Mechanic
Armor
What keeps you in the trade long enough to win it.
Armor is the protection you buy into a Loadout to survive the trades around the Control Zone. More armour means you win more even fights, but it costs Cash and can weigh on mobility, so match it to the job. A clean death still refunds most of your kit, see Redeploy.
Know the wiki. Now play the game.
AE Gaming runs organised WARDOGS every night with free comms, a planning map and a base builder. Reading is half of it, the other half is a squad.