Summary
As you build your very own Homestead inLightyear 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?
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!
10Pathmaker
Pathmaker
Pathmaker Mode allows the Mech to freely create Paths on the ground.
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’re able to 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.
The Mech can move even faster.
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.
8Thruster Boost
Thruster Boost I
Increase Thruster Boost, allowing the Mech to jump higher and stay in the air for longer.
Thruster Boost II
The Mech can jump even higher and stay in the air for even longer.
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.
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 may to enhance your quality of life on your new planet.
7Field Plow
Field Plow
Field Plow Mode allows the Mech to freely create fields of Mounds on the ground.
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.
6Seed Shooter Lock-On
Seed Shooter Lock-on
The Seed Shooter can Lock On to and automatically hit up to nine Mounds.
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.
5Irrigation 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.
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.
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.
4Vacuum Harvester Power
Vacuum Harvester Power I
Increase the Power of the Vacuum Harvester, allowing it to suck up strong Weeds.
The Vacuum Harvester can suck up stronger Weeds.
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.
3Spike Saw Power
Spike Saw Power I
Increase the power of the Spike Saw, allowing it to break strong materials.
The Spike Saw can break even stronger materials.
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 willincrease your coziness levelgreatly (and it makes your farm look good). Afterall, who doesn’t want the best farm on the planet?
2Irrigation Hose Power
Irrigation Hose Power I
Increase the power of the Irrigation Hose, allowing it to wash away strong Slime.
The Irrigation Hose can wash away stronger Slime.
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 may ignore this upgrade, but we recommend getting it as soon as you can.
1Water Tank Capacity
Water Tank Capacity I
Increase Water tank Capacity. The Mech can store more water in its Water Tank.
Water Tank Capacity III
The Mech can store even more water in its Water Tank.
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.
