Active Matter Raid Types

Active Matter is one extraction shooter with several different contracts hiding under the raid menu. Open, Isolated, Unstable Zone, Collapse / overtime, Nexus, solo matchmaking, and collaborative TO ALL AGENTS objectives all share guns and sleeves, then throw away the rest of the rulebook. If you copy a chad loadout into the wrong queue, the kit was never the problem. This page is the queue picker. Geography lives on Dalniy Island, Downtown, and Airport Africa. The index is the maps hub.

The raid select screen is doing more work than it used to. Patch 0.4.0.62 rebuilt it into one list with three categories: Raids, Hired Ops, and Faction Battles. Isolated raids show a green subtype icon, Open raids a blue one. Unavailable-by-schedule raids collapse under Temporarily Unavailable with an hourglass and a countdown to the next rotation. Access levels still gate maps. Rare loot pockets stay color-coded on the select map and in raid. You can sit in simultaneous matchmaking for more than one raid. None of that helps if you still click Open Factory with a PASGT and a Vepr. Full menu recap: Patch 0.4.0.62.

Open PvPvE

Open is the default extraction fantasy: you, up to two squadmates, PvE anomalies, and other operatives who want your backpack. Squad size is three. Other squads exist. Suppressors, Active Headsets, and titan plates earn their keep. Factory hangars, Open Dogorsk, Open Headquarters, and standard Downtown are the classrooms.

Open is not “PvP only.” Turned Soldiers, Flowermen, Distorted, and the shrinking zone will still kill a squad that tunnel-visions a third-party. Ammo economy from the weapon tier list matters because you will dump a mag on a nest and then hear footsteps. A MAC-11 that is funny in Isolated Park is a liability when the second mag was supposed to be for players.

Bring a kit you can replace or bring rental gear. Rental is independent of the selected raid, so an Open Downtown scav kit does not have to be a saved Dalniy preset. Tactical beacons revive with random rental, which is an Open insurance policy, not an Isolated tool.

Isolated PvE

Isolated raids contain no rival squads. PvE, anomalies, timers, and your own greed remain. This is the learning queue and the loot-goblin queue. Access can depend on your edition — Isolated is no longer a free ticket spam. Old tickets converted to Crystallised Active Matter at 1:25. If your edition does not include the Isolated slot you want, do not invent a conspiracy; check the store page and play solo matchmaking Open as a downgrade.

Isolated is where budget kits belong: steel plates, PASGT, Pulse sleeve, empty pockets for keys. Park Isolated is still lethal because Flowermen do not care that you paid for PvE. Gigastructure Isolated still purges you if you miss the elevator. “No players” is not “no threat.”

Use Isolated to finish Investigations, craft-key runs (Port Crane, Armory, Hangar), and ceramic farms on Headquarters. Then stop. Staying Isolated forever is how you never learn Open audio.

Unstable Zone

Unstable Zone is the battle-royale-shaped raid. Downtown: Unstable Zone is the clean example. The safe area contracts. Exits get nastier. Playing a full loot circuit is a death. The kit is mid or chad CQB, not a museum of shotguns. Rotate on the clock. Fight on the edge. Leave pockets empty because you will pick up a plate mid-rotate and have nowhere to put it if you packed four receivers.

Unstable Zone can still be Isolated or Open depending on the slot. Read the queue text. Color-coded loot icons still apply — a hot Unstable Zone is a PvP magnet, not a free crate.

Overtime and Collapse

Overtime raids are timed events with extra rules. Headquarters: Assistance Protocol extended a shrinking extract for violators. Dogorsk: Timeline Collision dropped era-displaced soldiers and relic guns for a limited window. Downtown: Collapse is the standing overtime successor to America: Collapse.

Collapse means more operators, worse extracts, and a loot table that lies to you. Pack titan, TFMK-I, and a plan to leave. RPG-7, kamikaze drones, and Beast’s 9.5% bulletproof are the PvP tools. Pulse and ceramics are the Isolated learning tools. If the event says it closes, extract the guns; the raid going away does not delete what you already replicated.

Nexus Battles

Nexus is not extraction with extra steps. It is the large PvP mode. Vanilla Mall is the live map from the Gigastructure era. Vehicles, objectives, and respawns (including wave logic on some Hired Ops rulesets) replace safe containers and portal panic. Bring spray-friendly ARs and LMGs, Rebel’s explosion resist if you have it, and do not pack a Port Crane key. Details belong on Nexus Battles. If you queued Nexus with an Isolated Park flamethrower kit, you misclicked.

Solo matchmaking versus a three-stack

You can queue solo matchmaking so other squads are not in the raid, or so the matchmaker prefers solos versus solos. You can also queue group matchmaking and enter alone — that is how you get third-partied by a trio while you are holding a crowbar. Isolated is the edition-gated “no other operators” guarantee. Solo matchmaking is the softer version that exists on more maps.

If you are actually playing with friends, squad size is three. Voice, radial quick chat, and the teammate widget exist so you do not need to type while a Distorted phases. Collaborative contracts (below) are how you work with strangers without inviting them.

TO ALL AGENTS and other contracts

When you prepare a raid you pick Investigations; other contracts fill automatically. Operative objectives then chain: finish one, get the next. Monolith Tokens are not paid for those operative objectives.

Collaborative objectives are labeled TO ALL AGENTS in game. They are random global missions for everyone in the raid. You are expected to work with operators outside your squad. Rewards scale with engagement, not with who got the last bullet. This is the opposite of a kill-on-sight Open Factory habit. If the raid text says TO ALL AGENTS, shooting the only other person who can lift the cargo is how you fail the contract and still get third-partied.

Other contract flavors you will see in the same menu: Combat Practice (more varied targets), Vehicle Transfer (deliver the car), Collect and Extract, Cases under the Investigations terminal, Specimen Capture / Anomaly Capture with dedicated traps. High-Priority Cargo still uses Monolith Emission Scanners that now spawn upright so you can actually see them.

None of these replace extraction. You still need a portal. Read how to extract. Anomalies still need fire, headsets, and discipline — how to beat anomalies. Self-terminate exists if you are stuck in Gigastructure with no elevator and a kit you already accepted losing.

Practical queue order

1. New: Isolated Headquarters or Shegolskoe. Beginner guide, controls.
2. Keys and plates: Isolated Military Base / Cargo Port / Headquarters.
3. First PvP: Open Factory or Open Dogorsk with a mid kit or rental.
4. City: Isolated Downtown, then Open Downtown, then Unstable Zone, then Collapse.
5. Chaos: Gigastructure with empty pockets; Nexus only after you read the Nexus page.
6. Always: check rare loot icons, modifier (Distortion / Overgrowth), and whether the slot is Isolated or Open before you click.

Editions, Isolated access, and the 29.99 Standard buy-in are on editions. Steam and console storefront notes are on Steam and consoles. Patch history is the updates hub. If you only remember one line: the raid type is part of the loadout.