Where Star Wars Zero Company Could Go Next

Warning: The following proposal contains spoilers for the entire campaign.

After finishing the game, I think it is clear that we finally have a very solid Star Wars title that does not need to revolve around Jedi. Zero Company offers a well-constructed story, interesting characters, impressive maps, and an excellent foundation for turn-based combat. It captures Separatist sentiment, the final stages of the Clone Wars, and Order 66 particularly well. Above all, it proves that soldiers, mercenaries, droids, and ordinary people armed with blasters can carry a compelling Star Wars story.

Even so, I finished the campaign feeling that a few things were missing from what could be an even richer Star Wars experience. Most missions eventually lead to similarly structured open combat. Players have limited opportunities to prepare an engagement, reach an objective without raising the alarm, capture an enemy alive, or use the environment as something more than a collection of cover positions.

Even the final battle aboard a ship does not fully take advantage of its setting. Once again, it largely consists of spacious halls rather than the kind of close-quarters corridor fighting seen at the beginning of Episode IV.

For future development, I would therefore suggest three separate expansions. Each would have its own central theme, new Operatives, and one major guest character. Their order would be important: the mechanics introduced in the first phase would return in the second, and all of them would ultimately form the foundation of the third expansion.

The proposed order is:

1. Espionage, Infiltration, and Resistance
2. Mechanical Friends
3. Piracy

These would not be three disconnected content packs. First, the game would learn to work with infiltration, prisoners, carrying people, and preparing the battlefield. These systems would then support the acquisition of droids and the looting of military depots. Finally, everything would come together in cartel contracts, space operations, and boarding actions.

1. Espionage, Infiltration, and Resistance

The first expansion would be the most important because it would enrich more than one particular section of the campaign. Its core mechanics could be available from the beginning of the game and affect many existing mission types. The Resistance and Inquisitor storyline, on the other hand, would naturally begin only after Stillwatch and the rise of the Empire.

Preparing the Battlefield

In its current form, the game moves directly into open combat. What is missing is the opportunity to scout the area, position Operatives undetected, and decide when the battle should begin.

An infiltration phase would allow the player to observe patrols, search for alternative entrances, hack security systems, and position individual squad members. One Operative could reach a terminal, another could occupy a favorable firing position, and a third could prepare beside a doorway. The player would then choose the moment to launch a coordinated ambush.

This would not always need to be preparation for a massacre. Some missions could be completed entirely in stealth: reach the intelligence, free a prisoner, or secure a wanted individual, then leave without initiating a single open engagement.

Detection would not automatically mean failure. It would simply change the nature of the mission. A quiet operation would turn into open combat, reinforcements would be called, and what was supposed to be a safe departure could become a timed evacuation. Players would not need to restart an entire mission because of one mistake, but they would have to deal with its consequences.

Limited Information and Security Cameras

For observation and camera access to matter, the player should not always know the exact location of every enemy.

Ideally, information would be restricted by line of sight. An enemy who disappears around a corner or behind a door would no longer remain precisely visible. Only their last known position might remain on the map. Footsteps, opening doors, or moving machinery could create an approximate sound indicator without revealing the exact type and position of the unit.

If such an extensive information system could not be reasonably integrated into the current game, a simpler version would still be valuable. At a minimum, players would not see the contents of unexplored rooms behind closed doors. That alone would give scouting, sensors, and security cameras a meaningful role.

Cameras do not currently exist in the base game, but they would be a natural addition for an infiltration expansion. Each would have a visible field of view and could be destroyed, temporarily blinded, quietly disabled, or taken over through a terminal. Destroying one would be quick but could raise suspicion. Taking control would be slower, but it would provide a view into a guarded area.

A hacked camera would not reveal the whole map. It would show only what the camera can actually see. This could reveal the number of guards inside a locked room, allow the player to observe an officer’s patrol route, or help identify the correct cell before beginning a rescue.

The Infiltrator

The first new Specialization would be the Infiltrator. This would not simply be a character with increased backstab damage. Their real purpose would be to manipulate detection, surprise, and prepared ambushes.

A passive ability could reduce the distance at which enemies detect the Infiltrator. Their first attack against a surprised target could gain increased accuracy or damage. The Infiltrator could also incapacitate isolated guards and hide their bodies at a lower Action Point cost.

Their interaction with Overwatch would be particularly important. Movement through an Overwatch zone might not trigger reaction fire. Shooting, hacking, or performing another conspicuous action would still trigger it. The Infiltrator could therefore enter a guarded corridor and create an opening for the rest of the squad, but could not stand in front of an entire enemy unit and fight without consequences.

An active ability could deploy smoke and allow the Infiltrator to return to hiding. This would let them regain an ambush opportunity during an ongoing battle. Their ultimate ability could fill a larger area with smoke and attempt to hide all allies inside it. Smoke would therefore provide more than a defensive bonus: it could partially reset the state of an engagement that had already begun.

The Infiltrator could also use certain utility items, such as a smoke grenade, without triggering Overwatch. They could cross into a kill zone, create concealment, and make it safer for the rest of the squad to advance.

The Bounty Hunter

The second new Specialization would be the Bounty Hunter. Their goal would not be to remain unseen, but to bring a specific enemy back to the transport alive.

The expansion would introduce non-lethal equipment such as launchable nets, electro-darts, sleep grenades, carbonite spray, and restraints for securing prisoners. The Bounty Hunter would gain increased range, accuracy, and effect duration with these utility items, much like the Soldier receives advantages when using grenades.

A carbonite spray could apply stacks of stun at short range. An ordinary enemy could be incapacitated quickly, while elite opponents and bosses would require multiple stun effects. The Bounty Hunter’s ultimate ability could be a carbonite grenade that affects an entire area. It would not be an automatic solution to every encounter, but an effective way to capture a group of weakened enemies.

Capturing Important Targets

Separatist officers, Imperial agents, pirate captains, and cartel bosses could either be eliminated or captured alive.

Killing the target would be faster and provide the basic reward. A living prisoner, however, could provide additional intel, better reputation with the client, or the option to decide which faction receives them. An interrogation might reveal another depot, a transport route, a prison location, or an advantage for a future Operation.

Capturing someone should not end with a single button press. The target would need to be incapacitated, restrained, and carried back to the transport. The player would earn a greater reward by accepting additional risk during extraction.

Hunting Separatist officers and cartel bosses would then become genuine bounty hunting rather than another variation of an assassination mission.

Carrying Bodies and Repulsor Stretchers

A new carrying system would connect several elements of the expansion. It could be used to hide a guard’s body, remove an incapacitated prisoner, transport a carbon-frozen target, or rescue a critically wounded member of Zero Company.

An Operative carrying another person would move more slowly, spend additional Action Points, and lose access to some of their normal weapon options. Rescuing a fallen squadmate or abducting an important officer would temporarily reduce the combat strength of the entire squad.

A new utility item could be a folding repulsor stretcher. It would reduce the cost of loading and transporting someone and might allow the carrying Operative to continue using a weapon. However, it would still occupy an equipment slot, forcing the player to choose between the stretcher, a grenade, or another useful item before deployment.

The stretcher would not be limited to people. Later expansions could use it to transport a heavy crate, a droid body, or valuable technology.

One Last Chance to Save an Operative

The current permadeath system is based on three Injuries. When an Operative is downed for the third time, they die permanently. The carrying system could offer one final opportunity to save them, but it should be limited, expensive, and dangerous.

After the third Injury, the character could enter a critical state instead of dying immediately. They would be completely incapacitated for the remainder of the mission, and another squad member would need to carry them to the extraction zone. If left behind, they would die just as they do under the current system.

Successful evacuation would not automatically save them. The Den would require an advanced medical upgrade and a bacta tank. Treatment would be expensive, take several cycles, and remove only the third Injury. The previous two would remain, meaning the character would return only one additional Injury away from death.

This would not remove permadeath. It would turn it into a dramatic battlefield decision: safely complete the objective, or weaken the squad and risk everyone to rescue an experienced Operative. The highest difficulty could retain immediate permanent death.

Clone Specializations

After Trick is revived and Clone recruitment becomes available, two exclusive Clone Specializations could be unlocked. Recruitable Clones are visually appealing, but compared with authored characters, they lack a distinct identity in the middle and later parts of the campaign. New Specializations could give them both personality and long-term relevance.

The ARC Trooper would be an elite scout capable of operating ahead of the main group. Unlike the Infiltrator, the ARC Trooper would not be invisible to Overwatch, but would gain significantly increased defense against it. They could deliberately trigger and exhaust enemy reaction fire, opening a path for the rest of the squad.

The Clone Commando, by contrast, would excel through cooperation with the team. Their strengths would include breaching doors, demolitions, coordinated fire, and protecting allies. A Breach and Clear ability could allow the squad to assemble beside a door, force entry, and perform several coordinated follow-up actions.

The ARC Trooper would be an independent specialist in forward reconnaissance. The Clone Commando would keep the squad together and prepare coordinated assaults. They would not merely be two differently powered versions of the same Clone.

New Mission Types

One of the expansion’s early missions could involve rescuing a Republic soldier from an interrogation room. The squad would need to reach him undetected, only to discover that he can no longer walk. One of the Operatives would have to carry him, weakening the squad during its escape. This mission would naturally introduce infiltration, quiet removal of guards, and the carrying system.

Another suitable mission would be the evacuation of a senator under house arrest. Zero Company could enter through a service route, use forged authorization, or launch a direct assault. The senator might refuse to leave without an adviser, family member, or archive of evidence. The player would have to choose between a safe extraction and a greater political victory.

Other missions could include recovering classified intelligence, abducting an officer, freeing political prisoners, or planting a false communications trail.

Percentage-Based Sabotage

Existing sabotage missions could be expanded so that they are no longer limited to placing a predetermined number of charges. An enemy base could contain several targets of different strategic value: a generator, communications center, ammunition depot, hangar, barracks, command post, fuel storage, or parked armored vehicles.

The Operation would require only a minimum amount of damage to count as complete. The reward and effect on the wider campaign, however, would depend on the total percentage destroyed. The player could leave with a safe fifty-percent result or risk the entire squad in pursuit of complete destruction.

The same mission could support three substantially different approaches.

In a direct assault, the squad would open fire immediately. The base would activate its turrets, call reinforcements, and give the crew of an armored vehicle time to enter their tank. This would most closely resemble the current sabotage missions.

The second option would be to infiltrate the motor pool, quietly incapacitate the crew, and take control of the tank. The first shot from its main cannon would then begin the open phase of the Operation. The tank could quickly destroy fortifications, hangars, and depots, while the infantry opened gates and protected it from rocket or ion weapons. If the enemy destroyed the tank, its crew could escape the wreck and continue on foot. The mission would not be automatically lost, but it would become significantly harder.

The third approach would be to complete the entire Operation like a ghost. The squad would move through the base, place charges on the most valuable targets, and leave without raising the alarm. After reaching the transport, a cinematic sequence could show destruction proportional to the sabotage percentage achieved.

Infiltration would therefore not be an end in itself. It would be the tool that lets the player decide how and when the chaos begins.

Convoy Ambushes and Heavy Vehicles

Another new mission type would involve ambushing military and supply convoys. These missions would use infiltration not to avoid combat entirely, but to prepare the battlefield before a heavily armed target arrives.

During the preparation phase, Zero Company could scout the convoy route, choose firing positions, place explosives, disable communications, mine part of the road, or sabotage a bridge. An Infiltrator could reach the intended ambush site without alerting patrols, while a Bounty Hunter could prepare non-lethal equipment if the convoy were carrying a wanted officer or political prisoner.

Once the convoy entered the selected area, the player would decide when to begin the attack. Destroying the lead and rear vehicles could trap the remaining transports, while eliminating the communications vehicle might delay reinforcements. An immediate attack would be faster, but a carefully prepared ambush would provide considerably better control over the battlefield.

Different missions could have different objectives. The squad might need to destroy an armored convoy, capture its supplies, rescue prisoners, abduct an officer, or take an important transport intact. Excessive firepower could therefore make the battle easier while destroying the cargo that Zero Company was sent to recover.

Tanks and other heavy vehicles should not behave merely like ordinary enemies with larger health bars. They could have separate systems that can be targeted or disabled: armor, movement, sensors, the main cannon, and exposed weak points. Ion weapons could temporarily disable them, explosives could destroy individual components, and infiltration might allow the squad to remove or incapacitate the crew before the battle begins.

The Soldier’s rocket launcher ultimate should be especially effective against armored vehicles. Rather than automatically destroying every tank, it could penetrate the armor, disable a chosen system, or expose a weak point for the rest of the squad. This would give the ability an important battlefield role without making every encounter with a vehicle trivial.

A damaged tank would not always need to be destroyed. If the crew were eliminated or forced to abandon it, Zero Company might capture the vehicle and use it during the remainder of the mission. This same system could support the sabotage Operation in which the squad infiltrates a motor pool, steals a tank, and turns it against the enemy base.

Failure would not need to be absolute. If one transport escaped, the player might receive only part of the reward. If the cargo were destroyed, the convoy could be stopped but the secondary objective would be lost. If the tank survived, the squad could still evacuate after securing the most important target.

Heavy vehicles would also establish a mechanical foundation for the later expansions. Mechanical Friends would adapt the same principles to fixed heavy turrets defending droid depots, while Piracy would bring these defenses into hangars and ship interiors.

Fulcrum, Ahsoka, and the Emerging Resistance

The narrative part of the expansion would continue after Bennic’s departure. Zero Company would be contacted through a secure channel by a new anonymous client using the designation Fulcrum. Only later would the team discover that this is Ahsoka.

Her Operations would not focus primarily on more Clones and military officers. The base game already presents that part of the transition from the Republic to the Empire reasonably well. The new storyline would concentrate on what the regime does to the populations of planets that refuse to submit.

Zero Company would evacuate politicians, protect informants, rescue persecuted civilians, and help establish cooperation between former Republic and Separatist representatives. These people might still see one another as enemies even though the same regime is now hunting all of them.

Zero Company’s activities would gradually attract the attention of the Inquisitorius. At first, this might mean only probe droids, intercepted messages, and compromised informants. Later, false contracts, prepared ambushes, and elite Imperial units would begin to appear. The Inquisitorius would become a growing strategic threat rather than a single one-off enemy.

The rules would reverse during the final mission for Fulcrum. Instead of avoiding attention, Zero Company would need to attract as much of it as possible. The squad would create false trails, attack checkpoints, and transmit fabricated messages to convince the Inquisitorius that Fulcrum is escaping by another route. The more convincing the deception, the more safely Ahsoka could escape—but the harder Zero Company’s own extraction would become.

Ahsoka would not need to become a normal squad member. A brief personal reveal at the end of the storyline would give the expansion a recognizable guest character without allowing her to overshadow Zero Company itself.

2. Mechanical Friends

The second expansion would use infiltration, cargo transport, the capture of specialists, and timed evacuations while introducing the acquisition of droids and their components.

The major guest character for this phase would be Hondo Ohnaka.

A Droid Bay in the Den

The Den’s elevator could provide access to a new Droid Bay. This would not simply be a room displaying a few cosmetic models. It would be a dedicated space for activating, repairing, and rebuilding mechanical Operatives.

Players would store recovered memory cores there, install new modules, and decide which droid bodies to keep operational. Individual workstations would gradually fill with rescued or captured units. Upgrading the bay would determine how many droids could be maintained simultaneously and how advanced their installed components could become.

If a droid were destroyed, its personality and progression would not necessarily be lost. If the squad recovered its memory core, the droid could later be rebuilt in a new body. The loss would still matter because of the cost of components and repair time, but mechanical characters would function differently from organic Operatives.

Four Droid Operative Types

The B1 battle droid would be an inexpensive and versatile platform. It would not be particularly durable on its own, but it could be repaired cheaply and customized extensively. Depending on its installed modules, it could serve as a rifle unit, support Operative, or technician.

The B2 super battle droid would be a slow heavy unit with integrated weaponry. It could hold a corridor, destroy cover, and absorb enemy fire, but its limited mobility would make it vulnerable to flanking.

The BX commando droid would be a fast infiltrator capable of combining blaster fire with close combat. It could use some of the systems introduced in the first expansion, reach terminals, and attack isolated targets.

The IG-100 MagnaGuard would be an elite melee fighter equipped with an electrostaff and defensive reactions. Its role would be to protect an important ally, intercept attacks, and break through enemy formations in confined spaces.

Modules Instead of Conventional Weapons

Droids should not simply be organic Operatives represented by metal character models. Instead of using the normal weapon and equipment system, they would have their own modular construction.

An optical processor could modify accuracy, vision, or target-marking abilities. A mobility module could alter movement speed and traversal. Armor would define durability and potential weaknesses. An integrated weapon would replace an ordinary equipped rifle, while a tactical processor would unlock specialized abilities. A utility module could provide repair tools, sensors, smoke systems, or ion protection.

Each module could also have its own modifications. The same B1 could therefore become an inexpensive support unit, a precise marksman, or a technician. A BX could be configured for covert Operations, rapid close-range attacks, or electronic warfare.

This system would give droids their own identity while creating a long-term reason to search for rare components.

Raiding Depots

Droid bodies, memory cores, and advanced modules would not simply be available from an ordinary store. Players would acquire them during raids on Separatist facilities, factories, and military depots.

These missions would introduce a new approach to loot. A facility would contain more crates and secured rooms than the player could safely search. Opening a container or disconnecting a heavy module would cost Action Points. The repulsor stretcher from the first expansion would make it easier to transport a droid body or a large piece of technology.

After a certain amount of time, a patrol, enemy squad, or security force would arrive. The mission would not specify a fixed number of crates that must be recovered. Players could leave with a safe amount of loot or push deeper into the facility at increasing risk.

The principal enemy in these missions would therefore not only be the defending forces, but the player’s own greed.

Heavy Depot Turrets

Separatist depots, droid factories, and military warehouses would be protected by fixed heavy turrets. These defenses would use principles introduced by tanks in the first expansion, but create a different tactical challenge. A tank can pursue the squad or protect a convoy, while a fixed turret controls a specific entrance, loading area, or valuable storage room.

Some depots could use a single turret to protect the main approach. Others could place several emplacements in overlapping kill zones around the most valuable crates. A direct attack would therefore be possible, but costly.

Players would have several ways to deal with them. Rockets and explosives could destroy a turret, while ion weapons could disable it temporarily. An Infiltrator might reach the controlling terminal without raising the alarm, and an astromech or suitably configured droid could redirect the turret against its original defenders.

Destroying the security console would disable remote control but could leave the turret operating in its current mode. Players would therefore need to decide whether to destroy the emplacement, deactivate it, or risk taking control of it.

These defenses would give infiltration a clear purpose during depot raids. Reaching the warehouse undetected would not merely provide a bonus to the first attack: it could allow the squad to neutralize the strongest part of the facility’s defenses before the looting begins.

Hondo and the “Abandoned” Republic Depot

Hondo Ohnaka would be the perfect character to introduce this system. He would offer Zero Company a supposedly simple and entirely legitimate opportunity to loot an abandoned Separatist depot. The access codes would work, security would appear suspiciously weak, and the squad would enter with almost no resistance.

After the looting begins, however, a supply transport would arrive. The depot would turn out to have already been taken over by the Republic, and a squad of Clone Troopers would enter the facility.

At that moment, Hondo would naturally stop answering his communicator.

The player would have to decide how much the loot is worth compared with the cost of fighting Republic soldiers. The squad could abandon the crates and attempt to slip away, use non-lethal equipment against the Clones, lure them into another part of the depot, or fight all the way back to the transport with as much loot as possible.

Killing Clones would harm relationships with Trick and other Republic-aligned characters. Abandoning almost all of the loot, on the other hand, would disappoint mercenary and Separatist-leaning members of the squad. The player would therefore be deciding not only what material reward to pursue, but what values Zero Company truly represents.

After the mission, Hondo would insist that he had absolutely no idea the Republic was present. If the squad recovered evidence to the contrary, it could demand a larger share of the profits or further intelligence about other droid depots.

This mission would introduce the central rule of all later raiding Operations: success is not determined by the number of enemies defeated, but by how much loot reaches the transport before the escape route is closed.

3. Piracy

The third expansion would be the most extensive, but it would build upon systems created during the previous phases. Infiltration would support boarding actions, stretchers would transport prisoners and cargo, droid modules would contribute to electronic warfare, and experience with timed depot raids would carry over into attacks on cargo vessels.

The major guest character would be Maul.

Cartels and Reputation

Three major criminal factions would enter the game: the Hutts, Black Sun, and the Pyke Syndicate. Each would have its own contracts, merchants, equipment, and reputation.

These relationships should not allow players to reach maximum standing with every faction without consequences. Helping one cartel could damage the interests of another. Some contracts could be completed exactly as requested, while others could be sabotaged or used to manipulate two syndicates into fighting one another.

Favor would not necessarily mean friendship. With the Hutts, it might represent respect, mutual profit, or simply the fact that Zero Company is too useful to eliminate.

The cartels would operate both during the Clone Wars and after the rise of the Empire. Before Order 66, they would exploit the chaos of the war between the Republic and the Separatists. Later, some would cooperate with the Empire while others resisted its attempts to control trade routes and criminal organizations.

This storyline could also show Imperial cooperation with the Hutts, the toleration of slavery, and the oppression of populations that refuse to submit to the new regime.

A Wookiee, a Trandoshan, and an IG Assassin Droid

A Wookiee Operative should not simply be a copy of Chewbacca. They would not need to be a smuggler, pilot, or universal mechanic. They could come from another region of Kashyyyk or be a liberated warrior whose community is threatened by slavers.

The Wookiee would use two weapons: a bowcaster at medium range and a Ryyk blade or heavy mace in close combat. Their physical strength could let them destroy light cover, break through obstacles, and carry people or cargo with a smaller penalty.

The Trandoshan would be a hunter and tracker. They could mark prey, pursue enemies, and gain advantages against high-value targets. They would not have to be portrayed automatically as a villain or slaver. A more interesting character would have a personal interpretation of their people’s hunting tradition and a complicated relationship with Wookiees.

The IG assassin droid would be a normally controllable Operative with its own class and Specialization. It would not be the center of the expansion, but a prestigious reward for earning high reputation with one of the cartels. Its body, equipment, or abilities could vary depending on which syndicate provided the contract.

A Pirate Starfighter

Zero Company would rescue a pilot during a dedicated mission and acquire a light combat starfighter. A new station in the hangar would allow the player to improve its weapons, engines, armor, sensors, and jamming systems. A droid copilot using modules from the second expansion could become available later.

Space engagements should not become a full flight simulator. They would instead be short cinematic sequences inspired by the simpler space sections of older Star Wars games. The player would react at the correct moment, choose a route, redirect power, or decide whether to accept further risk.

The outcome of the space sequence would influence the following tactical mission. A successful attack might damage the enemy hangar, eliminate part of the escort, open a breach in the hull, or delay reinforcements. Failure might damage the starfighter, deprive the team of support, or force the squad to deploy from a more dangerous position.

The fighter could be used for patrols, convoy protection, transport ambushes, intercepting escaping ships, and covering boarding actions. It would therefore not be an isolated minigame, but a way to prepare the conditions for the tactical part of an Operation.

Ships as Genuinely Different Battlefields

The base game uses ship environments, but it mostly turns them into additional large arenas. Piracy should introduce interiors constructed from narrow corridors, small rooms, and several connected decks.

A ship would not be one large open map, but a network of functional sections: the hangar, cargo hold, armory, detention block, crew quarters, security center, engine room, and bridge.

Overwatch would become much more important in narrow corridors. A single prepared unit could control an entire passage, and the first enemy entering that kill zone would pay a heavy price. The Infiltrator could move through the zone without triggering reaction fire, the ARC Trooper could draw and exhaust it, and the Bounty Hunter could incapacitate defenders with utility equipment.

To prevent combat from becoming a permanent standoff on opposite sides of a doorway, ships would include service routes, turbolifts, security consoles, and alternative passages.

Doors as Tactical Elements

Doors on ship maps would not be mere decoration. They could be open, closed, locked, sealed, or damaged.

When defending against a boarding party, the player could seal a door, position the squad in the next corridor, and prepare Overwatch. A sealed door could not simply be hacked. The enemy would need to use explosives, cut through it over several turns, or search for another route. This would buy time, but might also close off the player’s own escape route.

Locked doors could be opened through a security console or by an astromech, Infiltrator, or assassin droid. Whoever controls the central security terminal could remotely manipulate doors within that section, trap reinforcements inside rooms, or create an alternative path. Destroying the console would disable remote control and leave the doors in their current state.

Doors would therefore determine the flow of combat. Players could use them to divide enemy forces, protect a retreat, and prepare ambushes. Enemies could use the same systems to trap part of Zero Company or cut off its route back to the hangar.

Service Shafts and Astromechs

Service shafts would be exclusive to astromechs, giving them a movement and tactical identity unavailable to any other unit.

An astromech could enter a service node, disappear from the main battlefield, and emerge from another access point after spending the required Action Points. This would allow it to reach the far side of a locked door, access a security terminal, or enter another section of the ship.

From inside the network, it could open doors, take control of security turrets, disable cameras, sabotage lifts, redirect power, or interrupt a reinforcement call. It would not be completely safe, however. An enemy astromech could detect the intrusion, lock an exit, or attempt to seize control of the system again.

Piracy would therefore introduce hostile astromechs as well. They would not appear to be the most dangerous targets at first, but ignoring them could have serious consequences. They could lock doors in front of the squad, open routes for reinforcements, activate turrets, restore cameras, repair droids, or erase the data Zero Company came to recover.

Heavy Ship Defenses

The heavy-turret system introduced in Mechanical Friends would return aboard larger vessels. Fixed emplacements could protect hangars, cargo bays, detention blocks, and access routes to the bridge.

These weapons would be particularly dangerous in narrow corridors because they could control an entire approach. Destroying them with conventional fire would be possible, but expensive. Ion equipment could disable them temporarily, while taking over the appropriate security console could turn them against the ship’s defenders.

A successful starfighter attack before boarding might destroy an exterior power relay or damage the hangar defenses. An astromech infiltrating the service network could disable the turret from inside. An Infiltrator could reach the local controls undetected. The same enemy would therefore connect the space sequence, infiltration, and the tactical battle aboard the ship.

Boarding and Ship Defense

New ship missions could involve taking the bridge, sabotaging the engine room, looting the cargo hold, freeing prisoners, or stealing an entire vessel. Players might choose which section to capture first. Taking the security center would make it easier to control doors and turrets, disabling the engines would prevent the ship from escaping, and seizing the bridge would disrupt the defenders’ coordination.

Defensive missions would reverse the entire system. Zero Company would be aboard a ship under attack and would need to slow the boarding force. The squad could seal doors, prepare the defense of a corridor, and retreat to the next section once the enemy broke through. It would not need to defeat every attacker. The objective could be to buy enough time to evacuate the crew, repair the engines, or wait for assistance.

Such a mission could finally capture the atmosphere of the opening battle in Episode IV: a narrow corridor, defenders waiting behind a door, and an overwhelming enemy force drawing steadily closer.

Timed Raiding Operations

The depot-raiding system from Mechanical Friends would expand here to cover entire cargo vessels.

After boarding, the player would open containers, secured vaults, and cartel storage areas. Every delay would bring additional loot but also allow the protective escort to draw closer.

The expiration of the initial time limit would not need to end the mission immediately. Instead, the situation would gradually deteriorate. The first reinforcements might secure the hangar, another wave could lock down sections of the ship, and elite units would eventually arrive. Meanwhile, the starfighter would be forced to engage the escort and could no longer support the ground team.

Players could decide at any time that they had acquired enough and begin returning to the transport. The greatest reward would naturally be in the most distant and heavily defended section of the vessel. A greedy player could therefore lose the entire Operation simply by deciding to open one more crate.

Maul as the Climax of the Cartel Storyline

The final cartel contract would involve rescuing a high-value prisoner from an Imperial cruiser. The client would conceal the prisoner’s identity, and Zero Company would only discover after reaching the secured section that the target is Maul.

Once the cell opened, the rules of the mission would change. Maul would not need protection and would not behave like an ordinary squad member. He would immediately begin carving his own path toward the hangar, eliminating anyone who stood in his way.

The new objective would read:

Keep up with Maul. If he reaches the hangar without Zero Company, he will leave without them.

Maul would not be a true ally. He would be the most dangerous force on the map, temporarily moving in the same direction as the player. He would not wait for stragglers, prisoners, or squad members looting side rooms.

This mission would combine every major system introduced by the expansions. The squad would advance through narrow corridors, manipulate doors, fight over turbolifts, use an astromech to control the ship’s systems, and deal with heavy defenses—all while secured storage rooms tempted the player along the escape route.

A player who spent too much time gathering loot might reach the hangar just in time to see Maul’s ship flying away.

A Shared Design Philosophy

The purpose of this proposal is not to transform Zero Company into a different genre. Every new element should expand its existing turn-based combat rather than replace it.

The most important change would be allowing the same situation to be approached in several different ways. A mission could begin with quiet infiltration, continue with a prepared ambush, and end with an open retreat. Another player could attack immediately. Someone else might complete only the essential objective and disappear without firing a shot.

Partial failure should not always end the mission. Detection would turn infiltration into combat. Allowing part of a convoy to escape would reduce the reward. Losing a captured tank would force the squad to continue on foot. Recovering fewer crates would provide less loot. Abandoning a critically wounded Operative would cause their death, but the rest of the squad could still escape.

The new mechanics would also develop gradually:

• Espionage, Infiltration, and Resistance would introduce stealth, prisoners, battlefield preparation, convoy ambushes, tanks, and heavy-vehicle mechanics.
• Mechanical Friends would add modular droids, depot raids, and fixed heavy turrets protecting warehouses and factories.
• Piracy would combine all these systems in space Operations, boarding actions, narrow ship interiors, and heavy hangar defenses.

Each phase would also have its own major guest character. Ahsoka as Fulcrum would represent the emerging resistance against the Empire. Hondo Ohnaka would bring opportunism, questionable business ventures, and the search for droid components. Maul would embody the more dangerous side of the criminal underworld—something Zero Company could never fully control.

Conclusion

Star Wars Zero Company already provides an excellent foundation and one of the most interesting new stories set during the Clone Wars. The proposed expansions should not undermine what the game already does well. They should open possibilities that its setting and tactical systems naturally offer.

Espionage and Infiltration would allow players to prepare the battlefield, capture important people, ambush convoys, and complete Operations without immediately entering open combat. Mechanical Friends would use those systems while searching for droids, modules, and military depots protected by heavy defenses. Piracy would combine everything in space engagements, cartel conflicts, timed raids, and genuine boarding actions fought through narrow ship corridors.

The result would not merely be more content. Zero Company would gain greater tactical depth, a stronger sense of a living world, and more reasons to return to the campaign.