The Cycle: Frontier Tips For Beginners

The Cycle: Frontier is a new first-person loot-focused extraction royale with PvE and PvP elements. It takes place in two different locations: Fortuna III, the planet where all of the combat and looting occurs, and Prospect Station, where you can trade, buy, and sell gear and items to prepare yourself for the next drop. You play as a Prospector, who's tasked with dropping onto Fortuna III to collect valuable pieces of loot to return to the three Factions on Prospect Station. Of course, you're also out to make money yourself so you can buy better gear to make life easier on the planet. Any Escape From Tarkov fans will recognize the gameplay loop of The Cycle: Frontier immediately, as the objectives are almost identical.

On Fortuna III, you're looking to fill your pockets as quickly as possible while also taking out A.I. creatures and other players who have dropped onto the planet. Once you're satisfied with your haul, you can go to an Evac Ship to leave the planet with your goods. However, if you're killed before you can make it to the ship, most or all of your gear will be left behind for the creature or player that eliminated you. The overall goal of The Cycle: Frontier is to fight the A.I. and other players while stockpiling loot that you can sell or use to acquire stronger gear.

In this guide, we'll be going over 10 tips that you can use to improve in The Cycle: Frontier. Some of the tips might be slightly obvious to some players but this game features many different mechanics to learn and remember, so it never hurts to have a little refresher course.

1. There is fall damage

We're just going to get this one out there because we found out the hard way. While a lot of modern shooters, such as Apex Legends, have no fall damage whatsoever, that's not the case in The Cycle: Frontier. Since it's a survival game, you can absolutely die by jumping off something at a high distance from the ground. Even falling from a normal distance will actually reduce your health by more than you might think. Even with armor equipped, you will still die from fall damage if you try to make your way down a rocky cliff or a high-up building. The tutorial doesn't let you in on this secret, so we thought we should.

2. Don't fight two battles at the same time

While it seems obvious, this is an easy trap to fall into. Since The Cycle: Frontier is littered with dangerous creatures, like Striders, and enemy players, you might often find yourself dealing with more than two enemies at a time. There could be a pack of Striders to your left and an enemy running across a field or pond to your right. The best advice we can give is to focus on whoever saw you first. If you have the choice between dealing with a player or a creature, go with your gut. If you have a large inventory of valuable goods, it's probably not a good idea to fight another player unless they see you or they're heading to the same location, like towards an Evac Ship. However, if you try to kill some Striders and then try to kill an enemy player, chances are you won't survive the fight because you'll have at least two enemies coming after you. Focus on one, then deal with the other.

3. Always pay attention to your Stamina

One of the easiest things to overlook in The Cycle: Frontier is your Stamina bar. Once you're on Fortuna III, your Stamina becomes both your best ally and greatest enemy. If you have full Stamina when you encounter an enemy, then your chances of surviving are much greater than if your Stamina is even half depleted. The game does not make it easy on your movement if you have low Stamina, so only sprint and jump when absolutely necessary. This will make combat simpler if you come across an enemy.

4. Focus on specific Factions

At the beginning of the game, Badum will tell you to complete jobs for all three Factions, and he's correct in saying that. During the early portion of the game, you should try and complete all of the Punch In missions for the three Factions. However, as you start to complete those missions and level up each Faction, you might want to pay attention to one in particular. Each Faction has different items for sale in their shop, mostly in the weapon section. If you're after a specific weapon that one Faction has, then you should focus on leveling up that Faction specifically so you can acquire that weapon quicker. Weapons for sale are locked behind specific Faction levels, so the higher your Faction level, the more you have access to. Focusing on all three at one time might slow progress toward unlocking the one weapon or item you're after. Of course, you should eventually level up every Faction but doing one at a time allows you to unlock higher-tier weapons and items faster.

5. Always Evac early

Again, it might seem like an obvious tip, but choosing to evac early rather than later can often be the difference between life and death. This can apply to The Cycle: Frontier in a couple of different ways. Naturally, whenever you feel you have enough loot for one drop, you should find the nearest Evac point. Going after one more piece of loot or mission item could end badly, and then you're left with nothing. Players from the Prospect Station are always dropping onto Fortuna III, so you never know if a new enemy could appear out of nowhere and end your run.

Alternatively, if you hear that a Cycle storm is coming in, you don't want to keep looting. Usually, you're given five minutes to evac before the storm comes in, after which you're not able to use an Evac Ship until the storm passes. Our advice is to get to an Evac Ship as soon as the storm announcement comes in, as this gives you ample time to find an evac point and deal with any potential enemies that have the same idea as you.

6. Remember to sell and sort valuable items

Not all of the loot you find on Fortuna III will be used for printing purposes or for a Faction mission. Some of the loot you find is strictly meant to be sold and net you a nice profit. After each run, go through your inventory and read the description of each new item you looted. If it sells for a solid number of K-Marks and you don't feel you need it, then sell it. You can do this at any Faction shop or the Quick Shop located right near the drop Terminal of Prospect Station. However, be wary of selling certain Legendary items, as these are often needed later on for a Faction quest or for crafting higher-tier gear. Most of the time, you want to keep a Legendary item unless you're completely sure you don't need it. Whenever you loot a Legendary item, it's best to store it in your Quarters.

7. Complete Daily Jobs

This goes back to leveling up specific Factions. Outside of the Campaign missions for each Faction, there are also Daily Jobs you can complete for each one. These are found in the next tab over from the Campaign and refresh every day. Completing these quests every day can give you a nice boost to that Faction's level, allowing you to gain access to new weapons and items.

8. Don't be afraid to use the Insurance system

Like in Escape From Tarkov, before a drop in The Cycle: Frontier, you can insure any items you don't want to lose. This is done at the drop Terminal right before you land on Fortuna III. If you're taking a valuable weapon or item with you on that specific drop, then you can either choose to insure it or place it in the Gear Salvage column. Insuring an item means that if you die and leave it behind, you'll receive a K-Mark payout for that item's monetary worth. For example, if you insure an assault rifle worth 1,000 K-Marks and die, then you'll receive that money so you can possibly buy another assault rifle.

If you place items in the Gear Salvage column, you can pay a certain number of resources to ensure that the item is salvaged if you fail to evac. The more items you place in the column, the more resources or tokens you need to pay. Don't be afraid to use these systems, as your gear can sometimes be difficult to replace.

9. Take enough ammo on each drop

Since The Cycle: Frontier features creatures along with enemy players, having enough ammo to survive a single drop is paramount. While it might feel like your inventory is being cluttered with ammo packs at the start of a drop, you have to remember that you'll likely burn through a large quantity of that ammo during the course of your drop. So as time progresses and you fight more creatures/players, you're opening up more inventory slots for loot. You don't want to find yourself with no ammo at an Evac Ship and an enemy player chasing you down just because you didn't take enough of it at the start.

10. Ensure you have healing supplies and a Mineral Scanner

Something that's overlooked in The Cycle: Frontier is your Mineral Scanner. This item is introduced to you during the tutorial and it's a key item in the game. The scanner allows you to see where minerals are in your vicinity. However, the game fails to mention that the Mineral Scanner is not a permanent item you keep through death like the Pickaxe is, for example. If you die without putting the Mineral Scanner in your Safe Pockets, you will need to buy another at Prospect Station and re-add it to your inventory. Going to Fortuna III without a Mineral Scanner can lead to some rough navigating.

Also, make sure you always pack enough healing supplies. You can buy an infinite amount of weak Stims at the Quick Shop or the Faction stores. Even having 5-10 of these is sometimes not enough if you get into multiple encounters during a drop. Stocking up on healing is one of the best ways to ensure you can survive a drop, along with taking enough ammo.

Those are our 10 beginner tips for The Cycle: Frontier. We hope your drops on Fortuna III prove fruitful. Good luck!