How to acquire an S-Class Freighter in No Man's Sky?

Every No Man's Sky enthusiast should make it a priority to obtain an S-Class Freighter in the space exploration game. Freighters are massive ships that act as mobile resource dispensers, meeting areas, and homes for players across the No Man's Sky universe. S-Class versions are the highest-rated and rarest of them all.

Although it can be done for free, players will have to put in a lot of work to obtain a S-Class Freighter. They will just require an Economy Scanner and a lot of space travel to get one.

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How to get an S-Class Freighter in No Man's Sky

Finding Freighters in No Man's Sky is easy, but getting an S-Class one is a challenge (Image via Hello Games)

There are a couple of ways that players can obtain an S-Class Freighter in No Man's Sky. They aren't exactly guaranteed, but provide the best chance of getting one of the mighty ships.

Players can try to find their first Freighter in all of No Man's Sky with the hopes of it being an S-Class variant. They can also head to one of the wealthier systems in the universe that is bound to have a luxurious Freighter for the taking.

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Finding the first Freighter

For players who are just starting out, there is a surefire method of obtaining a Freighter. However, there is a very low chance of it being an S-Class.

• Five Warp Cells will be needed, which can each be crafted with a unit of Antimatter and Antimatter Housing.
• The former requires 25 Chromatic Metal and 20 Condensed Carbon. The latter requires 30 Oxygen units and 50 Ferrite Dust units.
• Once the Warp Cells have been crafted, players need to add them to their personal ship's Hyperdrive.
• Then comes opening the Galaxy map to travel to neighboring systems.
• Warp into a nearby system five times in a row. On the fifth warp, a scripted event will take place.
• Players will enter a space battle between a group of pirates and some Freighters.
• Clear out the hostile pirates, and the main Freighter's captain will extend a boarding invitation.
• Land on the Freighter, speak to the captain, and receive an offer to takeover the Freighter.
• Select the Inspect Freighter option to see what class designation it has.
• If it isn't an S-class, choose the Leave option after inspecting the Freighter.

Declining the offer will allow No Man's Sky players to try their hand at a higher tier Freighter through another method.

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Traveling to a wealthy system

Players will essentially repeat the process of finding their first Freighter in order to get an S-Class one. This is because the pirate encounter takes place every three hours of playtime after a fifth warp jump is made.

Those who want to try and reach a wealthy system with this method will need to observe their playtime and ensure they jump on it when three hours have passed.

Only a few other steps are needed to make the journey accessible:

• Progress through the No Man's Sky story until The Anomaly is unlocked.
• Board it and visit Iteration: Hyperion, a shop that sells ship upgrades for Nanites.
• Purchase the Teleporter Receiver and the Economy Scanner for 150 Nanites each.
• Players are able to view the economic state of populated star systems before heading there with the Economy Scanner.
• Install the Economy Scanner onto an empty slot on the personal ship, then purchase or craft five Microprocessors and a Wiring Loom to complete the installation.
• Now comes the repeating of the previous steps.
• Craft the Warp Cells and on the fifth warp jump, select the Expand option on a neighboring star system to see its economy.
• Jump to any system labeled Advanced, Flourishing, Prosperous, Affluent, High Supply, Wealthy, Booming, or Opulent.
• The pirate and Freighter will take place again and players can save the day to receive the boarding invite.
• A wealthy system has a chance of the main Freighter being an S-Class such as a Sentinels or Venator type.

At this point, all it takes is to inspect the Freighter to see if it is an S-Class and accept the offer. No Man's Sky players can always exit the conversation and try again if it isn't the type of Freighter they want.