Star Wars Zero Company offers a deep strategic experience where success hinges not only on combat prowess but also on meticulous preparation and resource management during the lulls between missions. While the game's tutorials effectively cover combat tactics, crucial decisions about team readiness and operational planning often occur in the downtime.
Prioritize Base Upgrades
Continuously upgrading your base facilities should be a constant objective. Focus on essential upgrades for your medbay, crew bonding areas, and roster expansion. Less critical enhancements, such as those found in the black market, can be deferred. Higher-tier unlocks, like additional utility slots, become available as your overall den level increases through mission completion.
Leverage Astromech Droids
Astromech droids, though non-combat units, provide significant tactical advantages. They can grant a selected unit extra Action Points (AP) for an additional turn or allow all allies to act again if sufficient advantage points are accumulated. Their utility extends to self-healing and bypassing enemy defenses, making them invaluable support assets that compensate for their lack of direct offensive capabilities.
Embrace Varied Team Compositions
While a balanced team with a scout, heavy, medic, and droid might seem ideal, Star Wars Zero Company encourages experimentation. Consider unconventional pairings, such as using two scouts for marking targets to negate hit penalties, followed by a sharpshooter for long-range elimination, with a droid enabling the sharpshooter to act again. Alternatively, a squad of scoundrels and assault units could overwhelm enemies with melee and close-range attacks. Exploring unique combinations is key to discovering effective strategies.
Understand and Utilize Class Strengths
Thoroughly understanding each crew member's class, abilities, and passive traits is vital. The personnel panel at your base provides this information. For instance, scoundrels excel at dealing extra damage during assist strikes and can ignore a significant portion of enemy defense. Their melee attacks can also refund AP upon defeating an enemy, making them efficient for finishing off weakened foes. Sharpshooters, on the other hand, can expend all AP for a single powerful strike and benefit from self-buffs that increase critical hit chances, making them ideal for high single-target damage.
Respecialize Your Crew
Players can change the class specialization of any crew member, including established characters like Hawks and the initial Zero Company members. This option is accessible through the "focus tree" menu under the "change specialization" selection. While personal talents are often locked, class specializations can be altered, and additional specializations can be unlocked later in the game.
Maximize Influence Gains
Gaining influence in each zone is a critical, albeit passive, component of the game. Achieving influence milestones unlocks various perks, ranging from useful bonuses like extra den points to entirely new utilities. Actively engage in side missions and send operators on missions that contribute to zone influence to reap these rewards.
Manage Mission Deadlines
Star Wars Zero Company features strict deadlines for its operations. Effective planning is required to gather sufficient intel and complete objectives within the allotted time. Successfully clearing operations not only boosts influence but also provides credits and unlocks more significant missions, such as character-specific quests. Prioritize missions that align with your overall goals and ensure they are completed before their deadlines expire.
Conserve Special Abilities
While an aggressive approach can be effective in some missions, many scenarios introduce reinforcements or multi-phase encounters, especially against infected cult members. Most class-specific special moves have limited uses per battle. It is prudent to conserve these powerful abilities for later in a mission when they can have a more significant impact.
Engage with Crew Dialogue
Storytelling in Zero Company extends beyond critical path missions. Interacting with your crew members, including non-playable characters, after missions can reveal new quests or provide insights into the game's narrative. These conversations are always valuable for uncovering additional content and understanding the game world.
Equip Utilities Wisely
Ensure every crew member is equipped with the maximum number of available utilities before embarking on a mission. Initially, this is one utility slot, expandable later through den upgrades. A mix of offensive and support items is recommended to handle diverse situations. For example, a scout could use a smoke grenade after using their recon ability to provide cover while the party gains advantage. Heavies can use grenades to soften enemy groups before engaging in close combat.
If your squad lacks a droid or medic, ensure at least two members carry stims for health restoration to improve survivability.
Stay Informed Through News Broadcasts
Check the hologram located outside Hawks' office for news broadcasts, which are typically updated after each main mission. These broadcasts offer valuable context for Zero Company's events within the broader timeline of the Clone Wars.