission.

Yet the inside is the same amount of space you can use to build stuff. Sure, hold out for the look you want, I guess. But it's not like you are going to sit there staring at your freighter all say. At least your Ship you look at more being you fly it around.

You hardly ever see the outside of your freighter. The insides are the same.

[Felis_Exploria]

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

Originally posted by Felis_Exploria:

I believe that the first chance of a larger freighter has been the third fight for a while now. I don't recall ever being offered a capital ship on the 1st or 2nd rescue mission.

Yet the inside is the same amount of space you can use to build stuff. Sure, hold out for the look you want, I guess. But it's not like you are going to sit there staring at your freighter all say. At least your Ship you look at more being you fly it around.

You hardly ever see the outside of your freighter. The insides are the same.

I agree with you. I grab the first A-class I find. I get enough cargo slots to expand if I need to.

[maestro]

For the beginner, I always advise they take the very first freighter they are offered, assuming they don't find it ugly.

I advise against the ones with the tall antenna right in front of the hangar doors (the tall skinny ones) because those oftentimes interfere when launching out of a freighter, but otherwise, take the first one.

Freighters give access to Frigate Missions which are very lucrative, they give you a hangar to park all of your ships, the orbital exocraft summoning station (which is insanely useful), and eventually, the matter beam which words cannot express how much of a necessity QoL that one single item is, and it gives you a mobile base, where you can grow plants, and do anything else you'd do on a planetary base, all without needing to worry about power generators and batteries.

They are simply too important to pass up because you're trying to save-scum an S-Class Freighter.

S-Class Freighters only offer two things:

1). More Storage Space, which is moot because A). you can build 500 storage slots of storage rooms, and B). You can find plenty of bulkheads while trying to get the Salvaged Frigate Modules to buy the other blueprints.

2). Better bonuses to Frigate Missions. Not useless, but yet so very unnecessary. Once you blow up a few pirate dreadnoughts, you'll have some upgrades to frigate missions, enough that you can easily 5-star any frigate mission (the highest I ever seen was a 3-star, so you only need 4-star) they will offer you. I have a C-Class Freighter, and I can easily 5-star anything I want, usually only using 3 frigates, sometimes 4.

3). Aesthetics. S-Class Freighters are larger in size than their C-Class counterparts of the same design.

[Jaggid Edje]

@Maestro, you missed one other benefit. Higher jump range bonus.

Just like explorers, freighters have a jump-range bonus stat, and for freighters it's quite a large bonus, with the S-class having +20% higher potential than an A-class. Given how massive the freighter jump range is in the first place, 20% more is a helluva lot.

Doesn't matter for people who don't jump in their freighter and/or don't care about hyperdrive range. But for those of us who do, S-class is the worth going for.

[AmberAnvil]

Thank's for that plug, @Jaggid. : )

Originally posted by maestro:

3). Aesthetics. S-Class Freighters are larger in size than their C-Class counterparts of the same design.

There are C-Class Dreadnoughts and S-Class Dreadnoughts. No difference in size. Same with the Venator Resurgents. Storage diff, yes, outward appearance, no. Just RNG.

[Foxglovez]

In over 4500 hrs of play only once have I gotten an S class dreadnaught option and was totally amazed. Personally I try to have the patience to wait for an A class Venator and hope somewhere down the road for an S. This current A class will be swapped out, maybe for one of the new bandito ones though I find them a bit overdone. Look like a giant pincushion.
I admit to not being much interested in jumping using my freighter (doesn't stop me from going for 5700+ range though) and I never use the discovery option for systems because I think it's bogus. If I don't actually land on a planet then it isn't discovered. Anything else doesn't fit my personal playstyle. I do like that freighter upgrade minigame so the rest is all good, especially now that we can store upgrade modules which is a real blessing compared to the not so good old days. Makes taking an A an even better option.

Regarding new folks using vids and Utubers for information, I give them kudos for doing something resembling research. This is a big game with so many ways to play. If they continue on with the game past the typical 30 hours and gone like smoke then they will figure it out for themselves. Everyone gets to be a noob and how they play the game is their business. It doesn't matter if we think it's not optimum. There are no leaderboards. It's a sandbox. Get over yourself if you get a case of the "My way, best way, everyone is is a dummy." Silly thinking.

[AmberAnvil]

Fwiw, I took the first freighter offered so I could collect a couple of starships and start building frigate fleets right away. By the time I was ready to warp to the center of Euclid, I'd found an A-Class Dreadnought, which I used for the next 5 galaxies. Finally stumbled on a decent S-Class Resurgent in Budullangr and now, more than a year later, I've warped all the way to Yekathsebehn with it. I might make it all the way back to Euclid this year, but no hurry!

[Jaggid Edje]

That's how I usually do it as well. I take whatever the game throws at me for the first freighter I rescue, and then I just keep checking the class of future freighters that I rescue or see until I find an S-Class one. It helps that I actually prefer system freighters over capital freighters, so buying an S-class is on the table.

I've never had a playthrough where I didn't, eventually, upgrade to an S-class freighter. They are no less common than S-class starships, in terms of %'s.