Hints about S-Class freighters?

[FeroFerreTuliLatus]

I've played more than 600 hours now, and so far in all the thousands of systems I've visited, I have *never* seen an S-Class freighter. Lots of A's, and countless B's and C's, but never so much as a single S.

I am getting *really* tired of the amount of effort it takes to fly around, find freighters, go through the tedium of docking and getting out of my ship, all so I can scan the freighter and find that it's just another f***ing Gek C-Class.

Are there any visual cues that tell you that a particular freighter might be an S? Do they look different? If anyone could share some tips on recognizing an S that would save me so much landing/scanning/taking off, I'd be grateful.

I guess the obvious solution is something like having the freighter's class show when you use your ship's scanner, or as part of its tooltip/caption, but I suspect that may be too much to hope for, given how long it's been the way it is.

[TheRandomFish]

Question before I am able to assist in advising how to find S-Classes, do you know the standard way of hunting for an S-Class freighter?

[FeroFerreTuliLatus]

There's a standard way? (You can take that as meaning "no, I don't know about it").

[Orion Invictus]

Originally posted by FeroFerreTuliLatus:

There's a standard way? (You can take that as meaning "no, I don't know about it").

The "standard" way is saving/reloading dozens, potentially hundreds of times until you get lucky with a spawn. I don't think that's quite as standard as people on the forum think, but that's just me.

As far as I know, there's no way to tell if it's S-class or not. I've seen people say you can land on them before finishing the fight and talking to the captain, but I've never attempted it myself.

[TheRandomFish]

So what you want to do is wait until you have played long enough to encounter a freighter battle. Ensure that after every jump that isn't a freighter battle encounter, you dock at a space station or in you current freighter. Once you encounter one, land in the hanger and get out the analysis visor and look at the ground. On the left it should tell you the stats. Next to the inventory stats is the letter that shows the class. If it isn't an S or the kind of freighter you want, then reload the save from the space station. If your ship has an economy scanner this will make it a lot easier. Look for a system that is either pirate or 3 star economy. These have a high probability of it being an S-Class. Then jump to that system and land on the freighter being attacked. If it isn't an S or the design of freighter you're after, reload the save again and look for another one of those systems. If a system is out of range just use red stars to get close to it as red star systems are dead star systems and freighters won't show up there. Make sure you land on planets in red star systems and drop down a save so you can go back if you didn't get the freighter you wanted or it wasn't the right class Once you find a freighter you like in a star system with a good economy, land on it and use the analysis visor to check the class. if it isn't the right class, reload, jump back to the same star system and repeat until it becomes an S-Class. It can take a while but it is definitely worth it for all the storage space and stats.

[FeroFerreTuliLatus]

Ah, so that's what you meant. I was actually aware of that approach but it always seemed like a lot of hard work. What I've been doing is simply going to wealthy or opulent systems (usually via teleporter) and waiting until freighters start warping in (as they always do). There's usually three or four you can land on, and if none of them is what I want, then I go back to the station, teleport to another system, and try again. I've got a ton of units, and I don't mind buying the right freighter - it's not important to me to be given it after a battle.

The two methods sound similar, but I guess 600 hours of reality says pretty clearly that my way hasn't worked so far... Maybe I need to try the cheese method instead.

As an aside, I've been through many hundreds of freighter battles now, and although I see lots of A's, never an S. Can't help but think that they've got the "drop rate" set way too low.

Thanks for the help - I appreciate you taking the time.

[DennisM the Diligent]

I found S-class system (“regular”) freighters in multiple saves. These are not the same type as the “capital” freighters available as a result of a freighter battle. All these types are described on the “freighter types” wiki page: https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Freighter_Types.

After reviewing this page, I decided on which style I liked, then visited many star systems until I found the one with the combination of front-end, main hull, and aft section that I liked, and was in a wealthy, 3-star economy system.

In doing this first basic search, I noticed that after arriving at the base station, there would usually be one fleet of system freighters parked nearby, and then another freighter fleet arrives not long after going to visit that first fleet. Each fleet has at least two different freighter body types, but only one that you can board.

The procedure to getting the S-class system freighter is based on willingness to repeat different steps. First, when you arrive at the base station in a wealthy system that has the freighter type you like, get out of your starship so that you’ll have a recent save, then get back into your starship and start searching.

Go to the freighter fleet that is already parked near the station and board the freighter that you can board, which is usually the one slightly behind the others. Boarding a system freighter that is not yours does not generate a save point. If that one is not to your liking, exit that freighter and go the other freighter fleet that has probably arrived and check that one.

If neither of these are to your liking, exit the second freighter and then pulse away for about 10 seconds. Then proceed forward with your regular starship engines at full speed until you see another parked set of freighters. Check that freighter. Usually while you’re heading to that freighter another freighter fleet will arrive nearby. Also check that one. Repeat this “pulse for 10 seconds” procedure several times. Since you have a good save point, at anytime during this process you can quit and revert to your save and start again, which restarts the random number generator. If after 10 times of pulsing for 10 seconds and checking the two different freighter fleets, I didn’t get an S-class freighter that I wanted, I reverted to my save and started again. As I recall, for all my saves that have S-class freighters, I usually found one within the first set of 10 pulses or the second set.

[Stepe]

On my newest save game from a couple weeks ago when I had accumulated enough money from a pirate run to buy a freighter, I got a B-class right then, then traded for an A-class a couple systems later, then a couple systems later found an S-class. Just playing normally. Probably the 10th one I looked at, at most. Luck of the draw I guess. It doesn't have a hyperdrive though, which is kind of amusing.

[japp_02]

There are ordinary S-Class freighters with 19 slots that you can find all around without the special system battle, and very rarely you will be spawned a S-Class in the System Battle after warping 5 times, that's it, it's not even worth to spend time (standard method) because I think you can upgrade ALL freighters to S-Class, it's more desirable to find one with many slots to start with so you will save the upgrade time.
Then, you not only need a S-Class spawn, but also one with many slots to be interesting.

[Kackstift]

my first "free" was with 4.0 a S class.. :)

[pinewoodro]

I only find them when I'm not looking.....

[japp_02]

Everyone who's got lucky will post here of course, like a different person winning all in the lottery each week, that says nothing.

[Krash Megiddo]

Something has changed in this freighter farming process. I think this change started with expedition 8, and its this way across all my saves:
When I see a freighter I want to upgrade to, I dock at the space station, ignoring the pirates. Exit ship to make the autosave, and

1) head back out to the freighter. Dock with freighter, check its class and then
2) reload save if its not S class

The big difference now is that the pirates are missing. I can go right to step 1 for as many times as I want. I'll usually lose interest after 10 tries, but that's another story.

[Galadhlinn]

Originally posted by FeroFerreTuliLatus:

Ah, so that's what you meant. I was actually aware of that approach but it always seemed like a lot of hard work.

I can only speak from my own experience, I have gotten about 10-12 S-class freighters now. My technique has evolved a bit over time. Now I can get the freighter model I want, the captain race I want in an S-class version typically in 4-5 hours of work starting from the 5th warp/3 hours of play requirement needed to trigger a freighter battle.

Note: I do not know how 4.0 has affected (if at all) saving/reloading freighter battles.

Prerequisite is a ship with decent shields, one decent weapon upgraded and a hyperdrive that is over 2,000ly. (prior to 4.0 My ships were always 3,300ly+) The longer your hyperdrive, the bigger the area in the galaxy map you can search once you have met the freighter battle requirement.

Once I'm close to the freighter battle trigger mark, I will start saving in a space station before warping out of the system. Then once I warp into the freighter battle, I immediately reload save which takes be back to the space station in the previous system (where I saved). I now know that the next warp will be into a freighter battle. Now leave the space station and go into galaxy map and find the closest 3 star economy of the race of the captain I want (Korvax). I warp into that system and the freighter battle. If it is the freighter model I like (say the largest dreadnought), I then immediately fly to the space station, jump in and out to create a save and then go join the battle. If it is not the freighter type I want, I reload save as soon as I warp into the system and see the freighter which again takes me back to the space station in the previous system. I rinse and repeat working my way out in the galaxy map of 3 star economies of Korvax systems, checking each freighter battle for the freighter I'm after. I have never reached my maximum hyperdrive range without finding the ship I'm after, but this was prior to 4.0 when my hyperdrives were always 3,300ly+. Once you find the freighter you are after in a 3 star economy system in the race you want your captain to be, you are ready for the battle/reload save until the S-class appears grind begins. Again, it has never taken me beyond the 4-5 hours to accomplish this. I've acquired my S-class freighter in as little as four battles using this method, but typically it has taken me 3-4 hours with 5 hours being the exception.

Again, this is only my experience, but good results come from sticking to a process and being patient. Once I've found the freighter I want, I will even log off for the night (in the space station) and continue the next day.
Hope this helps. Happy hunting!

[frazzled]

Best odds are in 3 star systems.

S-classes are also most often larger versions of either the Dreadnought or Resurgents. Look for 6 or 7 rows of storage modules.

If you find one of those freighter designs, regardless of its class, that's a good system to try the defend/reload save processes in hopes of it reloading as an S.

But it can take a long time. I counted once and it took over 100 reloads. That was unusual, but 20 or more is common.

[DennisM the Diligent]

I forgot to mention about the race of the bridge crew, which Galadhlinn mentioned in his post above. I also decided that I wanted Korvax bridge crew, so this might make the initial search a bit longer. But his point is well worth repeating:

Originally posted by Galadhlinn:

good results come from sticking to a process and being patient.