A major part of the gameplay loop in Marathon is interacting with the various factions that make up a large part of the game's lore. There are six total factions in Marathon, and each one offers unique upgrades, Armory purchases, and contracts that you can take on for extra loot and credits.

By default, you only have one faction unlocked, with the other five remaining locked and inaccessible. If you want to unlock those other factions so you can start taking on more contracts and unlocking better upgrades in Marathon, take a look at the guide below.

Unlocking all factions in Marathon

The six factions in Marathon are: CyberAcme, NuCaloric, Traxus, MIDA, Arachne, and Sekiguchi. When you start Marathon, you'll immediately have the CyberAcme faction unlocked, and it serves as your introduction to the entire system. You'll learn how contracts work, which upgrades you have access to, and where to spend your credits.

However, the other five factions will remain locked, regardless of how many drops you go on or your current level in Marathon. The only way to unlock more factions in Marathon is to complete specific contracts, called Liaison Contracts.

These are presented to you fairly early on in Marathon, and each one unlocks a new faction. Liaison Contracts are only given to you after you meet some requirements, though.

First, you need to complete the "Welcome to Tau Ceti" contracts for CyberAcme. There are two Welcome to Tau Ceti contracts, labeled "1" and "2," and here's what each one 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

Once both of those contracts are completed, you'll start seeing Liaison Contracts appear for the CyberAcme faction. These are called "Introducing:" contracts as well. Every Liaison Contract is different depending on the faction that it's for, and usually deals with the specific background of the faction.

Here are the Liaison Contracts and what they entail for all five locked factions in Marathon:

• NuCaloric Liaison Contract (Introducing: NuCaloric)
  • Acquire NuCal Employee ID
  • Download Employee data
• Traxus Liaison Contract (Introducing: Traxus)
  • In Dire Marsh, hack the terminal at Intersection, Complex, or Bio-Research
  • Acquire Shipping Manifest from UESC Commander
  • Scan the nearby stacked shipping containers before they are picked up
• MIDA Liaison Contract (Introducing: MIDA)
  • Defeat 15 UESC across Tau Ceti IV
  • Smash 20 glass across Tau Ceti IV
• Arachne Liaison Contract (Introducing: Arachne)
  • Deal 60 damage to enemy Runners
  • Down an enemy Runner
• Sekiguchi Liaison Contract (Introducing: Sekiguchi)
  • Inject the Necrotic Sample in Southern Flight Control
  • Scan your shell in a southeastern Orientation

Completing the Liaison Contract for any of the five locked factions in Marathon will then allow you to access it from the faction menu. From here, you can begin taking on contracts for that faction and rank it up to unlock new skills from its skill tree. You'll also see new loot for sale on that faction's Armory page, which includes new items to barter for using Enhanced Salvage.

There are a couple of ways you can go about the factions in Marathon. As you can only have one contract active at a single time, you're usually stuck to only ranking up one specific faction. While you can choose to spread out which contracts you take, arguably the best route to take is to mid-max the faction you like the best.

You can like a faction due to its upgrade tree, the lore behind it, or the contracts that are available from it. If you can manage to rank up a faction enough to have all of the upgrades you want, then you can move on to another faction.

Of course, if you want upgrades and new Armory items from all six factions in Marathon, then you want to take different contracts from every new faction you unlock so you rank them up equally. Either way, as long as you have all six factions unlocked, you have the option to rank them up in whatever way you see fit.