How to get Aluminum Electronics to increase mech encumbrance limit in Lightyear Frontier

Your mech is essential to transport materials in Lightyear Frontier, but it can only hold a little at the start of the game. To increase your mech encumbrance limit, you need Aluminum Electronics, which this guide explains how to get in detail.

The first step toward increasing your mech’s encumbrance limit in Lightyear Frontier is crafting the Upgrade Depot. It requires 24x Stone, 4x Aluminum Rod, and 4x Aluminum Frame. Get this step out of the way first and foremost.

• Stone: Obtained from mining rocks.
• Aluminum Rod: Mined from deposits in the Pine Heights region.
• Aluminum Frame: Crafted at the Assembler (2x Aluminum Rod).

Immediately upon crafting the Upgrade Depot, you’ll notice that Inventory Capacity I is one of the first available slots to unlock. However, it requires Aluminum Electronics, which can be challenging to acquire if you don’t know the steps.

To start, you want to craft the Assembler Construct from the crafting menu. Players can craft the Assembler using 10x Aluminum Rod, 10x Stone, and 4x Plant Oil.

With the Assembler made, it is time to unlock the Aluminum Electronics recipe. To do this, you must collect Copper Ore, which can be found in the Edge Cliffs region on the map—the image below shows where I discovered Copper in my playthrough.

Initially, it can be hard to find, but you should eventually see orangeish ore deposits hanging against the cliffside. Here is an image Copper Ore:

With Copper in hand, head to the Assembler and use the Copper to make Copper Wire. Each Copper Wire requires 2x Copper Ore. After making Copper Wire one time, you will unlock the Aluminum Electronics recipe.

Finally, to officially make Aluminum Electronics, you need 2x Aluminum Rods and 1x Copper Wire. Unlocking Inventory Capacity I requires 5x Aluminum Electronics, meaning you will need 10x Aluminum Rods and 5x Copper Wire to increase your mech’s encumbrance limit officially.

In Lightyear Frontier, players are allowed to increase their mech’s encumbrance level three times. To do so, they must unlock other upgrades that appear before Inventory Capacity II and Inventory Capacity III in the skill tree. You can tell which upgrades you need to unlock first by following the white lines that connect.

Lightyear Frontier does not make it easy to locate essential resources. Noxious Pods are easily missable, for example, so make sure to read up on that by checking out our guide.