One of the themes of Tactica Online is the interconnectedness of things, the hidden patterns just underneath the surface of everyday events. This is expressed in ways large and small, one of which is the way that skills are connected to each other.

These connections are called cycles, and they come in two main flavors. The first is a cycle of three skills, one from each faction's line. Each skill represents that faction's way of approaching a particular game mechanic, and as such they are good guides to the things that make each faction unique - the way they think about the world.