There has never been a better time to play Star Wars Zero Company. EA and Bit Reactor have released Patch 1.2, introducing a wealth of new gameplay settings that allow players to tailor their campaign experience to their exact preferences, significantly boosting the game's replayability.
Star Wars Zero Company was lauded as an excellent XCOM-like tactics game upon release, but its post-launch support was initially sparse, particularly after Bit Reactor furloughed many developers prior to the game's debut. However, the studio recently brought back some of those furloughed workers and has now delivered Patch 1.2, which extends beyond mere bug fixes.
The update implements gameplay adjustments intended to encourage greater use of the Upgrade Facility and to rebalance Cly's Combat Jump movement ability, which was previously considered overpowered. The most impactful additions are the numerous campaign modifiers that grant players unprecedented control over a campaign's difficulty. It is important to note that these modifiers must be enabled before commencing a new playthrough, as they cannot be altered mid-campaign.
Previously, unit permadeath in Zero Company was relatively uncommon, requiring three injuries within a single mission for an operator to be lost. The new patch introduces options such as "Instant Death," where any defeated unit is permanently lost after a single injury, or "Two Strikes," which allows for two injuries before permadeath. For those who prefer a more traditional challenge, a static or escalating "risk of death" can be enabled, adding a chance for units to die even when only injured once or twice, based on the selected injury limit.
Players can also opt to disable health increases gained from Focus Points, prevent cross-training between disliked operator pairs, or reduce the advantage gained from specific attack types. A particularly noteworthy addition is the "No Perfect Shots" modifier, which introduces an element of chaos by capping the maximum chance to hit for any attack at 99%.
These new settings can collectively make Star Wars Zero Company considerably more challenging, even on its standard difficulty, offering precisely the kind of replay value that encourages players to delve back into tactics games. The prospect of a playthrough with "Instant Death" and "No Perfect Shots" enabled is particularly appealing for a renewed experience.
Star Wars Zero Company Update 1.2 is now available on PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X. Bit Reactor has also indicated plans to "explore additional configurations in future updates" regarding campaign modifiers, suggesting further customization options may be on the horizon.
Star Wars Zero Company Patch 1.2 Patch Notes
The comprehensive patch notes detail a wide array of new features, balance adjustments, and bug fixes.
New Features
Campaign Modifiers
Modify Injury Limits
- Instant Death: An Operator defeated in a Tactical Mission is permanently killed, regardless of how many Injuries they currently have. Operators injured during Operations on the Galaxy Map are not killed in this manner.
- Two Strikes: An Operator defeated in a Tactical Mission with one or more Injuries is permanently killed. Operators injured during Operations on the Galaxy Map are not killed in this manner.
- Three Strikes: The default rules for Star Wars Zero Company. An Operator defeated in tactical combat with two Injuries is permanently killed.
Add Risk of Death
- No Risk of Death: The default rules for Star Wars Zero Company. Operators only die in Tactical Missions when they are injured enough times to be killed under the currently selected death rules.
- Static Risk of Death: All Operators have a 20% chance to be permanently killed when defeated in tactical combat. Operators injured during Operations on the Holo-Table do not suffer this risk.
- Escalating Risk of Death: All Operators have a 20% chance to be permanently killed when defeated in tactical combat. Additionally, the first time an Operator is defeated in tactical combat and survives, the risk of death permanently increases to 40%, and then to 80% on the second defeat. All further defeats in combat remain at 80% risk. Operators injured during Operations do not suffer this risk, and injuries during Operations do not increase the risk of death.
Health Progression
- Standard Health Increases: Operators gain +1 Maximum Health for every 3 Focus Points they have received.
- Reduced Health Increases: All Operators gain +1 Maximum Health for every 6 Focus Points they have received.
- No Health Increases: Operators do not receive any Maximum Health increases from Focus Points.
Bond Progression
- No Cross Trainings Between Disliked Pairs: Operators do not receive Cross Training from Bond Level increases until they reach Bond Level 4.
Advantage Rules
- No Advantage from Area Attacks: Area Attacks such as grenades do not generate Advantage when damaging enemies.
- No Advantage from Assist Attacks: Assist Attacks such as backup shots do not generate Advantage when damaging enemies.
- Reduced Advantage from Damage: Damaging attacks that generate Advantage have only a 50% chance to increase Advantage.
Tactical Modifiers
- Assist Shots Can Miss: Assist shots follow standard ranged attack rules.
- Enemies Can Critically Hit: All enemy ranged and melee attacks gain a 5% chance to critically hit for +8 damage.
- No Perfect Shots: All Operator ranged attacks have a maximum chance to hit of 99%.
Lockout Modifiers
- Locked Talent Respec: Players cannot change the talent of any Operator.
- Locked Tactical Respec: Players cannot change the primary or secondary specialization of any Operator.
- Locked Weapon Respec: Players cannot change the weapon of any Operator.
- Locked Recruitment Refresh: The Refresh Recruits button in the recruitment facility is unavailable.
Feature Updates
Balance
- The Astromech's Self-Repair ability is now limited to twice per combat, with healing scaled by AP spent.
- The Astromech's Built-In Comlink ability is limited to three uses per turn at maximum rank.
- The Scout's Tactical Timing passive progression has been rebalanced, and Scouts now only gain Advantage from ranged and melee attacks.
- Cly’s Electroweb Dart is limited to 3 uses per turn.
- Cly’s Combat Jump is limited to 1 use per turn.
Upgrade Facility
Numerous costs for weapon, crew, and facility upgrades have been reduced, including upgrades for Longarm Critical Chance, Pistol Movement, Repeater Damage, Rifle Range, Medical Beds, and Influence.
Recruitment Facility
Operators will now consistently cost 100 Credits to recruit.
Call For Backup
The Call For Backup ability can now be bound to a player-chosen hotkey.
Bug Fixes
Numerous bug fixes have been implemented across abilities, customization, cinematics, gameplay, performance, stability, targeting, overwatch, and UI. Notably, issues with Visser’s Miasma, Cly’s abilities, Tel-Rea’s deflection, and various mission progression blockers have been resolved. Stability has been improved with fixes for several crashes and softlocks, including those occurring during tutorials and saves. UI elements have also been refined, with corrections to the Radial Menu, Upgrade Facility warnings, and the Tactical Mission complete screen.