Lightyear Frontier: Best Crops To Farm

In the far reaches of space, on an unidentified alien planet, Lightyear Frontier throws players into the role of a farm-tending, mech-driving explorer. Throughout their adventures, players will explore the planet and discover new areas that need to be restored to their natural state. Each area offers new wildlife to discover, resources to collect, and, of course, crops to grow.

Farming is a main feature of Lightyear Frontier, and most of the game requires players to throw on their farmer’s hat and tend to their crops in order to gain the material needed to craft upgrades and build up their homestead.

While all crops have their uses, some are much more valuable than others. Crops like Wheat are terrific for crafting Decorations and selling to the merchant, and others such as Coilvines are needed for a couple of the top tier upgrades. Here are the best crops in terms of overall usefulness during a playthrough of Lightyear Frontier.

6 Polyberry

Essential To Starting Out And Great For Making Money

The first crops players will encounter are Polyberries. They are found scattered in abundance throughout the starting area. Though they are essential for a few early game upgrades, their usefulness quickly dissipates.

However, thanks to having a grow time of only two days, and the readiness of their seeds, Polyberries make for great cash crops. Players looking to hoard up some extra money, especially early on, shouldn’t be afraid to plant as many Polyberries as they can.

5 Caroots And Rabbage

Key Ingredients For Essential Early Upgrades

Key to the early mid-game, Caroots and Rabbage are extremely beneficial, but only until players have enough for the essential upgrades, at which point their usefulness quickly fades. However, once players discover these two plants, they should focus on gathering and planting every seed they can.

Related

7 Beginner Tips For Lightyear Frontier

Lightyear Frontier is a cozy experience, but players can still benefit from a few helpful tips.

Caroots can be found in Pine Heights, and Rabbage in Edge Cliffs, both of which are areas that can be restored with default mech equipment. Together, these two plants will be used in the upgrades players need to restore the next two areas. Additionally, many of the Fodder and Assembler recipes rely on one of these two plants, as well as a couple of optional but beneficial mech upgrades.

4 Wheat

Terrific For Quick, Cheap Decorations

Unfortunately, Wheat is not useful when crafting mech upgrades or building productive machines. It is, however, extremely useful when it comes to creating Decorations. Because it has no other practical use, making these wheat-based decorations is a cheap, easy, quick way to improve the level of any homestead and unlock its extra bonuses.

Wheat is available early on in the game from the merchant stand, but can’t be found anywhere in the wild. Once players have their coziness level fully upgraded, Wheat can be a good crop to raise some extra cash as well. After building the Radio Tower, one of the available quests asks that players deliver 150 Wheat. This is no small order, but completing it comes with a payout of $10,000.

3 Chromaize

Iron Parts And A Lot Of Oil

In the mid to late game, Chromaize Oil plays a hugely impactful role in a handful of beneficial, often times necessary upgrades. The oil itself goes directly into upgrading the Spike Saw’s damage, as well as unlocking the incredibly useful Field Plow upgrade. However, most of player’s Chromaize Oil will likely be used in the crafting of Iron Parts and Yellow Lenses.

Related

No Man’s Sky Fans Should Keep Tabs on Lightyear Frontier

FRAME BREAK and Amplifier Studios’ upcoming casual farming adventure, Lightyear Frontier, is already looking a lot like No Man’s Sky.

Iron Parts in particular are worth focusing on, as they are a necessary material in the last upgrade to the Irrigation Hose’s power, which players will need to restore the final areas, as well as the Spike Saw’s power, giving it the ability to harvest even the strongest resources. Iron Parts each take 5 Chromaize Oil to make, and both of these upgrades require 5 Iron Parts, so don’t be afraid to plant plenty of Chromaize.

2 Honeybottle

Steel Parts And Wax

If Iron Parts sound like a grind, then expect to be disappointed, as Steel Parts each require 9 Honeybottles to craft. Thankfully, Honeybottles grow in just two short days, and the only upgrades that come from Steel Parts are optional, quality-of-life improvements. Honeybottles are a late-game plant, growing in the Mountainside Coast and Lowland Plains, both of which will require fully upgraded hoses and vacuums to clear out.

Aside from their use in steel parts, Honeybottles can also be thrown into a Solar Dehydrator to create Wax, and their quick growth time makes them a great option to throw into the money-making loop.

1 Zappertwig

Batteries, Electronics, And Late-Game Upgrades

By far the most useful and versatile crop is the Zappertwig. Once players acquire the Zappertwig, they will remain incredibly relevant throughout the rest of the game. Unlike other plants, players should avoid turning most of their Zappertwigs into Oil, as they are used in a few additional crafting recipes such as Batteries and Steel Electronics.

They are found fairly early on into the game in the Yellow Forest. Once players restore this area, they should keep an eye out for any Zappertwig Seeds they can gather. Batteries and Steel Electronics both require 3 Zappertwigs to craft, and are essential for a handful of mech upgrades.

Lightyear Frontier

Released

March 19, 2024

Developer(s)

Frame Break , Amplifier Studios