No Man's Sky: How to get squadrons for your freighters?

 Do you want to have pilots to protect you on your trips through space in No Man's Sky? Discover the method to recruit squadrons on your freighters and how to get the best ones.

With the Outlaws update, No Man's Sky added outlaw systems, smuggling mechanics, and the ability to recruit squadrons of fighter pilots for our freighters, among many other things. Precisely, in this entry of our guide, we are going to tell you the method to unlock squads, how you can hire and manage them, and more details of interest that will be helpful in your game. Very helpful!

Requirements to unlock squads

First of all, if you want to have squadrons in your game of No Man's Sky, the first thing you need to know is that you will need to meet an essential requirement, and that is that you need to have already unlocked a freighter in your game (you can consult our guide related to find out how to get one).

• Once you have a freighter, visit it and go to the section where the "Manage fleet" table is.
• From this section choose the "Manage Squad" menu.
• Here you will see the slots available for your squadron pilots, which are initially locked.
• You can have up to 4 squads maximum.
• Each new squad dock slot must be unlocked by purchasing them with nanites.

And that's all, by following these steps you can now prepare to recruit squads in your game. Well, how is this done? Let's explain it to you below.

How and where to recruit squadron pilots?

Basically, in No Man's Sky any ship pilot you encounter while traveling through the universe can be hired for your squadron. Obviously, this must be an NPC character, not another online player.

Thus, characters that appear on space stations, for example, or in trading posts on different planets, can be recruitable for your squad. All you have to do is go talk to these pilots when they have landed and got off their ship and choose the dialogue option that says "Recruit lifeform for the squadron" (don't forget that if you don't have a freighter or spaces available you won't be able to do it).

How to find the best squadron pilots?

It is important to note that there are better and worse pilots to hire in the squadron. In reality, if you want to find and hire the best, what we recommend is that you take these details into account:

• Look only for pilots who are S class and who have combat ships, exotic ships, or solar ships preferably (if they have transport ships or other types, discard them).
• These pilots are most likely to appear in 3-star level economy systems.
• They are also more likely to be found in pirate systems, within outlaw stations, or trading posts on planets.

When you go to recruit a pilot, you will be able to see a file with their most relevant statistics and data. You should always look at the pilot's class and the attributes of his ship (potential damage, shield power, hyper turbo range, and maneuverability). These two details are the most important to know if you are really looking at a good pilot or a mediocre one, you can actually ignore the rest of the details.

In any case, remember that pilots can be upgraded from the squad management menu of your freighter. Although yes, the class upgrade of the pilots costs nanites.

What are squads for and how are they used?

In general terms, squadron pilots in No Man's Sky are allied companions who will give you combat support in space.

• When you are flying through space and, for example, pirates attack you, these squadrons will appear to defend you immediately, without you having to do anything.
• As long as you target an enemy, squads will attack them to progressively damage them.

So in short, during space combat, your squad will always be at your side and will defend you from dangers by providing fire support. Of course, depending on the class of pilot and the class of ship of each squadron, the results will be more or less effective and you will notice that they can be helpful if you have managed to hire the best as we have explained to you.