The tutorial: how to skip it
The game starts the tutorial on your first launch. After the wipe at the start of Season 2 it does so again, but the skip works the same way:
- Wait until the opening sequence ends and you land in the training base.
- Press ESC.
- Wait about 15 seconds until the Leave Match button in the bottom right unlocks.
- Click it. You return to the menu, and the tutorial won't come back.
Don't choose "Exit to Desktop", because that simply closes the game. A bit of trivia from players: there is an achievement for attacking the instructor.
When the tutorial or the game loads forever
- Infinite loading screen: most often this is shader compilation without a progress bar. Wait 5–15 minutes. Verifying the game files in Steam and updating your graphics drivers helped others.
- "Stuck in tutorial only mode" (Season 2): after finishing the tutorial, the game keeps showing the startup windows every few seconds and won't let you onto servers. Players suggest verifying files, restarting and waiting about 30 s in the menu. There is no confirmed fix as of October 17, 2026.
- The WD-L020 crash (caused by the Windows 11 update KB5124010) was fixed in patch 0.1.2.
How a match works in 30 seconds
Three teams (up to 100 players) fight over a random 2×2 km Control Zone. The team with the most players in the zone scores a point roughly every 30 s. The first team to 100 points wins. In the Hot Zone, the moving part of the zone, you count double and earn double cash. The counter of players in the zone is in the bottom left corner.
Your first hour: what to buy
The game's Steam page says everyone starts with $10,000. The Season 2 patch notes don't repeat that amount.
- Join a squad first (ESC → Squad). You get a private radio, pings and a better chance of being revived.
- Buy a cheap kit. In Season 1 the advice was: the free pouch backpack, the free Bushmaster rifle, a magazine plus loose ammo, about 5 bandages, a resuscitator and binoculars from the Recon tab. Instead of an expensive rifle, get a level 1 helmet and armor. The whole kit costs under $1,000.
- In Season 2 the AK74 is unlocked from the start on the Assault track and costs $800. Binoculars went up to $180.
- Keep a reserve for about 3 more kits. With a $1,000 kit, put $3,000 aside.
- Check whether you are paying to unlock an item or to buy it for this life.
Where to play: the DEPLOY button lets you choose Official, Community, Infantry Mode or Low-Level servers (with modifiers for low-level players). Learn to fly on the Firing Range from the main menu first, where the NPC on the left spawns any vehicle for free.
How to make money within the rules
Your cash stays in your account between matches. Team actions pay, while winning itself pays little (about $1,200 in Season 1).
| Method | Season 2 payout |
|---|---|
| Being in the zone | periodic, double in the Hot Zone (rates not published) |
| Spotting with binoculars | about 30% less than in Season 1, more for valuable targets |
| Kill with an assault weapon | $2,000 |
| Destroying a vehicle | e.g. Humvee $600, T-72B3 $8,000, Havoc $14,000 |
| Capturing an enemy tower | $1,500 and 300 XP |
| Delivering a pallet to a FOB | $1,250 plus a +$250 streak for each one in a row |
| Delivering a player | $100 plus a +$25 streak |
| Healing and reviving | a bandage pays back more than it costs, plus Medic XP |
The easiest options for new players:
- Recon: buy binoculars, find a good spot and keep the target in view until the outline fills. You get assists for everything you mark that dies, no matter who kills it. Vehicles and FOBs pay more.
- Logistics: a Ural or a large helicopter, drop pallets with G. Details in the building and FOB guide.
- Building: a hammer and a FOB, build inside the zone.
- Medic: a defibrillator, med kits, level 3 armor, and play from the back.
A team that trails second place by at least 40 points gets a 20% vendor discount. When you are downed, you can set a payment for being revived (Bribe), which is cheaper than a new kit. A driver who brings the Spawn Vehicle to the zone earns money for everyone who spawns on it.
BULKHEAD punishes abusing economy bugs with a temporary ban and a reset of your cash and XP. Playing on XP farm servers for more than a few minutes and teaching others exploits mean a permanent ban. Real Money Trading risks a reset and a ban without warning. In Season 2, abusing driver delivery runs led to 24-hour bans.
What you lose when you die
You buy your gear for each life. When you are hit, you are downed first and can wait for a revive. If you give up or bleed out, your body disappears and only your backpack remains. That is why players in expensive kits wait for a medic. There is no official list of what you lose; player guides say it is everything you were wearing.
A crashed helicopter with 5 people on board means 5 lost kits. It works the other way too: you can take the gear of a defeated enemy who has respawned.
Rebuy and saving loadouts
In Early Access you can't save a loadout. There is only Rebuy Last Loadout. In Season 2 this button fills the vendor screen with your last kit, which you can edit before buying. Sources disagree on which corner of the screen the button is in, and the screen changed in Season 2. Players are still asking for saved kits (October 17, 2026), and BULKHEAD has announced them without a date as part of a future metagame. For planning the weight and cost of a kit, try the external Loadout Lab (prices may be from Season 1).
Gold Bars, Gold Market and Gold Exchange
You can exchange spare cash for Gold Bars, the currency for cosmetics in the Gold Market. BULKHEAD promises it will never sell cash or Gold Bars for real money. At the end of a season your remaining cash turns into Gold Bars automatically, and cash and levels go back to zero. In Season 2 the Gold Market unlocks on the WARDOG track at LVL 35 for $150,000.
Since the start of Season 2, players see a message that the Gold Exchange is closed, including those who paid $150,000 to unlock it. As of October 17, 2026 the developers haven't explained why or when it will open. Players advise against spending $150,000 while it stays closed. At the end of Season 1 a bar cost about $250,000, according to players.
Which team to pick
You can choose LONESTAR (blue), VALKYRA (red) or MANTICORE (green). In Season 1 Lonestar won only 10% of matches, according to BULKHEAD. At the start of Season 2 it got a cash and XP bonus, but the developers removed it on October 15, 2026, after a single day. The 20% discount for a losing team applies to all teams.
Pick your team right away, ideally together with friends at the start of a match. When a team leads by more than 10 points, after switching teams you can't switch again for 15 minutes, your map is hidden, and you can only use the Spawn Vehicle after reaching the Control Zone. After a team kill, the victim votes Forgive or Punish, and penalties lead to kicks and bans.
12 tips from several sources
- The objective matters more than K/D. Be in the zone or help your team hold it.
- Keep your first kit cheap and save a reserve for several lives.
- Binoculars and spotting earn cash and Recon XP.
- Match your ammo: Armor Piercing against armored targets, Hollow Point against unarmored ones, FMJ for everything.
- Buy loose ammo instead of magazines. The C key in your inventory refills empty magazines.
- Take a resuscitator and a few bandages. In Season 2 there is also the paid Field Resuscitator for $425.
- Before a revive, throw smoke, check the corners and drag the body behind cover.
- Proximity chat is heard by all three teams nearby. Discuss plans on squad radio.
- Zero your scope with Page Up and Page Down, because bullets drop.
- Always carry a parachute in a helicopter. In Season 2 it opens more slowly and costs $500.
- Close FOB doors. In Season 2 you get $75 for it.
- Level several tracks at once: your WARDOG level is the sum of six tracks (Assault, Medic, Recon, Support, Driver, Pilot). More in the classes and leveling guide.
Prices, platforms and requirements are in our everything about the game article, and the full list of changes is in the Season 2 guide.
