Game directions say "Purchase Emergency Signal Scanner" from the scrap dealer to find a Derelict Freighter.

[2ugly]

But they never have the item for sale. They do have some random thing I can buy for 5,000,000, but that sounds risky to just hand over that much with no description of what the coordinates are for, could be worthless roid for all I know. I'm taking it this is what the game is referring to.. but the Devs failed to change the name at the Scrap dealer. They tried so hard holding everyone's hand throughout the entire game with constant reminders, and info on screen, along with the automated flying gimmicks, and they create confusion with bad directions.

I'm also taking it that purchasing one of these unidentified coordinates will allow the RNG for the Derelict Freighters to kick in when cruising around. So far after about a dozen dead Freighters with nothing there, I gave up that tactic to find one to land on. Thought I'd eventually find a Derelict Freighter, but after over 50 RNG anomaly encounters during cruise I've never seen one. So I'm guessing giving your money away for a non-indentified set of coordinates will put the correct Derelicts in the RNG loop.

[wkitty42]

that 5mil unit one is the one they're talking about...

there are 3 types of "Derelict Freighter" in NMS...

1. the ones you find crashed on planets where you loot the Storage Units...
   
2. two variants of the ones you come across just flying through space... they may have one or two cargo pods floating beside them... you cannot land on these...
   
3. the one these instructions are pointing you to is like a dungeon... you enable the scanner and then go into Pulse mode until the scanner finds something... drop out of Pulse and you can land on it... then you go in and search for things while looting... be sure you have plenty of cold protection and open inventory slots ;)

[2ugly]

Thanks... Does purchasing this $5,000,000 coordinates put those derelicts into the RNG encounters? Or is purchasing the coordinates the only way to find them? And do you get $5,000,000 worth of loot back? You say 2 different versions of the derelicts when flying around, I'm assuming you mean that they do show up on occasion without having to purchase the coordinates.

[SapienChavez]

If money is you concern and you dont mind a little cheating...

once you use the item, put it in your personal refiner and you can reuse it. shhh

[Guyver8]

the good one... i.e. #3. the one you can land on can only be found with the emergency broadcast scanner
the loot found on them can vary a great deal from base-building parts, ship upgrades, trade goods, exotic goods, ammo, crafting components and amongst other things salvage frigate modules... note. the same freighter always appears in the same system, there is much more to this encounter, which you can just experience for yourself or you can check the NMS wiki

EDIT: forgot, YES the loot can exceed 5million units, depends on the freighter... make sure to have lots of empty cargo slots in your exosuit

[Breitmacher]

once a week u can get the 5 mil thing for free at the space anomalie npc called helios

[cattivision]

After you have bought one Helios will then give you a free one each week too - not sure if you need to have used one to explore a derelict before that starts to happen or if just buying ones triggers it.

[norfsled]

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Thanks... Does purchasing this $5,000,000 coordinates put those derelicts into the RNG encounters? Or is purchasing the coordinates the only way to find them? And do you get $5,000,000 worth of loot back? You say 2 different versions of the derelicts when flying around, I'm assuming you mean that they do show up on occasion without having to purchase the coordinates.

The thing for 5M will let you find 1 derelict freighterr. These are nothing like the ones you find randomly when flying around space. You can land on them and walk inside. The freighter interiors are procedurally generated for each star system, you might get a terrible layout with very little loot or a great one. Make a manual save before you use it and if you are not happy with the loot, reload and go to another system instead. You can revisit the same freighter for as many times as you want if you are in the same star system

[Shadow Strider]

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Thanks... Does purchasing this $5,000,000 coordinates put those derelicts into the RNG encounters? Or is purchasing the coordinates the only way to find them? And do you get $5,000,000 worth of loot back? You say 2 different versions of the derelicts when flying around, I'm assuming you mean that they do show up on occasion without having to purchase the coordinates.

The item you get for 5mil is called an "Emergency Signal Scanner". They are single use items.
The derelict freighter they lead you to will have a bunch of random loot. I've never really bothered to calculate the resale value of the loot, because that's not really the point...
I wont spoil exactly what you'll find, but you can find some rare items (although a recent update has provided an easier way to get some of them) and potentially some blueprints for freighter related decorative base parts...

As wkitty42 said, the random derelict freighters you come across without the signal scanner are not the same thing at all... you cant land on those ones.
The only way to find one of the explorable ones is to use a signal scanner

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Thanks... Does purchasing this $5,000,000 coordinates put those derelicts into the RNG encounters? Or is purchasing the coordinates the only way to find them? And do you get $5,000,000 worth of loot back? You say 2 different versions of the derelicts when flying around, I'm assuming you mean that they do show up on occasion without having to purchase the coordinates.

in order of being asked:
1. no... you get one Derelict Freighter with one Emergency Signal Scanner...

2. purchasing the scanner is the only way to find these Derelict Freighters... they are not visible at all until you find them while pulsing with the ESS active...

3. you may or may not get 5mil units of loot... it depends... some stuff is Nanites, other is materials, some is base decorations, some is (highly sought after) Freighter parts... it depends...

4. by "two different versions" of the ones you see when flying, i mean one version has only one cargo pod you can shoot and the other has two cargo pods you can shoot...

[Erich]

When inside the freighter, for a first time , act like you're on a first date.
Be careful, attentive and polite.
Good luck.

[2ugly]

Originally posted by Shadow Strider:

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Thanks... Does purchasing this $5,000,000 coordinates put those derelicts into the RNG encounters? Or is purchasing the coordinates the only way to find them? And do you get $5,000,000 worth of loot back? You say 2 different versions of the derelicts when flying around, I'm assuming you mean that they do show up on occasion without having to purchase the coordinates.

The item you get for 5mil is called an "Emergency Signal Scanner". They are single use items.
The derelict freighter they lead you to will have a bunch of random loot. I've never really bothered to calculate the resale value of the loot, because that's not really the point...
I wont spoil exactly what you'll find, but you can find some rare items (although a recent update has provided an easier way to get some of them) and potentially some blueprints for freighter related decorative base parts...

As wkitty42 said, the random derelict freighters you come across without the signal scanner are not the same thing at all... you cant land on those ones.
The only way to find one of the explorable ones is to use a signal scanner

Is called? Only place it's called that so far is in the Guide. Not at the Scrap Dealer. There it's called something else.

Bought it for 5mil. Literally all I had to do was use drive to locate it after a few seconds. Didn't even have to touch the controls the ship was pointing at the landing pad and all that was necessary was pressing the button to land. Looked at the total loot I got and it wound up to about 3mil. Not impressive. Could barely move inside, but once outside the door... back to normal. Couldn't even jump. Strange mechanics. Was almost like playing a different game.

[Shadow Strider]

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Is called? Only place it's called that so far is in the Guide. Not at the Scrap Dealer. There it's called something else.

Bought it for 5mil. Literally all I had to do was use drive to locate it after a few seconds. Didn't even have to touch the controls the ship was pointing at the landing pad and all that was necessary was pressing the button to land. Looked at the total loot I got and it wound up to about 3mil. Not impressive. Could barely move inside, but once outside the door... back to normal. Couldn't even jump. Strange mechanics. Was almost like playing a different game.

https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Emergency_Signal_Scanner

[wkitty42]

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Is called? Only place it's called that so far is in the Guide. Not at the Scrap Dealer. There it's called something else.

you are correct... the Scrap Dealer has it listed on their initial menu as "Acquire Coordinates (5,000,000,000)" but it is the Emergency Signal Scanner... not sure if this was missed when the name changed some updates back, though...

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Bought it for 5mil. Literally all I had to do was use drive to locate it after a few seconds. Didn't even have to touch the controls the ship was pointing at the landing pad and all that was necessary was pressing the button to land. Looked at the total loot I got and it wound up to about 3mil. Not impressive. Could barely move inside, but once outside the door... back to normal. Couldn't even jump. Strange mechanics. Was almost like playing a different game.

this is why we say it is like a dungeon... are you sure you got everything? all the lockers, chests, and cases on the shelves? did you check all of the rooms and different levels (via ladders)? you also get stuff for turning in certain items... what you get is different depending on who you turn them in to...

there is also another ""currency"" you get, too... i've not tried to assign any normal money units to Nanites or this other "currency" plus some stuff can be sold or converted to Nanites... i wouldn't even know where to begin to assign a value to Freighter parts like the various tech modules and Freighter expansion modules...

some Derelict Freighters are definitely better than others but now that you have the first one done, you can get a free ESS from Helios, each week, in the Anomaly...

[2ugly]

Didn't see ladders. Saw the teleporters, but those were kind of a gimmick because they'd teleport you to the previous room that was around the corner. Not much help. This was the first one I've been to as the introduction, so I Imagine they'll get better, and I'll catch things I may have missed.

Originally posted by Shadow Strider:

Originally posted by 2ugly:

Is called? Only place it's called that so far is in the Guide. Not at the Scrap Dealer. There it's called something else.

Bought it for 5mil. Literally all I had to do was use drive to locate it after a few seconds. Didn't even have to touch the controls the ship was pointing at the landing pad and all that was necessary was pressing the button to land. Looked at the total loot I got and it wound up to about 3mil. Not impressive. Could barely move inside, but once outside the door... back to normal. Couldn't even jump. Strange mechanics. Was almost like playing a different game.

https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Emergency_Signal_Scanner

You found a place not in game... Now found a Scrap dealer that sells that. You can't. It's called something different. I saw that to. Just don't know why the devs don't correct the confusion.

Thanks all for the info. Great game though aggravating at times.

[2ugly]

Originally posted by SapienChavez:

If money is you concern and you dont mind a little cheating...

once you use the item, put it in your personal refiner and you can reuse it. shhh

Not necessarily the money, but the idea I'm buying something that has no description other than coordinates. Coordinates For what? Could be roids for all I know. Now I know the devs made a mistake in the dialogue. Found talk of it on Redit about the same thing. I'm not the only one who didn't want to buy it without knowing what it was.

I've unknowingly dupped a few items now.... and still don't know how I did it, but every time it happened I was taking stuff in and out of the refiner. Or moving an item in the build editor and the old piece remains where it was, making 2 items.