Marathon MIDA Faction: Priority Contracts & Leveling

MIDA is the 3rd Faction to approach our Runner with a proposition to cause anarchy among the corporations that operate around Tau Ceti. MIDA offers promises of causing chaos, and they want you to help them disrupt the UESC and spread a path of destruction. 

Once you have progressed the CyAC Priority Contract, Gantry will contact you to request your services. 

How to unlock MIDA

After Gantry, MIDA’s spokesperson, gets in touch to sell you their cause, you can get straight into their introductory contract. Very straightforward, but it can take time as you tick off the numbers. This contract requires you to visit any map and:

• Defeat UESC across Tau Ceti IV (15)
• Smash glass across Tau Ceti IV (20)

For this, Intersection on Dire Marsh was a great place to accomplish both aspects. On certain spawns, there can be plenty of UESC here and plenty of windows across the area. Other places can be Complex, which have both plenty of UESC and windows, and you can also easily travel between the two areas to build up a good amount of takedowns and smashed windows to clear the quest. 

The UESC defeats can be of any type of class. If it’s a robot, take it out for progress. 

Windows can be destroyed with bullets or melee. The latter is recommended just to save ammo and not make noise to alert other Runners in the area. 

MIDA Priority Contracts: ORDER/CHAOS

Now with the introduction done, you can really get to grips with MIDAs ideals about bringing down these mega corporations through sabotage. 

It’s worth mentioning that every step in this and the next MIDA contract must all be done in a single run, which can be challenging, but this guide is here to get you through as easily as possible. 

In a single run:

• Trigger alarms in South Complex by hacking a terminal 
• Acquire Security Commander credentials 
• Download data from the terminal inside South Maintenance

Travel to Dire Marsh to get this one started, and from the spawn, make your way to Complex, which is found on the right side of the map. On the southern side of the main building, there will be a yellow-painted office with a white container right outside, numbered ‘192’, with the terminal located inside.

Once you interact with the terminal, an alarm will sound a drop ship will arrive right outside with a Commander aboard. As soon as they land, a marker is placed on the Commander whom you have to defeat. It will also have support, so stay in cover and try not to get caught in the open. 

The Commander will drop the security credentials upon defeat, so make sure you collect them to progress to the final stage of the Contract. It will drop on the ground, not in its loot bag. 

Now you have to travel across the map to Maintenance. You should enter the area already on the right side, and the terminal is located in the warehouse building. Interact with the terminal to complete the Contract. Exfil to return to the menu screen to claim your prize.

PROTECT/DESTROY Priority Contract

PART 1

This Contract is divided into five parts, each of which must be completed in one full run. 

Go to Dire Marsh and complete the following steps:

• Destroy the biosample analyzer inside the West Quarantine
• Acquire UESC Biohazard Sample
• Deliver the sample to DCON

Load into Dire Marsh and head straight to Quarantine to get this Contract rolling. When you come to the biosample, you are required to destroy it to collect the sample. 

Once destroyed, it drops the sample for collection, and it goes into your inventory, so you have to ensure there is room to carry it. 

A DCON container spawns close to Quarantine, just to the South of the building. 

Once here, the box acts more like a storage box than a loot box. You have to transfer the sample from your inventory to the DCON box for Exfil. Once you place it in the box, an animation will begin to confirm a successful drop. Proceed to Exfil to collect your rewards and move on to part 2. 

PART 2

In a single run on Dire Marsh:

• Download Malware from the terminal in the West Gate gatehouse
• Submit a dropship request south of Canal
• Upload malware to the UESC dropship

On spawn, travel to West Gate, located in the area in the top left of the map. The gatehouse looks like a road checkpoint with a tower. You must get inside to access the terminal. Once done, head to Canal, which is located centrally, towards the bottom of the map. The location is on the outside heading south of the area. 

Once done, a dropship will arrive, which you have to climb to the top of. It lands next to a walkway above your current location, so you can drop back and climb up, and then run across to get on top of it. A prompt will appear for you to upload the malware. 

Drop straight off once done, as the ship will try to leave, and if you stay, you will be instantly downed. The ship then explodes in the distance, completing the contract. Head to exfil to claim your rewards and activate part 3.

PART 3

In a single run on Dire Marsh:

• Install UV protocol from secure room in southwest Intersection
• Tag marked locations across Dire Marsh (3 in either Maintenance, AI Uplink, Complex)

Travel straight to the Intersection area on your map. The building is one of the single towers found on the edge near the outer wall of the area. You will find a drawer on the opposite side of the stairs to open and acquire the UV protocol item.

For this guide, we found the best area to visit was Maintenace which was the safest place to travel to fulfill the final requirements. Once in the area, you can investigate the surrounding area for places to tag. These will become visible on your HUD with a green marker. When we ran this again, the markers appeared to change, so it won’t always be the exact location.

Look for large containers or walls to tag. Once you have done 3, the Contract is complete, and we can move on to part 4.

PART 4

In a single run on Outpost:

• Download shipping manifest from the terminal in the northwest Processing
• Scan tagged containers in Airfield
• Hack the second-floor terminal in Flight Control, then exfil

Head straight to Processing on spawn and head to the left-hand side of the building. There you will find a terminal to complete step 1. 

This one can be tricky as you need to keep your eyes peeled. In the eastern side of the Airfield, there is a hangar that contains all 4 of these containers in and around the zone. Each container is marked with a green ‘X. From playing there, 2 inside the hangar and 2 just on the outside, a marker on your HUD will appear when you get close.

Once all 4 are marked, head to Flight Control and onto the 2nd floor. Hack the terminal, and then the intense part begins. You MUST successfully Exfil from Outpost or all progress resets. This really is the tricky part, so play slowly and move safely. When you’ve activated the Exfil, take cover and wait for the countdown to kick in, dive into the circle, and get out of there.

PART 5

In a single run of Dire Marsh:

• Hack the shipping database in Intersection
• Using explosives, blast open a container in Complex
• Exfil UESC Resource Stockpile

With the final step here, a very important tip to note is that on point 2 of your Contract, you do genuinely need an explosive piece of gear to complete this. A basic grenade will work or even Destoyer’s Prime ability. Just keep this in mind, as if you don’t have an explosive or at least find one, you’ll be stuck. 

When you’re in, head straight to Intersection, and you will find the terminal in the main building at the back of the area. Once hacked, you will need to head to Complex, which has containers all around the outside area. Your objective is found in the smaller containers.

When closed, it will be highlighted by a green marker on your HUD. You will now have to break it open using the explosive of your choice. For this guide, we used a standard grenade. Land it relatively close, and it should crack open. 

The resource is inside, and you must collect it to carry it to Exfil. It does take up space in your inventory, so ensure there is room to carry it. 

After that, make it to Exfil and get out of there to complete Part 5 and finish out the first round of MIDA priority contracts. 

Upgrading the MIDA Faction

It’s worth noting here that more priority contracts become available for MIDA after hitting Rank 10 with the Faction. We will add a guide here to complete when it becomes available.

MIDA’s Faction upgrades are largely around tools such as grenades, but the main draw isthat they offer boosts to your Agility and Anti-Virus protection, and that would be the main focus to gain a passive boost to all your runs. 

These are found under:

• Flex_Matrix.EXE
• Anti_Virus.EXE
• Full_Throttle.EXE

And a very useful one for Exfils, which creates a smoke cloud when activating an Exfil site:

• Cloud_Cover.EXE
• Reputation gain

Completing these tasks will passively grant Faction Rep for MIDA during your runs.

• Complete MIDA Contracts
• Loot lockboxes and Munitions crates
• Find coordinates and loot caches
• Complete secured resource events
• Exfil MIDA valuables