I started my save as a rookie and just accepted the first freighter I was offered. It was a B class and had plenty of base built with parts I hadn’t even unlocked yet which was great for me ‘cause I was so early-game. Finally decided to get around to upgrading to a top of the line freighter, and after a couple weeks just casually checking out every freighter I happened to see the best I saw was a couple A’s.
Today I pretty much exclusively hunted for freighters for four hour (not contiguous hours, I can’t game for that long all at once!) without finding an S class. Finally, I caught an A I liked the look of, so I settled. Before I start spending bulkheads, is it worth it to keep casually looking for an S? Like, is there really any bonus beyond more supercharged slots? Searching gives me few results and most of it is 2-3 years old so may not even apply anymore.
I’d love to hear the groups advice, anecdotes, and other random freighter knowledge.
The possible class of the freighter is tied to the system’s economy. Same goes for the class of the ships you’ll find in the system.
https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Economy
If you want an S-Class freighter (or ship), you need to be in a T3 or Black Market economy.
I’d recommend reading this guide on finding Capital Freighters: https://www.reddit.com/r/NMSGlyphExchange/comments/zmpc8w/how_to_acquire_capital_freighters_from_member/
System Freighters are easier to find since they’re just flying around the system. They are also generally smaller than Capital Freighters when you get them, but they can be upgraded with Bulkheads just the same.
Just my take - if you’re planning on playing the same save file for 100s of hours like some people (myself included) the minor bonuses and ‘flex’ factor of an s class freighter can be worth it. For any normal ‘I’m going to play for a while and then move on’ save it’s absolutely not worth it and you shouldn’t worry.
Without save scumming, freighter events occur every 3 hours ish of active play. At a roughly 2% chance in T3 systems that’s 150 hours on AVERAGE. That assumes you’re also warping to a new eligible system every time that internal clock is running out. The only realistic way to get one is the reload method that others have mentioned. It’s up to you whether or not you go that route, I just wanted to emphasize that you really shouldn’t count on ever finding one naturally.
P.s. I think it goes up to 5% in pirate systems but the storage and tech slots are drastically reduced, so it’s kind of a wash time wise since bulkheads are time intensive to acquire.
Thanks for your reply, I think it really puts some things in perspective. If that 150 hour figure is accurate, and I don’t doubt that it is, it really changes the lens I’m looking through on what efforts one must go to to get an S class freighter, let alone one in your preferred make and model.
I know we collectively call it save scumming, but I’m not so sure it rises to that level. The first game I ever put any real time in was Nethack, where save scumming is reason enough for apostasy if not excommunication! I might not do it, but unlike with the folks doing it in Nethack, I won’t bring out my torch and pitchfork against anyone in this community.
I picked up an A class, and now when I’m hitting derelicts I’m fabricating bulkheads instead of tech. If I wasn’t on Switch, and multiplayer was a consideration, I think I could see my way to resetting for an S class. At this point my freighter is a platform for sending organic frigates out to get living ship upgrades. If a future update changes freighters in a big way, the way the recent update brought Nexus missions to Switch, I may regret not just putting in the effort to get an S class, but that for another time.
For now though, I’m happy with my A class but I still enjoy hearing what others went through to get the freighter of their dreams. Oh, and I think the increased frigate capacity may be a reason for me not to get an S class. Could be unrelated because stability on Switch has always been a bit off, but with three pages of frigates I think I’m seeing more crashes when I’m in the same system as my freighter.
