There are two broad classes of freighter in No Man's Sky: the system freighter, and the capital freighter.
System freighters come with 15-19 general inventory slots and 8-12 tech slots. Each system has three freighter models. Freighters warp into the system in fleets as the player travels through space, and one freighter in each fleet is claimable. There are ten broad styles of system freighters, classified by their bow: blade, cargo over and underbite, centrifuge, enterprise, galleon, hammerhead, iris, oculus, revolver
Capital freighters come with 24-34 general inventory slots, and 12-20 tech slots. Each system has one capital freighter model. There are two styles of capital freighter: the sentinel, and the venator. Unlike system freighters, capital freighters do not warp into systems and only appear as part of freighter battles.
In both cases, the freighter class is always random. The higher the system economy, the greater the chance that a given freighter will spawn at a higher class.
Finding a System Freighter
To find a system freighter, simply use the portal to travel to the system, and then fly into space. Freighters should warp in within 10 to 30 seconds of entering the system. If you pulse far enough away for freighter fleets to de-spawn, they will respawn again within another 10 to 30 seconds.
In three-star economies and high-economy outlaw systems, two freighter fleets will be present at a time, warping in about 30 seconds apart. In two-star economies and medium-economy outlaw systems, typically only one freighter fleet will be present, but on rare occasions, there may be two. System freighter fleets never spawn in one-star/low-economy systems.
To locate the freighter, look for the fleet marker in your ship's navigation display, and then head towards the white freighter icon on your HUD. Once the correct freighter model is found, dock in the freighter, exit your ship and scan it with your visor to get the freighter's class.
If the desired freighter hasn't spawned or isn't claimable in that fleet, try the other fleet (if present), or pulse for a few seconds to force a new fleet to spawn. Repeat until the desired freighter (and class) appear.
Finding a Capital Freighter
Capital freighters only appear during capital freighter battles.
A capital freighter battle is triggered after 5 warps and 3 hours of gameplay. Note: In new games, the very first freighter battle is always a system freighter. All subsequent freighter battles will be capital freighters.
To find a given capital freighter:
- Use a portal to reach the target system. Remember the system name so you can easily return to it.
- On the galaxy map, warp to a nearby system. Land your ship (either at a space station, your own freighter, or a planet) to create a restore point.
- Locate another system on the map and warp back and forth until a capital freighter battle is triggered.
- Reload the restore point, and then warp to the desired system from step 1. The capital freighter battle should spawn in the system.
If you want to try for a particular class of capital freighter (typically an S-class), don't fight the freighter battle: instead, land at the space station, and exit your ship to create a restore point. Then return to the battle, defeat the pirate ships, land on the freighter, and scan it with your visor.
If the freighter is not the desired class, reload the restore point. Repeat the freighter battle until the desired freighter class spawns. (When trying for an S-class freighter, it may be necessary to repeat this procedure dozens of times, and it's not uncommon to require 100 or more reloads). As with system freighters, the higher the system's economy level, the more likely it is for higher-class capital freighters to spawn.
Note that landing at the space station before fighting a freighter battle will prevent new games from claiming a freighter for free.
Freighter Class
A freighter's class cannot be upgraded, so it is worth spending time trying to find the freighter you want in the desired class. S-class freighters are, of course, best, as they provide more slots overall and 4 supercharged slots, but the expanded slot limits from the Endurance update means that A-class freighters are generally sufficient, with the only practical limit being one less supercharged slot and slightly lower base stats.