Lightyear Frontier: 10 Most Useful Mech Upgrades

Summary

• Upgrading your Mech has many benefits in Lightyear Frontier.
• While all upgrades are useful, there are some that will help you advance through the main story.
• Quality of life and aesthetic upgrades are just as important as practical upgrades when it comes to designing your farm.

As you build your very own Homestead in Lightyear Frontier, you'll need to upgrade your Mech to access more regions and get better materials. These upgrades offer various bonuses and make different activities easier, from plowing your own fields to watering your crops faster – but which ones are the best upgrades?

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Since upgrades come in tiers that enhance each other, it can be difficult to know which upgrades to get first. Here, we've ranked the best upgrades overall, which can help you improve your Mech and unlock more regions faster. These are the best upgrades and what you'll need for them!

10 Pathmaker

Pathmaker

Pathmaker Mode allows the Mech to freely create Paths on the ground.

• Aluminum Electronics (5)
• Aluminum Frame (4)
• Polyberry Oil (9)

The Pathmaker upgrade is purely aesthetic, allowing you to create pathways throughout the world to better orient yourself. There's no benefit other than your own peace of mind knowing you can purposefully create your own paths, which can help guide you home if you get lost.

This is especially useful on multiplayer, as you can guide each other back to the Homestead or design the layout of your farm down to the last detail. It's a nice feature, but it doesn't offer much else in terms of gameplay. Still, I found it to be a welcome upgrade after 13 hours of farming.

9 Sprint Speed

Sprint Speed I

Increase Sprint Speed, allowing the Mech to move faster.

• Caroot Oil (36)
• Copper Wire (5)

Sprint Speed II

The Mech can move even faster.

• Cailvine Oil (36)
• Spring (5)

You'll spend a lot of time running around the map, and without fast travel being available, the only way to get around quickly is to increase your sprint speed. There are technically two upgrades for this, and each one is useful for moving faster.

It's worth investing in these upgrades since you're going to get tired of walking slowly day-in and day-out. While not the most useful upgrade in the game, I found it to be a better alternative than throwing myself down cliff sides to get where I needed to go sooner.

8 Thruster Boost

Thruster Boost I

Increase Thruster Boost, allowing the Mech to jump higher and stay in the air for longer.

• Rabbage Oil (50)
• Power Core (1)

Thruster Boost II

The Mech can jump even higher and stay in the air for even longer.

• Lumbloom Oil (25)
• Spring (5)
• Power Core (1)

In the same vein as the Sprint Speed upgrades, being able to jump higher and farther is a great boon. You can reach previously inaccessible areas and scale the sides of cliffs much easier.

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It also means you reduce the chance of flipping the Mech over when jumping around since your feet won't get caught on a ledge. It's worth all the work to get the Rabbage Oil and Power Core as soon as you can to enhance your quality of life on your new planet.

7 Field Plow

Field Plow

Field Plow Mode allows the Mech to freely create fields of Mounds on the ground.

• Aluminum Rod (10)
• Iron Frame (5)
• Chromaize (6)

The Field Plow upgrade allows you to truly feel like a farmer. You can create rolling hills ready for planting instead of building squares that can be used to grow your crops. Using your Mech, you can roam the open areas of the planet to create your dream farm.

If you're happy with the neat little boxes, you can still use them, but it feels much more natural to actually plow a field with the Mech than it does to craft individual plots on your farm.

6 Seed Shooter Lock-On

Seed Shooter Lock-on

The Seed Shooter can Lock On to and automatically hit up to nine Mounds.

• Aluminum Rod (5)
• Plant Oil (5)

As your farm grows, you'll be planting plenty of crops to convert into more materials. While there are technically more upgrades to increase the amount of mounds you can lock onto, the base upgrade is the most important one.

Being able to lock-on to the mounds saves you precious time in the day to go explore or complete other tasks. Planting seeds one at a time is boring, and I found it satisfying to spray all the seeds across my farm every few days as opposed to meticulously burying each one in the soil.

5 Irrigation Hose Hydro Splash

Irrigation Hose Hydro Splash

The Irrigation Hose can fire big globs of liquid that can splash on multiple Mounds at the same time.

• Aluminum Parts (5)

Just like planting crops individually gets old, so does watering them one at a time. Further upgrades make the initial one more useful, increasing how many plots can be watered at once.

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Sometimes the hose will miss a handful of plots, but it's much easier to water a few skipped plots than to water dozens of them individually each day. Therefore, this is one of the most useful upgrades you'll get. It's worth gathering the materials for this upgrade as soon as possible, as it will make your life much easier.

4 Vacuum Harvester Power

Vacuum Harvester Power I

Increase the Power of the Vacuum Harvester, allowing it to suck up strong Weeds.

• Copper Wire (5)
• Caroot Oil (9)

Vacuum Harvester Power II

The Vacuum Harvester can suck up stronger Weeds.

• Blue Lens (2)
• Steel Electronics (2)
• Battery (2)

With your goal set to restore all the regions on the map, that means upgrading the power of your tools to suck up the Noxious Weeds. Some weeds are stronger than others, and each of the Vacuum Harvester Power upgrades will make it easier to clean up the planet.

Without this upgrade, you may as well commit to a life lived almost exclusively in The Meadows, forsaking the opportunity to explore a rich and vast landscape ripe with resources. Or you could just upgrade the Vacuum Harvester and freely explore. It's your choice.

3 Spike Saw Power

Spike Saw Power I

Increase the power of the Spike Saw, allowing it to break strong materials.

• Aluminum Parts (5)

Spike Saw Power II

The Spike Saw can break stronger materials.

• Aluminum Electronics (5)
• Caroot Oil (18)

Spike Saw Power III

The Spike Saw can break even stronger materials.

• Iron Parts (5)
• Iron Electronics (2)

Similar to the Vacuum Harvester Power upgrades, you'll want to get the same type of upgrade for your Spike Saw. Otherwise, you may as well get comfortable in The Meadows because the materials you need to thrive will be inaccessible to you. Without a powerful Spike Saw, materials like Copper and Fractalite will be too hard to break.

End-game resources make some of the best decorations and equipment in the game, which will increase your coziness level greatly (and it makes your farm look good). Afterall, who doesn't want the best farm on the planet?

2 Irrigation Hose Power

Irrigation Hose Power I

Increase the power of the Irrigation Hose, allowing it to wash away strong Slime.

• Red Crystal (10)
• Rabbage Oil (9)

Irrigation Hose Power II

The Irrigation Hose can wash away stronger Slime.

• Iron Parts (5)
• Red Lens (2)

Like the Vacuum Harvester, you'll want a stronger Irrigation Hose to wash away all that sticky, Noxious Slime. It covers everything and has a wider range than the weeds. If you step on it, it will slow you down and make you miserable. Rather than get stuck, wash it away.

This will help you unlock more regions, which is part of the main questline. If you'd rather not learn the secrets of the planet, you can ignore this upgrade, but we recommend getting it as soon as you can.

1 Water Tank Capacity

Water Tank Capacity I

Increase Water tank Capacity. The Mech can store more water in its Water Tank.

• Polyberry Oil (18)

Water Tank Capacity II

The Mech can store more water in its Water Tank.

• Blue Crystal (6)
• Zappertwig Oil (3)

Water Tank Capacity III

The Mech can store even more water in its Water Tank.

• Yellow Crystal (6)
• Honeybottle Oil (18)

Overall, the best upgrade you can get is for the Water Tank. Between watering your crops and clearing away slime, you'll need plenty of water. Until you're able to locate the plants in the Lowland Plains that are essentially wells, you're stuck having to find a body of water to refill your tank every time you run out.

Increasing the capacity of the Water Tank enables you to get more done before needing to refill, making much of your work that much easier. Managing a large farm is less stressful when you can get most of it done all in one go.

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