Match

A Match in The Cycle: Frontier lasts 6hr , during which players can enter and leave by dropping in or by Evacing respectively.

Matchmaking

When a Prospector chooses a map and deploys, the game will attempt to find a server for the player with the following requirements, as long as the player is Trusted:

1. Not full
2. Roughly within the skill of the player (see MMR)
3. Same exact squad sizes, or roughly the same, depending on the map (see Buckets)
4. Not going to close soon (see Server Closing)

Trusted Matchmaking

Patch 2.0.0 introduced a system called Trusted Matchmaking. This system attempts to split platform (steam or EGS) accounts of legitimate players (trusted) and new platform accounts (untrusted) into separate servers. Legitimate players will get matched up with other players based on their MMR. Untrusted players do not have any matchmaking

• Most users are automatically trusted, as they already qualify for the requirements listed below based on their previous activity or purchases on that platform.
• The game does not do any matchmaking in untrusted matches (neither MMR and Buckets), it simply drops them in a server that is not full or about to close.
• If anyone in the squad is untrusted, the Match is played in untrusted servers until all untrusted players leave the squad.
• Both Steam and Epic Games have this system.
• The exact requirements to get into trusted queues are secret, but the following factors seem to play into it:
  • Account Age
  • Purchase History
  • VAC Bans on Steam
• Buying anything in the game with real money guarantees getting into trusted matchmaking.
• Dropping in as solo in Bright Sands is a good way to determine if an account is trusted or not. If duos and trios can be seen dropping together, the account is untrusted (see Buckets).

MMR

Matchmaking Rating (MMR) is the value that determines in which Bucket a player will drop in. As of Patch 2.6.0, this is based on prospector Kill Death Ratio (KDR, kills / deaths), and as of Patch 3.0.0, it also incorporates a form of gear score into the value.

• When a player kills another player, their KDR goes up, and when they die to another player, it goes down.
• Dying to map hazards or creatures does not lower KDR.
• The KDR is overall KDR based on total matches, not on recent matches.
• When playing in a squad, it uses the squad's average KDR to determine which bucket they get placed in.
• Matchmaking does takes Gear you drop with into account, loosely matchmaking players based on their gear. This does not mean that it limits players to only seeing the same gear, as big come ups are still possible, albeit rarer than before.
• Gear based matchmaking splits players up roughly into two different groups: low gear and high gear. It is suggested that this is currently only active on Bright Sands.

Buckets

Each map has buckets that separate the players based roughly on their skill. Since Patch 3.0.0, every map has the same buckets.

• 2 different buckets for Solos, for Duos and for Squads, so six buckets total.
• Bright Sands also splits up players by good and bad gear, so that means 12 buckets total.
• This means: Players should never be in a lobby with squad sizes other than their own in Bright Sands, as long as they are trusted.

Match Closing

Server instances for maps have a limited uptime before restart/shutting down in order to dynamically change available servers based on population and keep performance in check. This only affects the specific server instance, not the entire game and players can safely redeploy into a new instance as soon as they have left one that is closing. Please be aware that maintenance may cause different behaviour.

Server Instance Closure

• Server uptime, each server instance of each map has a maximum of 6hr uptime.
  • If maintenance or other unforeseen situation occurs, this can be shortened.
• Closure warnings ("Server Shutdown Warning" in top-right corner of screen) are sent 20min , 10min and 5min before the instance closes.
  • No prospectors will drop in during the last 30min of a server instance.
• Anyone left on the surface when the server shuts down/restarts will be disconnected and lose anything they have on them.
• Once safely evacuated, it is possible to directly drop down onto Fortuna again without waiting as it will be done on another server instance.

Maintenance Closure

Closure of the whole service acts similar to server instances, but with slight differences.

• Shutdown warnings also appear in the station.
• Additional warnings at 30min , 25min and 15min alongside the normal warnings for each instance.
• Players are unable to drop during this shutdown
  • (There is a known issue that sometimes causes players to be able to still drop during maintenance shutdowns)
• Maintenance shutdowns do not coincide with server instance lifetimes and may shorten the lifespan of a instance in order to abide to the maintenance schedule.

Player Limits

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