STAR WARS Zero Company offers four public difficulty levels: Story, Normal, Hard and Expert. Normal is the most balanced starting point for a player who is new to turn-based tactics; Story reduces the pressure further, while Hard and Expert demand increasingly careful positioning and campaign management. The base difficulty can be changed outside combat, but Permadeath and Beskar Mode are separate Campaign choices that require a new Campaign to turn off.
What each difficulty level changes
The game’s own descriptions focus on enemy damage and accuracy, effective weapon range, the room available to recover from mistakes, starting Bonds and access to the Bacta Tank. They do not publish numerical multipliers, so a precise percentage comparison would be invented.
| Level | Designed for | Documented changes |
|---|---|---|
| Story | Minimal challenge or no tactics-game background | Player actions deal increased damage; enemies have much lower accuracy and damage. |
| Normal | Players new to tactical games | Normal enemy damage and accuracy; generous weapon ranges; mistakes are easier to recover from. |
| Hard | Players familiar with tactics or seeking more challenge | Tougher enemies, more damage, reduced effective range, lower starting Bonds and no Bacta Tank. |
| Expert | Highly experienced tactics players seeking the highest challenge | Greater damage and range pressure than Hard, much lower starting Bonds and no Bacta Tank. |
Scroll horizontally to see the whole table.
Story helps from both sides of an exchange: the squad’s actions deal more damage while enemies are much less accurate and damaging. Normal keeps enemy damage and accuracy at their normal setting, leaves weapon ranges generous and is explicitly designed to make mistakes easier to recover from.
Hard is a wider campaign change than a simple enemy-health increase. Enemies become tougher and hit harder, effective weapon range is reduced, operators begin with lower Bonds and the Bacta Tank is disabled. Expert intensifies the damage, range and starting-Bond pressure and also removes Bacta Tank access. That makes injuries and movement planning more consequential even between missions.
Which difficulty should you choose?
Choose Story if the Clone Wars story and squad relationships are your priority, or if learning AP, cover and hit chance at the same time would get in the way. This is a full low-pressure setting, not merely a cosmetic label.
Choose Normal for a first Campaign if you want to learn the complete tactical loop with room to recover. Generous weapon ranges make positioning easier to read, while the normal enemy values still require you to use cover and finish each turn safely. Our beginner’s guide provides a deployment-to-Den routine for that first run.
Choose Hard if you already understand turn-based positioning and want injuries, Bonds and range management to matter earlier. The missing Bacta Tank means poor health management follows the company back to The Den instead of being only a single-battle problem.
Choose Expert when you already want the highest documented challenge and are prepared to maneuver aggressively around greatly reduced effective range. It is a poor place to learn what AP costs, Overwatch cones and the Shot Breakdown panel mean; review the combat guide first if any of those systems are unfamiliar.
These are recommendations derived from the documented mode descriptions, not a ranking of how anyone “should” play. Because the base level is adjustable outside combat, it is reasonable to start where the description fits and move it when challenge stops matching your goal.
What can be changed after a Campaign starts?
The in-game Challenge → Difficulty description says the base difficulty can be changed at any time outside combat, and StarWars.com repeats that behavior. Use the current Gameplay menu while you are back at The Den or otherwise out of battle; changing it during an active tactical fight is not promised.
Do not apply that rule to every item shown when creating a Campaign. EA Help explicitly states that Permadeath remains on for that Campaign once selected. With it enabled, an ordinary operator who receives a third Injury is Killed in Action. Beskar Mode keeps one save and disables manual saving. Turning either option off requires New Campaign.
Hawks remains a separate case: defeat causes immediate mission failure and a restart whether Permadeath is on or off. Read the Permadeath, injuries and saves guide before committing if permanent operator loss or a single-save structure would change your purchase or play decision.
Accessibility settings worth configuring first
EA documents a dedicated accessibility menu on first launch, so the following settings can be reviewed before creating the Campaign:
- Text and interface: menu and gameplay UI text sizes include Small, Standard, Large and Extra Large. A Stabilizing Dot can place a persistent white point at the center of the screen.
- Color and motion: full-screen Protanomaly, Deuteranomaly and Tritanomaly filters include previews. Action Camera frequency can be reduced or turned off; chromatic aberration is absent by design.
- Subtitles and audio: subtitle size, captions, text color, opacity, speaker names and speaker-name color are configurable. Main, music, ambient, effects and dialogue volumes have separate controls, and Voice Boost raises dialogue in the mix.
- Controls: most mouse-and-keyboard and controller inputs can be remapped. Mouse and joystick sensitivity and inversion are also available.
- Tactical guidance: tutorials cover the first missions; tooltips explain keywords and abilities on demand; loading-screen tips provide reminders. The early-end-turn warning helps catch unused AP, while highlights can reveal obscured characters and destructible cover.
Menu narration is not supported in EA’s documented US-English PC and console version. Players who require narration should not assume that text size or subtitles replace it. Verify the current installed version if that feature is essential.
A practical first-Campaign setup
For a newcomer who still wants the intended injury and relationship systems, a sensible baseline is Normal, tutorials on, the early-end-turn warning on, Permadeath chosen deliberately and Beskar Mode off. Increase text size, reduce Action Camera frequency and remap inputs based on comfort; none of those accessibility choices is a tactical shortcut.
Before selecting Start Campaign, pause over the two choices that are not easily reversible: Permadeath and Beskar Mode. Once the Campaign begins, learn on the base difficulty that fits, then adjust that level outside combat if necessary. This preserves the ability to tune challenge without discovering too late that the save and operator-loss rules require starting over.