The shortest reliable Star Wars Zero Company walkthrough is to follow missions marked Critical, return to the Den after every deployment, and complete all useful base work before choosing the next Tactical Mission. A Tactical Mission ends the current Cycle, while Operations are shorter Galaxy Map assignments that can be resolved before that commitment when you have enough Intel. In combat, spend each operator's three action points deliberately, use Backup and Advantage to stretch the squad's turn, and leave once the stated objective changes to extraction.
Understand the Campaign Loop First
Every Cycle revolves around the Den's Holotable, where Operations and Tactical Missions can appear together and may expire. EA's FAQ says story-critical missions eventually become obligatory, so a Critical marker is the clearest official signal that an activity advances the main plot. Optional work can provide equipment, credits, influence, Intel, bond changes, or new assignments, but the official guide explicitly warns that one campaign cannot cover every opportunity. Use this order whenever the Holotable becomes crowded:
- Check which mission is marked Critical and how soon it expires.
- Resolve affordable Operations that support the next deployment.
- Review conversations, injuries, equipment, and upgrades at the Den.
- Select the Tactical Mission only when the squad is ready to end the Cycle.
Operations are non-combat assignments, although some include a dilemma whose choice can affect bonds or side missions. Tactical Missions deploy a squad into objectives such as sabotage, combat, rescue, retrieval, or a character-centered narrative scenario. Story missions may also include a short third-person exploration phase where Hawks can collect Intel or Advantage before the tactical encounter begins.
Prepare at the Den Before Every Mission
The Den is not a decorative lobby; it is the campaign's preparation and relationship hub aboard a decommissioned freighter at the Ring of Kafrene. Talk to teammates regularly because the official starter guide says these conversations reveal backstories and can unlock personal missions. Then inspect the available squad, assign Focus Points, adjust weapons and utilities, and treat any injuries before opening the final mission briefing.
Do not launch just to see the next map, because the selected Tactical Mission advances time immediately after completion. A standard Medbay bed takes a Cycle to clear an injury in the recorded Expert playthrough, which also did not offer the instant Bacta Tank option shown on lower settings. Whether Hard behaves the same way is Pending confirmation (待确认), so a healthy reserve roster is safer than forcing the same favorite operators into every deployment.
Use the Three-Action Combat Economy
Each operator starts a turn with three action points, and moving, attacking, or using an ability consumes the amount displayed by the interface. Weapon costs differ, so a position that allows several pistol shots may produce a very different turn from one built around a two-point longarm attack or an all-in repeater burst. Read the full action description before committing, because the gameplay footage repeatedly shows extra weapon effects, range rules, and ability limits beyond the headline damage number. These are the official core actions to build around:
- Move: spend AP to reach a highlighted tile and take cover when available.
- Attack: spend the listed AP on a ranged or melee strike.
- Call for Backup: add a nearby teammate's assist to an attack.
- Overwatch: reserve remaining AP for reaction attacks during the enemy turn.
- Rally: return a downed operator to action, while still recording an injury.
- Special Actions: spend shared Advantage rather than AP on stronger abilities.
The squad gains Advantage when it damages enemies, so an early hit can fund a stronger action later in the same round. Backup is similarly valuable because the assisting shot does not consume the helper's normal AP in the supplied gameplay footage. Before ending a turn, cycle through the whole squad and check whether an Advantage-funded action, assist setup, or useful Overwatch cone remains available.
Play the Objective, Not the Kill Counter
The mission objective appears at the upper left and is also marked on the map, making it more authoritative than the number of enemies still standing. StarWars.com's guide states that eliminating every enemy is unnecessary unless the objective explicitly requires it. When a retrieval, sabotage, rescue, or story task updates to extraction, start moving the team toward the exit instead of farming reinforcements.
The supplied early campaign footage demonstrates this during a retrieval mission: the squad opens the target container, defends it, and then withdraws while more enemies continue to arrive. All selected operators must reach the extraction area before the mission ends in that example, so leaving one slow unit behind delays everyone. Keep the group close enough to Rally a downed ally, and spend movement early when the route to evacuation is longer than one turn.
Manage Injuries and Permadeath Conservatively
A downed operator gains one injury when rallied, and three injuries cause death if permadeath is enabled. Injuries also reduce combat effectiveness in the captured playthrough, which means a repeatedly downed operator becomes harder to use safely even before the final injury. Heal or rotate that character rather than treating Rally as a consequence-free revive.
Permadeath is optional, and the official guide recommends it for the additional emotional and tactical consequences while still allowing mission restarts outside Beskar Mode. That recommendation is not a demand, so a first-time tactics player can disable the feature or lower campaign difficulty outside combat. Whatever setting you choose, protect operators with two injuries and avoid a greedy last attack when cover, healing, or extraction would preserve the run.
Follow the Early Critical Route Without Overfarming
The recorded opening begins with a tutorial deployment, introduces the Den and its Holotable, and then opens contract work that teaches Operations, expiring assignments, squad selection, and recruitment. The sequence later connects Zero Company with Republic Intelligence and points the team toward the Infinite Coil, matching the official premise that former Republic officer Hawks is gathering allies against that cult. Treat those early Critical assignments as the tutorial spine rather than waiting to clear every optional icon.
Third-party walkthroughs describe later destinations and major story turns in much greater detail, but they also expose substantial campaign spoilers. A spoiler-light route needs only one rule: continue the active Critical chain, return to the Den after each deployment, and use spare Cycles for personal stories or rewards only when the deadline permits. If a story objective disappears or changes after a major event, follow the new Critical marker instead of assuming the previous destination can still be forced.
What Remains Pending Confirmation
The supplied third-party sources use two different ways to count the campaign: one lists 12 named story missions, while another organizes the narrative into 14 chapters that include a prologue and epilogue. Those figures may describe different layers, but no supplied EA or StarWars.com source publishes a definitive chapter or mission total. The exact one-to-one count is therefore Pending confirmation (待确认), and this walkthrough does not merge the two lists into a fabricated order. The opening planet's spelling also varies across unofficial pages and automatic captions, so the article avoids treating a transcript spelling as definitive.
Several exact facility names, upgrade percentages, enemy health modifiers, and planet totals appear only in one unofficial guide and are not corroborated by the official material. They are intentionally excluded here because the reliable campaign decisions do not depend on them. Use the Holotable's current markers and in-game tooltips as the final authority when a patch or playthrough state differs from a third-party route.