No Man's Sky: How to Farm S-Class Freighter Upgrades

To farm S-class freighter upgrade modules and Cargo Bulkheads in No Man's Sky, acquire an Emergency Broadcast Receiver, pulse through space to locate a derelict freighter, and sprint directly to the Engineering Terminal on the lowest deck. The final terminal on every derelict freighter lets you choose between a procedural technology upgrade module, a Cargo Bulkhead, or Nanites. Because upgrade classes are locked to the star system where the freighter spawns, finding a system verified for S-class drops ensures top-tier rewards on every run.

Obtaining and Preserving the Broadcast Receiver

An Emergency Broadcast Receiver is required to detect an abandoned derelict freighter. You can obtain one through two methods:

• Scrap Dealer: Buy one aboard any standard space station for 5,000,000 Units. The price increases if you buy additional receivers on the same day.
• Iteration Helios: Claim one free receiver per week aboard the Space Anomaly after completing at least one derelict salvage run.

To run derelicts repeatedly without repurchasing this item, use your Personal Refiner to prevent the game from consuming the receiver:

1. Activate the Emergency Broadcast Receiver from your inventory while flying your starship in normal space.
2. Engage your pulse drive until an anomaly alert indicates a derelict freighter has been located.
3. Drop out of pulse drive, open your inventory, and place the active receiver inside your Personal Refiner or Personal Refiner Mk 2.
4. Land on the derelict freighter, unseal the entrance airlock, and complete the salvage mission.

The airlock check only consumes receivers stored in standard exosuit or starship inventory slots. Keeping the receiver inside the refiner protects it from removal. When the run is complete, return to your ship, move the receiver back into your main inventory, and pulse drive to summon another derelict immediately.

Star System Seed Mechanics

In No Man's Sky, the module class and core stat rolls awarded by the Engineering Terminal are static for each star system. If a derelict freighter in a specific system awards an S-class module at its terminal, every derelict spawned in that system will consistently award S-class upgrades.

Use planetary Portals to travel to community-documented systems known for short, low-hazard derelicts. Systems featuring automated security bots or defense turrets are significantly faster than those infested with alien nests, allowing you to reach the final room in under three minutes.

Clearing the Derelict Interior

Derelict freighter interiors subject your character to extreme cold, steadily draining your hazard protection. If your thermal shielding is unupgraded, stand near the thermal heaters mounted throughout corridors to restore your protection gauge.

To maximize farming speed, ignore crew lockers, footlockers, and data pads:

1. Unseal the entrance airlock and step through the initial decontamination chamber.
2. Follow the direct corridor path through the cargo bays toward the lower levels, ignoring side rooms and secondary loot containers.
3. Eliminate blocking security drones or turrets using high-burst weapons like the Scatter Blaster or Neutron Cannon.
4. Take the teleporter pads or descent stairs leading directly to the Engineering Core.

Engineering Terminal Reward Priority

Interacting with the Engineering Terminal presents three extraction choices:

• Fabricate Freighter Upgrade: Grants a random S-class technology module (such as Hyperdrive, Fleet Fuel, Combat, Trade, Exploration, or Mining) determined by the system's seed.
• Fabricate Cargo Bulkhead: Grants one Cargo Bulkhead to unlock an additional cargo or technology inventory slot at your freighter's bridge terminal.
• Extract Nanites: Converts collected vessel data into Nanites.

Choose Cargo Bulkheads first until your capital ship has unlocked enough technology slots to accommodate three procedural upgrade modules per system category alongside your base technology rooms. Once your freighter has adequate slot capacity, switch entirely to fabricating upgrades until you obtain optimal modules for all fleet categories.