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Star Wars Zero Company is a single-player, story-driven turn-based tactics game set during the twilight of the Clone Wars. You command Hawks and an unconventional team of operatives against the Separatist-aligned Infinite Coil. The most important beginner habit is simple: read the objective, inspect your squad, and use the pause between actions to make a deliberate plan. You do not automatically deal damage just because two characters are facing each other, and you do not have to defeat every enemy unless the objective says so.

What Star Wars Zero Company is

Zero Company tells an original Clone Wars-era story rather than continuing another Star Wars game’s campaign. Hawks, a former Republic officer, leads a mixed group of operatives while the Infinite Coil threatens the galaxy. The squad can contain authored characters and operatives you create and customize, letting you shape a team that feels personal without requiring a fixed “best” roster.

It is a solo game. EA describes it as single-player, with no online or local cooperative mode and no competitive multiplayer. You can therefore approach each encounter at your own pace, pause to study the battlefield, and restart a mission when a plan fails.

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How a turn works

Zero Company is a turn-based tactics game, not a real-time blaster game. Combat pauses while you decide what an operator will do. That action resolves, and then the opposing side chooses its actions. The pause is the game’s central learning tool: you can inspect the situation before committing instead of relying on reflexes.

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Damage requires an action

Characters appearing to exchange blaster fire does not by itself mean that damage has been inflicted. An operator must take an action during the turn. This distinction prevents a common beginner mistake: assuming that simply moving into a firefight will produce a result. Select an action, confirm it, and then reassess the battlefield after it resolves.

A practical first-turn routine

  1. Read the objective. Identify whether you must reach a location, protect someone, retrieve something, survive for a period, or eliminate a particular target.
  2. Check the whole squad. Note which operators are available and how healthy they are before spending actions.
  3. Pause before every commitment. Look at the positions, threats and routes that matter to the objective.
  4. Spend actions on the win condition. Enemies that are irrelevant to the objective can often be ignored.
  5. Reassess after resolution. The situation changes when an action completes, so choose the next action from the new position rather than following a plan blindly.

Objectives matter more than a full battlefield clear

The official beginner guidance says you do not have to defeat every enemy unless the mission objective explicitly requires it. That rule should shape every decision. A squad that reaches its target safely has succeeded even if hostile units remain elsewhere on the map.

How to apply objective-first thinking

  • Read the objective text before moving or attacking.
  • Mark the shortest safe route to the required location or target.
  • Engage enemies only when they block that route, threaten the objective, or are named in the requirements.
  • Do not spend several turns “cleaning up” a side of the map when the mission can be completed without doing so.
  • When an optional fight would leave an operator badly injured, compare that risk with the actual reward of taking it.

This approach is especially important because missions advance the campaign cycle. A needless fight can consume health and leave fewer options for the next assignment.

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The Den: your planning phase between missions

The Den is where you prepare rather than fight. Hawks uses the Holotable to review tactical missions and non-combat operations available during the current cycle. You can also inspect operator condition and availability, talk with teammates, and complete other Den activities before deployment.

Use this pre-deployment checklist

  1. Open the Holotable. Review every available mission and operation instead of selecting the first icon you see.
  2. Check operator health. Make sure the people required for a difficult assignment are healthy enough to deploy.
  3. Check availability. An operator who is unavailable cannot fill a slot simply because you prefer that character.
  4. Review difficulty labels. Missions can be marked from Risky through Extreme. Treat the label as a warning to prepare, not as a command to avoid the mission forever.
  5. Talk to teammates if you want to. Conversations are part of the Den’s relationship layer and can help you decide which team developments matter to your playthrough.
  6. Finish the Den activities you care about. Once you launch a mission, the cycle advances and you cannot take every mission and operation that was available.

The last step is easy to overlook. If an operation, conversation or other activity matters to you, do it before deploying. The game’s cycle is deliberately selective: choosing one assignment means giving up some alternatives.

Choosing missions and operations

Tactical missions

Missions are combat assignments. Critical missions advance the main story, while other assignments can affect your resources and preparation. The Holotable shows the current choices and their difficulty labels. Before accepting a high-risk assignment, verify that the operators you expect to use are healthy and available.

Non-combat operations

Operations cost Intel and can award items, credits and influence. Some also strengthen or weaken team bonds. Intel comes from completing missions and gathering information. The official guide gives an example in which Hawks uses the PICO-5 electroscope while scouting in the field and may receive Intel.

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Because Intel is a limited planning resource and the cycle does not allow every activity, compare an operation’s likely benefit with the mission opportunities you would forgo. An operation that improves a relationship may be more valuable to your current squad than a short-term item; on another cycle, credits or influence may matter more.

Risk, health and future cycles

A hard mission is not only a question of whether you can win the encounter. Consider the condition in which the team will finish and what choices that condition removes next. A marginal victory that leaves key operators unavailable can be worse than choosing a safer assignment and preserving the roster.

Building a squad without chasing a universal “best” lineup

The available team includes a range of identities and backgrounds. Official examples include a Clone Trooper, a Mandalorian and a Jedi Padawan, alongside custom operatives whose species, appearance and other details you choose. The sources do not establish a single lineup that is best for every mission, so build around the assignment, the abilities you actually have, and the operators who are fit to deploy.

Evaluate mission fit

  • Availability: A powerful operator who is unavailable cannot solve the current mission.
  • Condition: Health matters when deciding whether to accept a Risky, Very Risky or Extreme assignment.
  • Abilities: Read what each recruited operator can do and consider how those options address the objective.
  • Relationships: A pair with a developed bond may provide useful support or synergy.
  • Flexibility: Keep more than one workable combination so that an injury or absence does not force an unsuitable deployment.

Bonds and cross-training

Progression at The Den includes skills, equipment purchases and relationship development. EA says bonds can unlock support abilities, combat synergies and cross-training benefits. Treat bonds as a reason to invest in relationships that complement the operators you regularly field, not as proof that one pair is mandatory.

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There is no evidence here for importing fixed roles such as “tank,” “healer” or “scout” from another tactics game. Inspect the abilities in your own roster and ask what they contribute to this mission. The PICO-5 electroscope example shows one way to gather Intel; it does not establish an optimal scout build.

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Planning a turn step by step

When you are unsure what to do, use the following decision order. It deliberately avoids assumptions about action-point counts, weapon statistics or hit percentages, none of which are established in the official beginner material.

  1. State the immediate win condition. Say what must change for the mission to move toward success: a position, a target, a protected character or a survival requirement.
  2. Identify blockers. Determine which enemies or hazards actually prevent that change.
  3. Compare available actions. Choose the action that advances the objective while exposing the fewest operators to unnecessary danger.
  4. Resolve and observe. Wait for the action to complete, then inspect the new battlefield state.
  5. Preserve future options. Avoid ending the turn in a position that strands an injured operator or makes the next objective impossible.
  6. Stop when the objective is complete. If the mission does not require exterminating the remaining opposition, do not create extra risk for no reason.

Difficulty, tutorials, permadeath and restarting

Tutorials and on-screen prompts introduce the core systems. Difficulty can be changed at any time outside combat, so you can select a setting that makes learning enjoyable and adjust it as your confidence changes.

Permadeath is optional

Permadeath is a choice rather than a requirement. The official guide presents it as an option for players who want greater emotional stakes. If you are learning turn-based tactics or the game’s own systems, leaving it off gives you more room to experiment. If you want every injury and loss to carry permanent consequences, you can opt in.

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Restart a failed plan

You can restart a mission from the game menu and try a different strategy with the same operators. Use a restart to test a new route, prioritize the actual objective, or bring a different available combination rather than repeating the exact sequence that failed.

Common beginner mistakes and fixes

Attacking because enemies are nearby

Problem: You spend actions on a target that does not affect the objective.

Fix: Re-read the objective and identify the minimum opposition that must be handled.

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Deploying without checking the Den

Problem: You launch a mission while an important conversation or operation remains unfinished, then lose access when the cycle advances.

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Fix: Review missions, operations, operator condition and desired Den activities before deployment.

Assuming every mission is a total-clear encounter

Problem: You treat surviving enemies as failure even when the objective has been met.

Fix: Follow the explicit objective. Eliminate everyone only when the mission requires it or when doing so is necessary for safe completion.

Forcing an injured favorite into a hard assignment

Problem: A preferred operator is unavailable or unhealthy, but you accept an Extreme mission anyway.

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Fix: Check the roster first, consider another squad combination, or choose an assignment that protects future availability.

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Repeating a failed attempt without changing the plan

Problem: The same sequence produces the same collapse.

Fix: Restart from the menu, change the first objective-driven action, and reassess after each resolution.

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Campaign scale and expected length

EA Help estimates the main campaign at around 30 to 40 hours, with the exact time varying by chosen difficulty and your experience with tactics games. That is an estimate, not a guaranteed completion time.

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EA’s June 5, 2026 announcement describes an ever-changing galaxy map featuring more than 150 planets. This is a campaign-map count, not a promise that every planet is a separate combat level or that visiting all of them is required for the story.

Platforms, editions and optional extras

EA lists Zero Company on PC through the EA app, Steam and the Epic Games Store, plus PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. EA Help confirms physical Standard Edition copies for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S through selected retailers; regional stock and current availability can change.

Option Availability or contents What a beginner should know
PC EA app, Steam and Epic Games Store Digital platform choice; check the store serving your region.
PlayStation 5 Digital release and physical Standard Edition through selected retailers Confirm current retailer inventory and edition before buying.
Xbox Series X|S Digital release and physical Standard Edition through selected retailers Confirm current retailer inventory and edition before buying.
Standard Edition Base game Includes the complete game; physical availability is platform- and region-dependent.
Deluxe Edition Base game plus cosmetic content and weapon themes Cosmetics are optional and are not gameplay prerequisites.
Collector’s Edition Launch announcement describes a Limited Run Games package with a themed Hasbro Black Series Thermal Detonator, Steelbook, desk mat and more A premium collector package, not a requirement for playing or progressing.

The original soundtrack, composed by Gordy Haab, is listed on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Listening to it is an optional companion activity, not a game requirement.

Do you need prior Star Wars experience?

No. EA Help says the game tells an original Clone Wars-era story and does not require playing another Star Wars game first. Familiarity with the setting may add context, but the campaign is designed to stand on its own.

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A compact preparation checklist

  • Read the exact objective before taking your first action.
  • Remember that an action, not an apparent exchange of fire, produces combat results.
  • Check operator health and availability at The Den.
  • Review every mission and Intel-costing operation before deployment.
  • Complete conversations and other Den activities you want before the cycle advances.
  • Choose a squad for the assignment and available abilities rather than a universal recipe.
  • Use bonds, skills, equipment and cross-training to support the operators you actually field.
  • Adjust difficulty outside combat and decide whether optional permadeath fits your preferred stakes.
  • Restart a mission when a plan fails, then change the strategy instead of repeating it.

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