Star Wars Zero Company beginner guide

The shortest useful version

A deployment uses up to four Operators. Each has three Action Points, and movement, attacks, Utilities, and Abilities draw from that same pool in any order. Landing hits build a shared Advantage pool that can power abilities without spending AP.

Cover lowers the chance of being hit. Flanking and high ground improve your shots. An Operator reduced to zero health becomes Downed and gains an Injury. On standard settings, three Injuries cause permanent death.

Permadeath on or off: choose settings you will keep playing

If this is your first squad tactics game, Normal is a sensible place to learn hit chance, action order, and the campaign economy together. Permadeath is enabled by default and can be disabled in the settings. Turning it off for a first campaign is a valid way to learn without losing a favorite Operator.

Leave permadeath on if roster pressure is part of the appeal. EA confirms the toggle but does not document every rule it changes, so read the current in-game description before starting the campaign.

• Choose Story if objective rules and action order are both new and repeated failures would block learning.
• Choose Normal if you are ready to compare hit previews, accept misses, and recover from a bad turn.
• Save Hard or Expert for tactics experience or a later campaign; published launch guidance recommends finishing once before Expert.
• Set permadeath separately from combat difficulty according to how much roster loss you want to manage.

Use this checklist before the first move

• Read the objective and any turn limit before choosing a target.
• Inspect every deployed Operator, their displayed AP costs, and the cover at each possible ending position.
• Pick one exposed or removable enemy that the squad can defeat before the enemy phase. Do not spread opening damage across the whole group.
• Use scans, explosives, displacement, or a flank before the expensive attacks when they improve more than one follow-up shot.
• Keep the final actions for safe cover, urgent healing, or Overwatch after that Operator has finished everything else.

Follow one complete first-turn sequence

• Setup acts first: reveal the priority target, break its cover, or move it into a clean firing lane.
• Use Call for Backup when it offers a useful assist. The action costs 0 AP, so it should not be forgotten while the selected pair has line of sight.
• Let the most reliable shooter land the next hit and add to the shared Advantage pool.
• Send the closer after the same target. Removing one enemy before its phase prevents more damage than leaving several enemies wounded.
• Finish with healing, protected movement, or Overwatch. Overwatch ends that Operator's turn, so activate it last.

Finish the objective, not only the firefight

• Eliminate or clear: remove the required threats, then check whether the mission still expects an interaction or extraction.
• Interact: move an Operator to the yellow objective, reserve the displayed AP cost, and use the named action instead of ending beside it.
• Hold or defend: clear the marked area so its counter can advance, then cover the lanes used by reinforcements.
• Evacuate: move every required Operator into the extraction area before ending the mission.

Avoid these early mistakes

• Ending in the open because the current target looks almost dead.
• Activating Overwatch before all movement and support actions are complete.
• Ignoring an Injury because the Operator was successfully rallied.
• Spending every credit before checking facility upgrades and the Black Market.
• Using the same small group every mission and leaving most Bonds undeveloped.
• Treating every timed Operation as mandatory when the campaign is designed around choices.

Return to The Den before the next deployment

• Talk to available companions, inspect Injuries, and choose the Operators needed for the next mission.
• Compare expiry timers, spend Intel on the Operations that matter, and reserve Credits for treatment or an Upgrade.
• Equip the squad before starting a Tactical Mission. Completing it advances the campaign to the next Cycle.