How To Get A Pirate Dreadnought In No Man’s Sky

Pirates can be menace when you’re simply trying to explore systems in No Man’s Sky but they are after your valuable loot. But sometimes when you warp into a Pirate-controlled system in NMS, you will be pushed as an uninvited guest into a battle being fought by some friendly freighters against the mighty Pirate Dreadnought.

If you ever wanted one for yourself, here is how you can get the massive Pirate Dreadnought as your own freighter in No Man’s Sky.

How to Find a Pirate Dreadnought in No Man’s Sky

To find a Pirate Dreadnought in No Man’s Sky, you need to warp to Pirate-controlled systems until you trigger the Dreadnought battle. It usually takes three jumps for it to trigger. To easily find Pirate systems, install an Economy Scanner on your starship and look for systems with a skull icon next to their economy type.

This is so far the only way to make a Pirate Dreadnought spawn, unlike the Sentinel Freighter that spawns after killing enough Sentinel Interceptors, the Pirate Dreadnought does not spawn no matter how many pirates you kill. So keep your HyperDrive ready and fueled to keep jumping between pirate systems to get the Dreadnought to spawn.

Note: You cannot just warp to the same systems back and forth to trigger it, make sure it’s a brand new system each time.

Related: How To Get Freighter In No Man’s Sky

How to Get Your Own Pirate Dreadnought in No Man’s Sky

To capture a Pirate Dreadnought and make it your own, you will have to fight and win the battle against it then land on it and speak with the captain to take control from them. You will be able to get the Pirate Dreadnought for free but defeating it is not as easy as it may seem.

Here is how you can defeat the Pirate Dreadnought and make it your own in No Man’s Sky:

1. Once the battle starts, head over to the Pirate Dreadnought and start attacking the Anti-Freighter Cannons firing the lasers at the friendly freighter. You need to make sure the friendly freighter does not get destroyed as it will fail the battle and the Dreadnought will warp away.
2. Then focus on the Shield Generators, which run parallel inside these divots on the top surface of the Dreadnought. They are stacked in a line so destroy all on one side and then go to the other.
3. Once the generators are destroyed, fuel rods will pop up in the same location as the generators run the same route back, and destroy the fuel rods this time and this will eventually put the Dreadnought out of commission.
   • You can also go below it and destroy the Warp Engine to stop it from escaping the battle.
4. You will have won the battle at this point. Now simply fly into the Pirate Dreadnought and go to the bridge to speak with the captain.
5. Choose the “Seize the Dreadnought” option to get the Pirate Dreadnought as your own freighter. You can also transfer your current base on your current freighter and all its contents onto the Pirate Dreadnought since you can only own one freighter at a time in No Man’s Sky.

You will now be a proud owner of a Pirate Dreadnought. Use your scanner when you land to check its class, and If you want an S-class Dreadnought, you can repeat the steps and choose “Demand tribute” instead when talking to the captain. This will give you a payment reward instead and you can then try your luck again with a different Pirate Dreadnought.