Lightyear Frontier 1.0 progression guide: your farm, deliveries and the ending

Start with a delivery, then size the farm

The central progression loop is producing what the colonies request and sending it through the Delivery Cannon. Main missions now run alongside that loop from the tutorial to the ending. A productive first session is therefore a sequence of small, finished projects: understand the active mission, collect its inputs, produce the required goods, send the delivery and inspect what it unlocked.

Open the current delivery menu before planting a large field. Read the whole bundle, including processed materials, rather than choosing a crop in isolation. A field full of the right crop still does not finish a request if the metal or manufactured component is missing. Make a short list of the limiting inputs and work backward from them.

Use the mission markers to identify required Constructs and resources. For a resource you cannot locate, open the Map and use its Resource Scanner. Add named Stamps to places you will revisit. This turns an exploration trip into a repeatable supply route instead of another search from scratch.

A route through the main systems

Stage	Immediate goal	Spend effort on	Check before moving on
Tutorial and first deliveries	Finish the active mission and establish a repeatable harvest	The required crop, water access, storage and the next recipe	You can replace the inputs you just spent
Approaching Milestone 4	Prepare a compact production area	Space for storage outputs, pipes and the relevant crafting Construct	The unlock is actually available in your current save
Early automation	Make one useful chain run consistently	Correct ports, available Energy, ingredients and destination filters	An item completes its whole trip without manual rescue
Growing colony demand	Expand the chain that is holding back deliveries	Harvesting speed, processing, storage or hauling as required	Additional fields will not simply overflow the same bottleneck
Neighbors and research	Pursue unlocks that ordinary milestones do not supply	Ulf, Diane and Prometheus Station requests	You are following the correct quest or delivery branch
Endgame	Bring every colony to Thriving	Remaining colony requests and late-game production	Ending missions have appeared

This order is a planning route, not a claim that every player must build the same farm. The useful test is whether each project removes the obstacle to your next request.

Upgrade the task you repeat most

Tool upgrades now improve their built-in stats and follow dedicated paths in the customization menu. Their secondary abilities unlock through upgrades rather than requiring the old ability Mod Chips. Most of the farming tools gain their secondary at Mk. 2; the Seed Shooter’s stacking feature arrives at Mk. 4.

If collecting or harvesting takes most of your time, inspect the relevant tool before adding more acreage. If the field is already easy to tend but goods are waiting beside a machine, improve processing and storage instead. If finished goods are ready but difficult to move, deal with hauling. These are different bottlenecks, and another seed planting does not solve all three.

See the tool and mech upgrade guide for the ability table and a way to choose your next upgrade.

Build a small working chain before a large factory

Automation begins at Milestone 4 in the 1.0 progression. Storage outputs and Automation Pipes replace the need to put a new Automator between every source and machine. Pipes use Energy, so a bigger network also adds an operating requirement.

Start with one input storage, one crafting Construct and one output destination. Check that a complete recipe runs and reaches the destination. Only then introduce more recipes or split outputs. Our automation guide covers connections, filters and the three-recipe queue in detail.

For planting, separate two decisions: the crop result you want and the yield you need. Soil-changing Mulch and yield-increasing Fertilizer do different jobs. The planting preview lets you check the result before using seed. Use the farming and mutation workflow when a delivery calls for a special harvest.

Follow the unlock branch, not just the milestone number

Some 1.0 rewards come through neighbor missions. Ulf’s questline supplies Seed Splicer Mk. 2 and Mk. 3 and access to Giant Tree Sprouts; Diane’s questline unlocks ranch animal breeding. Prometheus Station has Research Deliveries that award blueprints for unique mech Mods. Research no longer requires contributions from other players or waiting for scheduled initiatives.

If a needed feature is missing, check these branches before concluding that the next ordinary milestone must contain it. Match the feature to its source, then make that branch your next project.

Reach the ending without discarding the farm

Milestones 13 and 14 extend the late-game upgrade ladder. The ending missions begin once all colonies are Thriving, and the game lets you continue playing after the final story sequence. You can complete the story and still return to improving the homestead.

The Sandswept Highlands and Hollow Marsh are open from the beginning of a 1.0 world, but the developer describes them as late-game areas. Access is not the same as readiness: plan a resource trip around your equipment, carrying capacity and return route. Use the exploration and hauling guide before committing to a long expedition.

Returning with an existing world? Start with the migration checklist so that you update old layouts before scaling them.