Getting a Freighter — Rescues and S-Class Rerolling

There are two routes to a freighter: rescue one for free, or buy one with units. The catch is that you’ll be repeating the process until the hull and class you want show up — so knowing the rules saves a great deal of time.

Types and classes themselves are covered in freighter types and classes.

The free-freighter rules

• The first freighter you rescue is free.
• You don’t have to accept it on the spot. As long as you own no freighter at all, subsequent rescues stay free.
• So on that first rescue, take “Request payment instead” — the next one will still be free.
• The first two are always Normal freighters (19 slots max). Capitals start from the third.

The standard play: take the payout twice, then start looking for a Capital you actually want.

Three kinds of space battle

Rescues come out of space battles, and there are three types with different conditions.

1. Freighter in Distress — a distress icon appears and you can join if you feel like it. Up to eight pirates. Only occurs in inhabited systems, never in uncharted or abandoned ones.

2. Post-warp battle — starts the moment you arrive in a system. One freighter plus either five or eight pirates. This is where rescuable and purchasable freighters come from.

3. Pirate dreadnought — a variant of the post-warp battle that only appears once you already own a freighter. Covered below.

Cooldowns and dead zones

• There’s a 3-hour and 5-warp cooldown. Both must be satisfied.
• Post-warp battles never trigger in uncharted systems, or in systems containing a Black Hole or an Atlas Interface.
• Set space combat to “None” in difficulty settings and freighter battles stop entirely.
• Warping while aboard your freighter rather than your starship won’t trigger the event.

Rerolling class — fixed system, random class

This is the key mechanic.

• Each system has a fixed battle type. Warp back in (once the cooldown clears) and you get the same battle with the same freighter.
• But the class (C/B/A/S) is rerolled every time.
• Post-warp battles are scripted: reload a save and your next jump is guaranteed to produce one.

Put those together and the loop falls out:

1. Find a system that produces a freighter you like.
2. Save right before warping.
3. Warp → fight → check the class on the bridge.
4. Not the class you want? Reload and repeat.

Each cycle takes 3–5 minutes, and chasing S-class can mean hundreds of them — days, with bad luck. Slots reach the same ceiling either way via Cargo Bulkheads, so it’s worth asking whether you actually need S before committing to that.

One trick: if you’re planning to swap freighters, find the ship you want, then reload and dismantle your current freighter’s interior base first. An autosave fires immediately after purchase, so the order matters.

Buying one

1. Find a fleet with a freighter icon above one ship. (A freighter you rescued also becomes purchasable — and cheaper.)
2. Land in the docking bay marked by a purple beacon.
3. Take the two sets of winding stairs up to the bridge.
4. Talk to the captain to review slots and class, then buy.

Scanning with the Analysis Visor from inside the hangar shows the stats without climbing to the bridge — a huge time saver when checking several ships.

Note: warp out of the system and the chance to buy that freighter is gone.

Pirate dreadnoughts

These appear once you own a freighter. A pirate dreadnought attacks a civilian freighter, and if you do nothing the civilian ship dies in 150–180 seconds.

Spawn rate follows the system’s conflict level:

Conflict level	Low	Medium	High	Pirate
Rate	0%	0%	10%	20%

(That means 20% of pirate systems always produce a battle — not that you have a 20% chance each time you warp into one.)

How to take it down

The dreadnought is protected by ten shield generators in two rows. Its hull takes zero damage while the shield holds.

1. Fly into the trench and destroy all ten shield generators. Each is worth 10% of the total shield.
2. With the shield down, fuel rods emerge in the same positions. Each hit there does roughly 7% hull damage.
3. At around 70% hull damage it tries to flee, taking 33 seconds to charge its hyperdrive.
4. To stop it, destroy the four hyperdrive engines. If you’re inexperienced, killing the engines first to strand it and then working slowly is the safer order.

Keep the civilian freighter alive and disable the dreadnought and you win. If you’re in good standing with the system’s dominant race, nearby civilian ships will help.

Capture or destroy?

	Capture (surrender)	Destroy
You get	The dreadnought itself, free	Larger rewards + an S-class freighter module + a reactor
Requires	Boarding after surrender	Killing the hull before it surrenders

The module from destroying it carries effects like expedition efficiency and hyperdrive assistance, and it’s engraved with the name of the ship you destroyed. But once the pirates have fully surrendered and boarding is open, destroying it yields no module. If you want it, strand the ship by killing its hyperdrive, leave some fuel rods, and melt the hull first.

You cannot choose “Request payment instead” after a dreadnought battle.

Either way, pirate frigates that fail to escape become hireable — and they’re strong combat vessels.

FAQ

The save-reload grind sounds miserable. Cargo Bulkheads take any freighter to the same ceiling (120 cargo / 60 tech), so class only really buys hyperdrive range and the fleet coordination bonus. If you’re not running expeditions hard, S isn’t worth the hours.

Will swapping wipe the base I built inside? The layout migrates automatically. Installed technologies and upgrade modules do not. See the swap section of freighter types and classes.