A hive city on Avarax has been invaded by Tyranids, and to slow the horde down, a scheme to detonate a Nova Cannon Warhead has been hatched in lieu of the standard orbital bombardment, which has been deemed too destructive for the delicate recovery operations Titus and his squad are engaged in. Once again, this secondary objective has been left up to the customizable space marine squads found in Operations mode, and two more Dataslates are ripe for the picking. This page will help you find all the Dataslates in the first Operations mode mission, Ballistic Engine in Space Marine 2.

Page Breakdown¶

Ballistic Engine Dataslates¶

A pretty standard bug hunt, this Operations mode mission will see you fending off against hordes of Tyranids as you fight your way towards an objective - no Chaos, no bosses… well, except for the random spawns on higher difficulties. There are, however, some outdoor segments where you’ll be plagued by dust storms that drastically reduce visibility, and if you’re a pessimist your first thought might be that some of the Dataslates will be hidden in these segments. Fortunately, that’s not the case - while annoying to navigate through, at least you don’t have to worry about missing collectibles in the storms during this mission.

You start out in one of these storm-blasted outdoor segments - make the long trek inside the “Militarum Depot” - you’ll know you’re there as you’ll have to press a terminal to open some doors to get inside - then head right until you find the first Dataslate on a table. You’ll miss this if you continue too deep into the facility and start a holdout segment at a terminal - just don’t drop off any ledges until you get it, however, and you’ll be fine.

The first Dataslate is pretty close to the start of the mission, but the next one takes a bit of doing to get. After the lengthy holdout section where you try to “Awaken the Machine Spirit”, ride an elevator and fight through the rest of the facility to reach another outdoor, windswept area. Proceed until you interact with a terminal to deploy a bridge, cross it, then use another terminal to open some doors and continue to the control room. Use yet another terminal to clear an obstruction out of the way of Nova Cannon Warhead, then exit the control room via another door and drop down two ledges to the trainyard.

Follow the tracks to the left until you hit some rubble blocking the way, then turn right until you find a tank. The second Dataslate is on some crates next to the tank. This Dataslate is much closer to the end of the mission, and missing it will require a fairly lengthy replay. As long as you don’t leave the trainyard (read: don’t drop down another ledge) you’ll have time to root it out. After this all you need to do to complete the mission is ride an elevator and complete another holdout segment.

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The main gimmick of the Operations mode mission “Ballistic Engine” are the dust storms that’ll lower visibility when you’re outside.

Dataslate 01: Missing Servo-Hauler¶

At the start of the mission you’ll find yourself in an outside area, prone to low visibility due to recurrent dust storms. Press on, making your way down, then up stairs and ramps until you find some doors leading inside. Use a terminal to open the doors, then head inside and turn right, left, then right again to reach the rightmost room in this building. You’ll find the first Dataslate on a desk.

This Dataslate is near the start of the mission, so it’s not much of a bother if you miss it. The point of no return for this Dataslate is deeper in the facility, after you drop down a ledge, to reach an area where you’ll need to holdout against waves of xenos while trying to complete the objectives “Awaken the Machine Spirit” and “Await Completion of Transfer Protocols”.

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(1 of 2) Advance through the first storm-wracked area and into the Militarum Depot,

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Advance through the first storm-wracked area and into the Militarum Depot, (left), and work your way right until you find the first Dataslate on a desk. (right)

Dataslate 02: War Preparation, Avarax¶

Complete the holdout segment in the depot (the aforementioned objectives objectives “Awaken the Machine Spirit” and “Await Completion of Transfer Protocols”) then you’ll start the objective “Advance to the Train”. Ride an elevator and fight your way out of the facility to start another outdoors segment, complete with dust storms. Assemble at and extend a bridge, then cross the bridge and head inside a structure, use a terminal to open a door, proceed to the control room overlooking the trainyard, and use another terminal to move an obstruction out of the way of the payload.

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(1 of 3) Press on through the mission until you reach a control room. Use a terminal to move an obstruction,

Once that’s all done, exit the control room and drop down some ledges to reach the business end of the trainyard. From where you land, head left and follow the tracks until rubble obstructs your way, then turn right and follow the rubble to find a tank. This Dataslate is on some crates next to the tank.