Amidst all that we're doing over here at Coffee Stain with the Steam Publisher Sale, game updates, new game announcements, and so much more, we want to make sure you don't miss this ginormous Automation Update that dropped like a mech from the sky in Lightyear Frontier! To say that the team have been cooking is a gross understatement, so let's recap the headlining points of the update.

If you're interested in reading the full (and vast) content breakdown and patch notes, you should go to the main announcement here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1677110/view/520863048256193830

The titular element of this is, of course, Automation! You can now automatically craft items in many of the Crafting Constructs using this new feature. You will need to build an Automator, connect it to a compatible crafting constructs with pipes, choose the recipe, and put the resources required in the Automator's storage. Boom, no more running back and forth, no more worries keeping track of things. You're set!

Along with this, you can now build automated Water Pumps that will draw water from rivers, lakes, and the ocean directly into Watering Drone Stations and Water Troughs with pipes. This means you're able to fully automate hydration like a pro.

The team at FRAME BREAK have provided a handy little (it is the opposite of little) table of compatible Constructs to use with Automation that you can check out in the full post.

The new energy system lets you energize production in your quest for ultimate power! Build generators to keep your production super-charged for a crafting speed boost. It is intended to streamline power consumption for large farms and help you scale up operations from simple Farmsteader to Big Farmer.

While you are supplying enough (or more, let's be honest... you can never have too much power) to Constructs, they will be super-charged to 2.5x speed. But don't worry, if your power consumption exceeds your generated power, the Constructs will continue to function; they simply won't be working at hyper-speed until you crank out more energy.

Energy, as with the real world, will start with Combustion Generators that require fuel before you can start working your way up to environmentally responsible Solar Panels. We do love free, green Energy!

Honestly, everything in this update is more than just an honorable mention, but there were just a few other things we wanted to highlight that we think is just so neat.

• Building Improvements

  • Snapping improvements, especially for larger pieces

  • Better contextual snapping, such as doors, windows, and roofs

  • Less restriction on where Constructs can be placed, meaning fewer "invalid" placements

  • Mass-removal of Constructs with a simple click-drag

• Fuel Overhaul

  • Fuel is no longer required, and mechs do not start with them by default

  • Instead, fuel will provide bonuses, such as Mod Chips being enabled, tool speed increases, and thruster boosting being enabled

• Improved Mech Movement

  • Made mechs more fun to pilot

  • Sliding no longer slows you down as much, and will not cancel running after

  • Cancel out of slides early

  • Added a Thrust-Lunge move

  • Thrusters are now better at breaking falls, and recharge rates have been improved

• EXOFARMER JETPACK!!!

There's so much more that the team at FRAME BREAK have added into this update, and we've only given the briefest of summaries to it. Seriously, you should definitely read the full announcement on the game's Steam Page (linked above) to get the full list of features, breakdowns, and all the patched content that we've not even mentioned.

Things are progressing very nicely forward, and the team will be spending some time supporting the Automation Update with any bug fixes needed, and then it's onward through the next phase of development toward the 1.0 release. You can see what's been planned in the roadmap:

Lightyear Frontier is now part of the Coffee Stain family, which means it's currently on sale as part of the Coffee Stain Publisher Sale right here on Steam.

You can also pick up the Far Out Factory Farming Bundle to snag both Lightyear Frontier and Satisfactory at the same time.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/69858/Far_Out_Factory_Farming/Far out!