Lightyear Frontier walkthrough: 1.0 Milestones, mech, ending
Lightyear Frontier walkthrough for 1.0: presets, Milestones 1-14, mech upgrades, automation, Diane and Ulf quests, new regions and how to start the ending.
Checked against 1.0.2563 on 9 Nov 2026. We re-test every guide after major updates; if something changed, tell us.
Lightyear Frontier walkthrough for version 1.0: the mech-farming sim left Early Access on November 4, 2026, and this guide takes you from your first save to the finale in the order the update was built around. It covers the difficulty presets, how Milestones and deliveries now flow, what to automate early, how the two new regions and the two neighbour questlines fit in, and what you need before you start the ending missions.
Before you start: save, preset and co-op
The developers say old saves carry over untouched and early-access owners get 1.0 for free, but they also state that a fresh save gives a "more natural and better-flowing" experience because progression and balance were reworked. If you are already caught up through the Automation Update you can head straight into the endgame, yet a new save is the cleaner way to follow this walkthrough. The official 1.0 FAQ lists the price as $29.99, and at the time of writing the Steam store page showed a 20% launch discount, so check the current price before you buy.
Each new save now asks for a playstyle preset. Creative removes building and crafting costs, damage and threats. Relaxed takes damage out and lengthens days. Balanced is the standard experience and the one the team recommends for new players. Challenging increases damage, makes you permanently lose items on a knockout, and makes fuel scarcer. Under the Customize button you can build your own preset, and in multiplayer these options live in a per-world, host-controlled framework covering day length, growth time, fuel use, tornado presence and more. Up to three friends can join your farm, and the Shared Saves system lets everyone keep playing while the host is away.
Pick Balanced for your first run. You can still loosen individual sliders (such as Day Length or Tornado Presence) in the Customize screen without dropping to Relaxed.
Milestones, deliveries and the early game
Everything in Lightyear Frontier is gated by Milestones, and 1.0 adds Milestones 13 and 14 for 14 in total. Deliveries, the resources you fire to the colonies with the Delivery Cannon, were merged and rebalanced so each Milestone demands fewer of them. The Delivery Cannon menu was also reworked: you can queue several deliveries and launch them in one sequence, which saves a lot of back-and-forth early on.
- Do the tutorial missionsThe start of the game was reworked, with new tutorial missions and a snappier intro. The main missions that help the colonies begin during the tutorial.
- Stock up on wood and stoneAll log types now drop more wood: the developers raised the amount from 4 to 6 per log, and large trees drop regular wood instead of hardwood.
- Plant and harvest for deliveriesCrops keep their previous weight but inventories and storage are ten times bigger, so crops effectively take about a tenth of the space they used to.
- Fire off deliveries in batchesQueue several in the new Delivery Cannon menu and launch them together to push the next Milestone.
- Unlock the neighbours and automation earlyPer the patch notes, Automation and Neighbors now unlock earlier in the Milestone list. Automation starts at Milestone 4.
Two comfort features make the early hours smoother. Holding the pick-up button now keeps collecting items, and holding the contribute button keeps feeding resources into build holograms. There is also a Planning Mode in the build menu: while it is on, placing holograms does not consume your resources, so you can lay out a farm before you commit.
Mech upgrades: the new upgrade paths
Mech customisation was rebuilt in 1.0. Instead of crafting a new level of every tool, part and mode and slotting it in, each piece now has a dedicated slot and an upgrade path. Upgrading raises its base stats, so a tool is useful even without mods. A tool's secondary ability unlocks the first time you upgrade it, with no mod chip required. Left and right arms, legs, and the engine and windshield are combined into single parts, although they stay separate for visual customisation. Existing players keep their mods and receive parts equivalent to their highest tier, with no reset.
| Upgrade | What it does | How you get it |
|---|---|---|
| Seed Stacking | Plant into the same mound several times for a yield bonus | Upgrade the Seed Shooter |
| Seed Minigun mod | Extremely rapid, continuous seeding for huge fields | Mod for the Seed Shooter |
| Sprout Volley | Charge to plant several sprouts in an area | Secondary ability of the Sprout Cannon |
| Skyblazer | Continuous plane-like flight transform mode | New Transform Mode |
| Hover Thrusters | Hold a steady altitude, useful when seeding | Engine mod |
| Weak Points | 25% bonus damage when you strike them | Spike Saw |
Fuel also behaves differently. Running dry no longer shuts your mod chips off completely; you get a scaling stat penalty instead. Leg upgrades make the mech more stable, while a broken leg (or two) makes it less stable. For hauling, trailers are far more stable, connections between them persist across sessions, and a new HUD element shows a top-down view of connected trailers.
Farming, fertiliser and animals
Crop rotation matters more now. The rework splits the old fertilisers: the ones that change a mound type are called Mulch, and later Milestones add new Fertilizers that you spread onto mounds for a yield bonus. Both are crafted from Powder items made from droppings or wood. The Compost Box was replaced by the Fertilizer Infuser, with the same function. Glo Trees now produce 15 fruits per cycle instead of 2, and harvesting Glo Fruits or Colorflowers can grant a sprout. Colorflowers are found in fewer places but in larger clusters, so use the Resource Scanner in the map menu when you cannot find a patch.
- Care for animals less strictly. Content status now needs 2 needs met instead of 3, and Happy needs 4 instead of 5.
- Collect more. A Happy farm animal gives 3 resources a day, a Content one gives 1 guaranteed, and an Unhappy one gives none.
- Pet for a bonus. Petting a happy animal drops its resource immediately, once per animal per day.
- Feed wild animals. They drop their animal resource when fed, with a 5% chance of their species' eggs.
Lost farm animals now turn up in Diane's sanctuary after a day, and animals no longer run away when Unhappy.
Automation without the old Automator
Automation arrives earlier, from Milestone 4, and scales through the rest of the game. The Automator is gone; you now use Automation Pipes that pull items straight from storage and send them to crafting or to other storage. Storage constructs have Resource Filters in Deny or Accept mode, which is what finally gives you proper dump chests. A crafting construct can cycle through up to three queued recipes and skips any whose materials are missing. Silo, Silo II, Storage Box II, Small Shed and Storage Shed gained Outputs. Pipes that are too short to function are blocked with an error message.
- Build a storage hubPlace storage next to your crafting constructs and connect them directly or with pipes.
- Set filtersUse Accept to route items you want, Deny to stop pipes and adjacent pickups sending unwanted items in.
- Queue up to three recipesLet one crafter rotate between recipes instead of babysitting it.
The hotfix and patch notes warn about two side effects: corrected structural-integrity maths can make constructs that were never truly stable collapse, and the Water Reservoir's output moved slightly, so old pipe connections from it must be rebuilt.
Regions, neighbours and the ending
1.0 adds two areas, the Sandswept Highlands and the Hollow Marsh, increasing the world by roughly 40%. Both are late-game areas, but they are unlocked from the start, so you can scout early. Remember the resource and plant scanning tools before long flights: Emergency Protocol respawn locations now update while you are airborne, so a long flight will not send you all the way back to take-off.
The neighbour questlines also finish in 1.0 and each opens something new. Diane's quests unlock ranch animal breeding. Ulf's questline awards Seed Splicer Mk. 2 and 3 and unlocks giant tree sprouts. Prometheus Station now offers Research Deliveries that give blueprints for unique mech mods, replacing the old Research Initiatives. For comfort, new decorations in Lola's shop include bathroom items after 16 deliveries and kitchen items after 31, and Coziness buffs now include faster Exofarmer movement at home and a 20% fuel saving for the mech.
The ending missions begin once you reach "Thriving" for all colonies. Completing them shows the fate of the people who came before you and finishes your mission, and the developers confirm you can keep playing afterwards.
Quality of life and recovery tools
If a tornado tosses a trailer into a lake or you black out somewhere unreachable, Lola's new Retrieval Service can fetch lost trailers and item caches and return them to the nearest Farm Center for a fee that scales with the contents. Tornadoes now do less damage and do not chase you, weather changes through the day, and days now transition seamlessly. A toggleable Planning Mode, nameable map Stamps, and map markers for trailers and animals round out the guidance changes. Performance also improved, including an updated DLSS Transformer model that is the new default; the older CNN model is selectable in settings if you are on an older RTX card.
Requirements and the first hotfix
The minimum requirements are Windows 10, an Intel Core i3-4170 or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, 12 GB of RAM, a GTX 1050 or RX 460 and 10 GB of storage, aimed at low settings, 720p and 30 fps. The first hotfix, version 1.0.2563 on November 6, widened the H.O.E. tool's path radius, raised health on some large plants and fixed several crashes and the mech shaking with upgraded leg stability. The developers said another hotfix was planned for the following week, and they plan at least one more large update after 1.0 without promising its content. PlayStation 5 and Switch 2 ports are being looked into but are not confirmed.
FAQ
Do I need to start a new save for Lightyear Frontier 1.0?
No. Old saves still work and existing owners get 1.0 free, but the developers say a new save gives a better-flowing experience after the progression rework.
How many Milestones are there in Lightyear Frontier 1.0?
There are 14. Version 1.0 adds Milestones 13 and 14 and rebalances the earlier ones, with automation and neighbours unlocking sooner.
How do I start the ending?
Reach "Thriving" for all colonies. You can keep playing after the ending missions are complete.
Is Lightyear Frontier on PlayStation or Switch 2?
Not yet. The developers say they are looking into ports to other platforms, but nothing is confirmed. It is out on PC and Xbox Series X|S.
Which difficulty should I pick?
Balanced is the recommended standard setting for new players. Creative and Relaxed remove threats, and Challenging makes knockouts cost you items permanently.
Sources: the official Steam news hub (1.0 launch post, FAQ and hotfix notes) and the game's Steam page. More walkthroughs live in our walkthroughs hub, and every Lightyear Frontier article is gathered on the Lightyear Frontier game hub.
Has finished every FromSoftware game at level 1. Writes the boss guides and checks them on every patch.