Marathon’s server slam opens to massive player counts, and the race has only just begun

Marathon, Bungie’s turbulent take on the extraction shooter genre, has just started its server slam beta. And, to my genuine surprise, it has attracted over 140,000 concurrent players within the first hour or so of the beta’s release, with the Steam chart set to keep rising as the day progresses.

According to SteamDB, Marathon‘s server slam is seeing about 142,028 concurrent players at the time of writing, with the beta opening about an hour before this article’s release. And this is just the PC side of things, where we have easily verifiable charts to leer at compared to consoles, which no doubt have just as many players hopping into the game to try it out.

So many folks are trying to get in that a server queue has appeared, and even Steam itself started glitching out and throwing up error after error for those trying to install the game. We haven’t seen site-crashing activity like this for a while. The last time it happened was Silksong‘s release day, and while that level of catastrophe is yet to be replicated, Marathon is on the path to becoming one of Steam’s most-played games before it even releases.

This has to count as a major victory for Bungie, who hasn’t had the best experience developing Marathon into what it is today. After changing several directors, suffering from major internal woes, and sowing doubt among players, Marathon seems to have emerged like a phoenix out of the ashes, captivating a huge crowd as soon as it became available.

We’ll have to wait and see how players will like it in the long run and how many of them will remain in the wake of ARC Raiders‘ strong position in the extraction shooter genre, but these initial numbers do look mighty impressive.

And I hope they keep climbing up.

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One of the early contracts in Marathon requires you to scan the FTL Array at any USEC Radio Tower, and the task can be slightly tricky.

This is likely going to be your first contract where the game doesn’t tell you where you need to be. The task is actually rather simple once you know where you need to reach and be. This guide will simplify the process and allow you to get all the applicable rewards.

How to locate the FTL Array in Marathon

The first task is to receive and keep the contract active. As of writing, only a contract can be kept active at any given time. Once done, start a run. Ideally, I am finding it easier to complete contracts with teammates rather than going solo.

You begin on the Perimeter map since it’s part of the contract. Once the run begins, head to the Station location. While there can be more towers located in other parts of the map, the Station POI was the nearest one for me when I was about to complete this contract.

The Station is pretty easy to locate, but the same can’t be said about the FTL Array on the USEC Radio Tower. If you’re close to the tower, you’ll find the quest icon (yellow colored) appearing on your screen. The tower can be found about E 100 on the overhead compass. However, I have marked the exact location on the image below to make it easier for you. The location isn’t random, and you’ll always find the FTL Array at this location.

How to scan the FTL Array in Marathon

Once you’ve located the tower, use one of the attached ladders to climb up. Look for a blue-colored terminal, and it will have an interactable FTL Comms Chip on it. If you’re this close to the tower, you can simply follow the icon as well.

Interact with the FTL Array and complete the scan, and this will complete your contract. Once you end your run, you’ll be able to redeem all the applicable rewards as allotted by the contract.

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