Beginner's Guide to STAR WARS Zero Company

STAR WARS Zero Company is a single-player turn-based tactics game developed by Bit Reactor, set during the twilight of the Clone Wars. As Hawks, a former Republic officer, you lead an unconventional squad called Zero Company through a 30-40 hour campaign filled with tactical combat, squad management, and an original story centered on a mysterious threat known as the Infinite Coil.

Understanding the Basics of Combat

Combat in Zero Company plays out from an isometric perspective with a strict turn order: your entire squad always acts first, followed by the enemy. Each operator on your team receives 3 Action Points (AP) per turn, which can be spent on movement, attacks, abilities, and defensive stances like Overwatch. Short repositions cost less AP than long sprints, while attack costs vary by weapon type — some weapons consume all remaining AP in a single shot.

One of the most important things to do at the start of every encounter is assess the battlefield. Look around to identify enemy positions, check objectives marked in yellow, and inspect individual enemies by hovering over them to view their health, defense, buffs, and passive abilities. The Shot Breakdown panel will show your exact Chance-to-Hit before you commit to an attack, so always review it before pulling the trigger.

A crucial detail that new players often overlook is that you do not have to complete one operator's turn before acting with another. You can freely alternate between operators, spending their AP in any order you choose. This flexibility is essential for setting up powerful combos — for instance, placing one operator on Overwatch before using another to flush enemies out of cover.

The Advantage System

Beyond Action Points, Zero Company features a shared resource called Advantage. Your squad builds Advantage by landing successful shots on enemies and performing certain class-specific actions, such as a Scout using Combat Recon. Advantage accumulates across your entire team and carries between individual operator turns within a round.

Advantage can be spent to activate powerful abilities that go beyond standard attacks and movement. Learning when to bank Advantage for a critical moment versus spending it immediately is one of the key strategic decisions you will face throughout the campaign. Early on, focus on building Advantage consistently by taking reliable shots rather than low-percentage gambles.

Cover, Flanking, and Destructible Terrain

Positioning is everything in Zero Company. Cover significantly reduces the enemy's chance to hit your operators, so you should almost never leave a squad member standing in the open at the end of their turn. However, much of the environment is destructible, meaning that cover you rely on can be blown apart by enemy fire or explosives, leaving your operators dangerously exposed.

Flanking is equally important on offense. When you position an operator to the side or behind an enemy's cover, you negate their defensive bonus and dramatically increase your hit chance. Coordinate your squad's movement to create flanking angles before committing to attacks. The interplay between destructible terrain and flanking means the battlefield is constantly shifting, so reassess your positioning every turn.

Building Your Squad and the Den

Between missions, you return to the Den — Zero Company's home base and central hub. Here you manage your growing roster of operators, which can expand up to 20 members over the course of the campaign. The Den houses key facilities for upgrading your squad, reviewing intel, and selecting your next operation. Investing time in the Den's systems between missions is just as important as performing well in combat.

Operators in Zero Company fall into eight distinct specializations, each bringing unique abilities and roles to the battlefield. As you progress, you can recruit custom operators to round out your squad composition. Pay attention to the synergies between specializations — a well-balanced team that covers multiple roles will handle the campaign's escalating challenges far better than a squad stacked with a single archetype.

The game also features a permadeath system tied to injuries. When an operator takes severe damage, they can sustain lasting injuries, and if things go badly enough, that character can be permanently lost — along with all the investment you have put into them. This raises the stakes considerably and makes careful, methodical play far more rewarding than reckless aggression.

Essential Beginner Tips

Always inspect enemies before engaging. Knowing an enemy's health, defensive stats, and any special abilities they carry lets you prioritize targets and allocate your AP efficiently. Enemies with buffs or dangerous passives should generally be dealt with first, before they can disrupt your squad's positioning.

Use Overwatch liberally, especially when you expect enemies to reposition during their turn. Overwatch lets you place an adjustable cone of fire, and any enemy that moves through it will be fired upon automatically. Combining Overwatch with abilities that force enemy movement can result in devastating damage without spending AP on your own offensive turn.

Finally, do not neglect the story and intel systems. Zero Company's narrative follows an original Clone Wars storyline revolving around the Infinite Coil, a shadowy organization whose members are infected by something called the Shadow Plague — granting them dangerous new abilities. Understanding the threat you face and engaging with the Operations and Intel systems at the Den will help you prepare for what lies ahead and make informed choices about which missions to tackle next.