How to complete the Marathon Introducing NuCaloric contract

Completing the Marathon Introducing NuCaloric contract from ONI grants you access to all sorts of NuCal goodies, and it’s also quite a simple quest. However, it's never safe on Tau Ceti, and this set of objectives sends you to a tick-infested building in a bit of a high-traffic area for other Marathon players, so it can be a bit tricky to pull off safely. If you're completely stumped as to how to complete Introducing NuCaloric in Marathon, I've explained the whole contract below.

Marathon Introducing NuCaloric walkthrough

The Introducing NuCaloric quest tasks you with grabbing an employee ID from a building in the Columns region of the Perimeter map, then downloading the data onto a terminal – two easy steps that you must complete in a single run, but you don't have to successfully exfil afterwards.

Before starting, I strongly advise making sure you've got several healing items (Patch Kits and Shield Charges) on you as you might get attacked by quite a lot of ticks. These exploding red bugs aren't especially dangerous but it's not ideal if they keep chipping away at your health. Furthermore, approach this tick-infested building with caution as other runners may camp here looking for easy kills. With all that in mind, here's what you need to do:

1. Head to Columns, which is between South Relay and Overflow, and look for the small building covered in red tick nests and organic goop – see the above map for the building's exact location.
2. Destroy the three tick nests on the outside of the building. This isn't necessary to complete the contract but will make the area safer. It's also a good idea to use your knife to make less noise, as our Marathon tips mention.
3. Use the ladder to the right of the building's front door to get onto the roof, then look for and smash open the roof hatch.
4. Drop into the building's storeroom and use the control panel next to the door to get out. Be ready to destroy two tick nests in the back-left corner of the building.
5. Open the door into the adjoining room and destroy the final tick nest on the ceiling.
6. In the same room, grab the NuCal Employee ID card from the shelf on the left. It's almost directly underneath the tick nest you just destroyed.
7. Interact with the orange computer across the room to download the data.

And that's it! End your run, preferably by exfiltrating safely, and you can hand in the contract to ONI, getting you some Enhanced Shields, Credits, Enhanced healing items, and more. Of course, you'll also get an introduction with NuCaloric's AI agent Gaius, unlocking the first of many Marathon Factions for you. You'll be able to earn reputation and complete contracts, including the Survival Direction priority contract. You'll also unlock the introducing MIDA liaison contract from ONI too, though you should already have the Marathon Introducing Traxus contract as well.

Best Marathon classes: Top-tier Runner Shells
Marathon weapons: Tools of destruction
Marathon DCONs: Deconstruction locations
Marathon Tox Clear: Vent the toxic gas
Marathon Silk: Unlock Reward Pass items

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