Star Wars Zero Company Q&A Reveals Clone & Customization Info

If you've been keeping tabs on Star Wars Zero Company, you're in for a treat, because a fresh wave of details just dropped straight from the developers. The tactics title first got people talking a while back, then went quiet for a stretch before resurfacing at Summer Game Fest with a proper gameplay trailer.

Now, with launch just around the corner, the team behind Star Wars Zero Company hosted a community Q&A over on the official EA Star Wars Discord, and they pulled together a batch of the best answers for fans to dig into.

Star Wars Zero Company is landing right in the middle of what's shaping up to be a stacked back half of the year for gaming.

It's set to release on August 27th and will share a launch day with Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 2, and a handful of other titles are dropping around the same window too. Pricing is $49.99 on PC via Steam, while console players will pay $59.99 digitally.

There's also a physical disc version available, though it's worth noting upfront that the disc itself is incomplete, so you'll still need to download extra content either way. Now let's get into what people actually wanted to know. First up: clone troopers.

Yes, you'll be able to build out a full squad of them. Operators in Star Wars Zero Company come with clone armor cosmetics right from the jump, and there are bonus helmets that even modulate your character's voice for that authentic clone sound.

Full access to recruiting clone troopers unlocks once you hit a certain point in the story so that you won't have them from minute one, but they are absolutely a long-term goal worth working toward. As for how long it'll take to finish, the developers are estimating somewhere between 30 and 40 hours for the average player to wrap up the main campaign. 

However, that number shifts depending on your chosen difficulty and how familiar you already are with the strategy genre.

A big chunk of the Q&A focused on Hawks, Star Wars Zero Company's central character. According to the team, figuring out who Hawks would be took a long time internally. They wanted someone who could serve as a natural leader for this ragtag group of unlikely heroes while still feeling emotionally grounded and relatable.

That balancing act shaped everything from the writing to the voice work, which changes depending on whether you pick the male or female version of the character, described as landing somewhere between a rugged outlaw type and a more buttoned-up, procedural personality.

On top of that, you can customize Hawks' species, first name, appearance, and outfit, so the version of Hawks you end up playing can look and sound pretty different from what's shown in the marketing materials. Hawks is mandatory for every story mission, no way around that, but skirmish missions are a different story entirely.

Those let you bring whatever combination of operators you want, no restrictions. On the flip side, if Hawks dies during combat, that's an automatic mission failure, and you'll be sent back to try again. People are also curious about a Collector's Edition, and unfortunately there's nothing official to share on that front just yet. The developers did tease that more news should be coming within the next few days, so keep an ear out.

Customization runs deep beyond just Hawks.

The team confirmed there will be plenty of clone armor variety, including different helmet styles, paint jobs, and patterns, so trooper fans should have a lot to play around with. Modding support, though, is officially off the table. There's no plan to open the game up to the mod community at this time.

Visually, most cutscenes render in real time rather than being pre-rendered, which matters because it means the customized look of your characters will actually carry through into cinematic moments instead of reverting to a generic default.

On the roster side, your operator limit at home base starts at seven and can eventually be expanded up to a maximum of 20 through upgrades and story progress. Some of those slots get filled by story-specific characters as you go, while others are yours to fill and customize freely.

Weapon variety is also confirmed, with four total weapon classes, each offering somewhere between four and six cosmetic model options to choose from. Out in the field, your squad caps out at four operators for standard missions, though certain story missions will let you control extra characters beyond that.

Between missions, you're managing a strategic layer where time only really advances once you commit to a combat mission.

You'll spend a resource called Intel to carry out operations across the galaxy map. While some of those opportunities can expire if you wait too long, certain missions become mandatory once enough time passes. If you're wondering about Jedi in this game, Tel-Rea Vokoss is confirmed as the only Jedi Padawan-class operator available, so you'll want to keep her alive and well throughout your playthrough.

On the enemy side, specifics are still being kept under wraps, but the developers did confirm you'll be facing off against larger mechanical threats during certain missions. There was also a good question about whether the lack of fog of war would make sniper-heavy strategies too dominant. The response was that snipers remain a completely valid playstyle.

However, line of sight still matters even with full map visibility, meaning a squad built entirely around snipers might actually end up landing fewer kills overall. Weather effects, meanwhile, are purely visual and won't impact your squad's performance or visibility in any way, and outfits are confirmed to be cosmetic only with no gameplay impact whatsoever.

A few more armor-related answers came up too. Phase I ARC Trooper armor will be locked behind the Deluxe Edition's cosmetic pack, and Beskar armor is reserved specifically for a character named Cly Kullervo rather than being available to your custom operators. New Game Plus won't be included at launch, though replaying the game will unlock additional customization options over time.

As for enemy factions, all three confirmed groups play differently enough that you'll need to adjust your approach for each.

Ion weapons are recommended against the droid-heavy Separatist Alliance, Infinite Coil enemies require careful target prioritization due to their varied abilities, and Outlaw factions tend to rely on sheer numbers to overwhelm your squad. Astromech droids unlock fairly early, and once you've recruited enough of them, building a full team is totally possible, aside from Hawks always taking one required slot on story missions.

Unfortunately for anyone hoping to flip enemy droids to their side, Separatist battle droids cannot be recruited as playable operators, no matter how creative your capture method might be. There won't be any specialized call-ins like airstrikes or extraction options either. Hawks has to survive and make it out of a mission to count as a success, so careful planning matters more than relying on rescue options.

Nicknames also work differently than in other tactics games; instead of being earned naturally through gameplay, you can fully customize your operators' names and backstories yourself. And finally, no species or faction has better weapon proficiency than another, since the developers wanted to avoid pressuring players into picking a specific species to stay competitive.

This Q&A cleared up a ton of lingering questions heading into release.

Between the clone trooper customization, the Hawks character work, and the tactical depth being promised across squads, factions, and the galaxy map, there's a lot packed into this one. Star Wars Zero Company has clearly been building toward a strong, XCOM-inspired experience, and fans of Star Wars Zero Company finally have a much clearer picture of what to expect.

More details, including that promised Collector's Edition update, should be arriving soon. Until then, this Q&A gives a solid look at just how much thought has gone into shaping Star Wars Zero Company ahead of its release.