Marathon's 1.0.6 Update
Bungie deployed patch 1.0.6 for Marathon, adding the C.A.R.R.I. system, new weapons, CyberAcme commendations, and a protocol that rewards both solo players and crews. ( ) The developer took servers offline on April 14 to apply the update and is also testing an experimental mode that forces all players to use basic free kits to reduce instant team wipes for newcomers. ( )
Bungie pushed Marathon update 1.0.6 live on April 14, adding a new reward system that pays solo players and squads for finishing contracts and extracting alive. (bungie.net) The patch’s centerpiece is C.A.R.R.I., short for CyberAcme Runner Reinforcement Initiative. Bungie said players earn CyberAcme Commendations by helping crewmates finish objectives, completing objectives alone, or extracting as a Rook, then spend them in a new armory on weapons, salvage crates, and faction reputation packs. (bungie.net) Bungie also added Stay Together, an end-of-run feature that lets players form a new crew with runners they just extracted with. The company said only one crewmate has to make it out for that option to appear. (bungie.net) Marathon is an extraction shooter, which means players enter a map, grab loot, and lose carried gear if they die before extraction. Bungie said last June that it wanted “a better player experience for solo/duos” after delaying the game from its planned September 23, 2025 release. (bungie.net, bungie.net) Patch 1.0.6 also adds beginner protections. Bungie turned the Perimeter beginner map into a solos-only space available through Seasonal Level 12, said it has lower odds of encounters with other runners, and added five new contracts there. (bungie.net) The update landed after scheduled maintenance on Tuesday, April 14. Marathon Help said sign-on went down at 5:00 a.m. Pacific time, players began getting removed from activities at 5:30 a.m., and maintenance was tied directly to update 1.0.6. (help.marathonthegame.com) Bungie paired the patch with balance changes and new rewards pass items, including four new runner shell styles, a WSTR shotgun style, and a profile emblem. The studio also said solo players now get more runner level and faction reputation, while standard contracts pay more faction reputation for everyone. (bungie.net) Another test starts April 15. IGN reported Bungie’s Dire Marsh Sponsored experimental queue requires every player to use a white-tier free sponsored kit for about two weeks, a ruleset game director Joe Ziegler said is meant to study the game’s early gear economy under fixed low-level loadouts. (ign.com) That experiment follows Bungie’s recent pattern of testing features in public before locking them in. Ziegler said the studio is also working to make duos a full feature in Season 2 after earlier queue tests. (ign.com) For now, Bungie is using 1.0.6 to make Marathon less punishing at the bottom end without changing its basic rule: get in, complete contracts, and get out with your gear. (bungie.net, bungie.net)
