A serious a part of the gameplay loop in Marathon is interacting with the assorted factions that make up a big a part of the sport’s lore. There are six complete factions in Marathon, and each presents distinctive upgrades, Armory purchases, and contracts which you can tackle for further loot and credit.
By default, you solely have one faction unlocked, with the opposite 5 remaining locked and inaccessible. If you wish to unlock these different factions so you can begin taking over extra contracts and unlocking higher upgrades in Marathon, check out the information under.
Unlocking all factions in Marathon
The six factions in Marathon are: CyberAcme, NuCaloric, Traxus, MIDA, Arachne, and Sekiguchi. Whenever you begin Marathon, you may instantly have the CyberAcme faction unlocked, and it serves as your introduction to your complete system. You may learn the way contracts work, which upgrades you could have entry to, and the place to spend your credit.
Nevertheless, the opposite 5 factions will stay locked, no matter what number of drops you go on or your present degree in Marathon. The one strategy to unlock extra factions in Marathon is to finish particular contracts, known as Liaison Contracts.
These are offered to you pretty early on in Marathon, and each unlocks a brand new faction. Liaison Contracts are solely given to you after you meet some necessities, although.
First, it’s essential full the “Welcome to Tau Ceti” contracts for CyberAcme. There are two Welcome to Tau Ceti contracts, labeled “1” and “2,” and here is what each entails:
- Welcome to Tau Ceti 1:
- Defeat three UESC enemies in Perimeter
- Scan the FIL Array at any UESC radio tower in Perimeter
- Welcome to Tau Ceti 2:
- Sabotage a UESC Comms Antenna in North or South Relay in Perimeter

As soon as each of these contracts are accomplished, you may begin seeing Liaison Contracts seem for the CyberAcme faction. These are known as “Introducing:” contracts as nicely. Each Liaison Contract is totally different relying on the faction that it is for, and often offers with the particular background of the faction.
Listed here are the Liaison Contracts and what they entail for all 5 locked factions in Marathon:
- NuCaloric Liaison Contract (Introducing: NuCaloric)
- Purchase NuCal Worker ID
- Obtain Worker information
- Traxus Liaison Contract (Introducing: Traxus)
- In Dire Marsh, hack the terminal at Intersection, Advanced, or Bio-Analysis
- Purchase Transport Manifest from UESC Commander
- Scan the close by stacked transport containers earlier than they’re picked up
- MIDA Liaison Contract (Introducing: MIDA)
- Defeat 15 UESC throughout Tau Ceti IV
- Smash 20 glass throughout Tau Ceti IV
- Arachne Liaison Contract (Introducing: Arachne)
- Deal 60 harm to enemy Runners
- Down an enemy Runner
- Sekiguchi Liaison Contract (Introducing: Sekiguchi)
- Inject the Necrotic Pattern in Southern Flight Management
- Scan your shell in a southeastern Orientation

Finishing the Liaison Contract for any of the 5 locked factions in Marathon will then will let you entry it from the faction menu. From right here, you possibly can start taking over contracts for that faction and rank it as much as unlock new expertise from its talent tree. You may additionally see new loot on the market on that faction’s Armory web page, which incorporates new objects to barter for utilizing Enhanced Salvage.
There are a few methods you possibly can go in regards to the factions in Marathon. As you possibly can solely have one contract lively at a single time, you are often caught to solely rating up one particular faction. Whilst you can select to unfold out which contracts you are taking, arguably the most effective path to take is to mid-max the faction you want the most effective.
You may like a faction as a result of its improve tree, the lore behind it, or the contracts which might be obtainable from it. If you happen to can handle to rank up a faction sufficient to have the entire upgrades you need, then you possibly can transfer on to a different faction.
After all, if you’d like upgrades and new Armory objects from all six factions in Marathon, then you definitely need to take totally different contracts from each new faction you unlock so that you rank them up equally. Both approach, so long as you could have all six factions unlocked, you could have the choice to rank them up in no matter approach you see match.
