Current as of Fractal 4.1

I have listed four S-class derelict freighters with their names, best upgrades, and their locations (glyphs) with images of some of my bases below. I should mention that these S-class derelict freighters were originally discovered in the Euclid galaxy by other people before I started playing NMS.

The first two bases are in the Euclid galaxy and the other two are in a different galaxy, one of the “lush” galaxies. These bases are what I call “full-service” bases and you are welcome to use them. These bases have the phrase "Freighter Outpost - Welcome" in the name.

I define “full-service base” as one with a base teleport module, multiple landing pads, the 10 storage units, multiple refiners, a trade terminal, and other useful resources. I often include places for multiple players to sit (perhaps for photos), as I sometimes play in multiplayer mode and run derelict freighter missions with friends.

Note: Beginning with the “Fractal” (4.1) release, you can use refiners at someone else’s base only when the base owner is present, and only if they allow it in their settings.

Current as of Echoes 4.4

Frigates are available for purchase from system freighters in inhabited star systems. You use these for the frigate fleet missions on your freighter. There are six types of frigates: Combat, Exploration (science), Industrial, Trade, Support, and Pirate (in addition to Living frigates, not covered in this section). These fleet missions return resources and units, and are a great source of income in the game.

There are five frigate fleet missions available at a given time, and new missions become available every 24 hours, currently cycling at 0:00 GMT/UTC. Interact with the Navigator NPC on the bridge for the fleet missions. I have not noticed any correlation between the mix of mission types and mix of frigates in the fleet or the location of the freighter.

You need at least one “fleet room” on your freighter to run frigate fleet missions. I have at least six fleet rooms on most of my freighters (I have multiple saves).

Recruitable frigates are available in all inhabited star systems, though the mix of frigate types (and colors of frigates) vary from system to system. When you visit an inhabited star system, you will find system freighters that may be parked nearby, and you will also see system freighters warp-in near your location. There are usually, but not always, one or more recruitable frigates as part of a system freighter fleet. If you don’t see one that interests you, pulse away for 5-10 seconds and then look around and usually two more system freighters will be nearby (one parked and one that warps in).

Like other things in NMS, frigates are available in four classes (S, A, B, C), where the C-class is the most common and the S-class is rare. You can acquire S-class frigates either because you purchased them as S-class or because you bought lower class frigates and they have leveled up to S-class.

Frigates level up based on the number of completed missions. All frigates, including S-class, will continue to level up until they reach 55 completed missions. As they level up with completed missions, frigates achieve S-class when they achieve 5 positive traits, and this is often before they reach 55 completed missions. However, it is theoretically possible that a frigate might not achieve S-class. Frigates also increase in strength points for the various mission types until they complete 55 missions. Watch for changes in class type and increased points for classes of missions as frigates complete multiples of 5 missions. As they level up, they will get stronger not only for their specific mission type but also for the other mission types. Also, as they level up through the four classes (C, B, A, S), their designation type will change.

You can rename frigates. I have developed my own frigate naming system that helps me choose the best frigate for any particular mission. I have incorporated some of the characteristics of each frigate into their name.

A full fleet of frigates contains 30 frigates. Once you reach that level, you won’t see any more recruitable frigates around system freighters unless you dismiss at least one. You can unlock the title of “Commodore” when you first acquire 15 frigates and “Admiral” when you first acquire 30 frigates. You retain those titles even if you dismiss some of your frigates later. These titles are available in the appearance modifier, along with other titles that you can unlock for other achievements in the game.

The difficulty level of frigate missions is rated by the number of stars, with 3 stars the maximum difficulty level. To ensure that your frigates do not take damage during missions, choose your frigates for that mission so that the fleet has at least two more stars than the mission difficulty. As you build your fleet, you may want to craft consumable frigate upgrades that provide a temporary (one expedition) bonus (currently +10). These upgrades help increase the strength of the fleet for a mission in one of five aspects of the mission, and you can add up to three of these per mission. The maximum fleet strength total for a fleet mission is 150 (if your score exceeds 150, it counts as 150). As I have leveled up my frigates, I always send 5-star fleets that don't need the temporary upgrades, so damage is not a factor.

Current as of version 4.25

You need an emergency signal scanner to summon a derelict freighter. You can purchase these from scrap dealers in space stations. When you land on the derelict freighter and then exit your starship, you will see the name of the derelict freighter in your display. Up to four players can land on a derelict freighter.

As of version 4.25, Helios on the Anomaly is giving out emergency signal scanners again. Once a week you can get a free one from him.

There are two doors on the derelict freighter that you must pass before you get to interior of the derelict freighter where all the loot is. There is an initial door that opens like other doors in the game, and then the main door of the derelict freighter. Opening the main door requires some interaction with the computer station just outside the door and is near the crate containing some supplies and a short-range teleporter. The supplies include repair kits that are useful in other parts of the game.

Once inside, you will find all sorts of lockers, crates, and briefcases that you can open that give you various kinds of loot. Some of the loot will be in the form of various resources that will go into your exosuit storage and some of these will give you either units or nanites. Some of the items you receive you can sell to gain units, some refine into nanites, and some you might want to save to use later. If you are playing with other players, each player can get loot from each locker, crate, and briefcase. Make sure that you have plenty of empty slots in your exosuit storage before going on a derelict freighter mission. If your exosuit storage fills up, you can either go back out to your starship and transfer items to it, or transfer items to your freighter storage (assuming you have installed the “matter beam”).

There are hazards on most derelict freighters. Some are fairly easy and some are more difficult. It's a good idea to have at least one well-equipped multitool. Derelict freighters are a very cold environment so it's good to have some cold weather upgrades in your exosuit.

You will see various logs that you can read scattered throughout the derelict freighter. One of these logs will grant you the security credentials for the computer system of that derelict freighter. There are three computer stations inside the derelict freighter: the records terminal, the secure mainframe, and the engineering station. Accessing the records terminal will grant you the crew manifest. Accessing the secure mainframe (if you have the security credentials) will grant you the captain’s log. The engineering station contains the final reward from the derelict freighter, explained below. If you have the crew manifest or the captain's log, you can sell these at the space station. On one side of the space station, you can donate these to the guild envoy (with the green flags) in exchange for significant increase in standing with the local dominant race. On the other side of the space station, you can sell these items to the scrap dealer and you will receive tainted metal. Tainted metal is used for obtaining suspicious items with the scrap dealer or you can refine tainted metal into nanites.

You can only get one item from the computer station in the engineering section (the last section) of the derelict freighter, per person, per derelict freighter. You can choose either a freighter technology upgrade, or a cargo bulkhead, or some nanites. If you interact with the station in the engineering section of that same derelict freighter again, you will not get anything else. This is true whether you try it immediately or leave the derelict freighter and then return to that same derelict freighter.

The freighter technology upgrades can be one of seven different types: combat, exploration, mining (industrial), trade, fleet speed, fuel efficiency, or hyperdrive. The first six of these affect the performance of your frigate fleets, and the hyperdrive upgrade applies directly to your freighter. Each derelict freighter has a probability of producing any one of these types. Currently, the combat, exploration, industrial, trade, and fleet speed upgrades produce a fixed percentage bonus. The percentage is based on the class, with the S-class (highest) percentage at 15%. The fuel efficiency bonus and the hyperdrive light-year upgrades have a variable range. For S-class derelicts the fuel efficiency bonus range is 15% – 20%. The maximum hyperdrive upgrade bonus for S-class derelicts is 250 light-years.

If you put any of these freighter technology upgrades into one of your freighter’s supercharged slots, the bonus will be increased. Putting a fleet speed upgrade into a supercharged slot results in a higher increase than the combat, exploration, industrial, or trade upgrades in that same supercharged slot.

For the variable range freighter technology upgrades (fuel efficiency and hyperdrive), a derelict freighter with the same name and galactic address will always produce that same value of upgrade within its range for fuel efficiency and hyperdrive. For example, if that derelict freighter produces an 18% fuel efficiency bonus and 246 light-year hyperdrive upgrade, any derelict freighter with that same name and galactic address in any galaxy (where that address exists) will produce that same 18% fuel efficiency bonus and 246 light-year hyperdrive upgrade.

You can summon a derelict freighter in any star system. Although much attention is focused on S-class derelict freighters, there are times when you might not care about the class of freighter tech upgrade at the end. For example, the cargo bulkheads that increase your freighter storage are available as an option in every derelict freighter, regardless of its class. Also, I could be wrong about this, but my own experience suggests that some of the lower-class derelict freighters seem to have more lockers, crates, etc. than some of the S-class derelict freighters I have seen.

To summon a second derelict freighter, you need a fresh emergency signal scanner.

Multiplayer tip. There is an interesting quirk of the game that you might want to try if you plan to summon multiple derelict freighters. Each player in the group will need one emergency scanner. The person who summons the derelict freighter should not be the person who opens the main door.

Current as of Interceptor 4.23

In some situations, some, most, or all the freighter rooms that you have built might appear to be missing or not rendered properly. These situations include:

• Sometimes when warping to your freighter
  
• Sometimes when you restart the game after saving on board your freighter
  
• While building, including adding, changing, or removing freighter rooms

Freighter reset technique: Whenever you use one of the teleporters in the freighter landing bay to transport to the bridge, your freighter resets its layout to your last build state.

The goal, then, in the situations listed above is to get to your bridge, then use one of the bridge transporters to go to your landing bay, then turn around and return to the bridge using that landing bay teleporter.

For example, sometimes when I warp to my freighter, especially when I’m playing in multiplayer mode, only the teleporter room is present on the freighter and all the other rooms appear to be missing. When this happens, I walk over towards the bridge entrance, then usually fall down to the outside floor of the freighter. Then I use my jetpack to jump up and fly to the entrance of the bridge, and then use a bridge teleporter to move to the landing bay. I use the freighter reset technique described above, and all my rooms become visible again.

I keep a save point just inside the buildable area of my freighter near the entrance to the bridge. If I plan to save and quit the game on board my freighter, I usually stand just inside the bridge but close enough to the save point to activate it from the bridge. When I restart the game, I will be standing inside the bridge looking towards my freighter rooms. This causes the proper rendering of my freighter rooms. When I start a game this way, I usually wait a few seconds before moving around on my freighter, to allow all the roaming NPCs to properly render. If I save and quit the game from elsewhere on my freighter and when I restart the game the freighter rooms don't appear correctly, I use the freighter reset technique.

When I’m adding and deleting rooms on my freighter, I’ll often work in one area and then work in a different area of my freighter. Sometimes when I go back to the first area to review it, some of the newly added rooms appear to be missing. If this happens, I activate a save point and then use the freighter reset technique described above.

Current as of Echoes 4.45

With the Echoes 4.4 version, the “Pirate Raider” type of frigate was introduced. These frigates are recruitable when you defeat the new Pirate Dreadnoughts also introduced with Echoes 4.4.

When I recruited my first Pirate frigate, I noticed that it was strongest in combat characteristics, so I thought it would be good to compare them to the existing Combat frigates. In each of two of my saves, I recruited two Pirate Raider frigates as C-class frigates and leveled them up to S-class and completed 55 missions for each. In each of these two saves, I have an S-class freighter fully upgraded with three each of all the S-class technology modules. In both saves, I sent these Pirate frigates out on every mission type along with three other frigates as five-star fleets until they were fully upgraded.

The following combination of two screen shots (one from each save) shows four frigates from the frigate fleet: two Combat and two Pirate. You can see that the strength points are similar for these Combat and Pirate frigates.

Save 1:
Save 2:

DE https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934361471

FR https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934389622

ES https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934394009

PT https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934397718

PT-BR https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934417283

PL https://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2936184331