Five steps for a safer first campaign
Zero Company gives you time to think, so the fastest improvement comes from making each activation deliberate. Use this order as a pre-turn routine rather than a rigid build. It covers the mistakes that most often turn a manageable firefight into injuries you carry back to The Den.
| Step | Decision | What it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Budget all three AP | A stranded Operator |
| 2 | Give Advantage a purpose | Lost momentum |
| 3 | Control the watched lane | Wasted Overwatch |
| 4 | Keep recovery nearby | An avoidable knockdown |
| 5 | Track injuries | A permanent roster loss |
- Plan the full Action Point budget
- Spend Advantage before momentum disappears
- Build Force Push and Overwatch traps
- Bring healing or a Combat Stim
- Respect injuries and optional permadeath
Mission objectives still come first. You do not always need to eliminate every enemy, and a clean extraction can be better than chasing one last target. Read the map, identify the win condition, and use the steps below to reach it with a squad that can still fight next cycle.
1. Plan the full Action Point budget
Before spending the first AP, decide the Operator’s target, route, and ending tile. Most Operators have three AP for movement, attacks, abilities, assists, and Overwatch, so an innocent extra move can remove the action that made the plan work.
Count backward from the finish. If you need one AP to attack and another to reach cover, only the remaining point is flexible. Preview the movement cost and line of sight, then ask what happens if the attack misses. A solid beginner turn still leaves the character useful and reasonably protected after a poor roll.
Avoid spending AP just because it is available. Holding a good position can be stronger than crossing open ground for a slightly better angle. At the same time, do not hide automatically: if one aggressive action removes the enemy most likely to injure your squad, it may be the safer play.
2. Spend Advantage before momentum disappears
Damage generates Advantage, and your strongest Special Actions spend it. Use the resource when it will remove a threat, save an ally, or open the objective rather than waiting indefinitely for a flawless combination.
Sequence the squad to create and spend Advantage in the same exchange. Let a reliable shooter damage an exposed target, check the new pool, and then activate the Operator whose special ability can finish the job. This turns normal attacks into setup without requiring every character to chase personal damage.
Do not dump the pool on a weak effect simply to avoid hoarding. Compare the spend with the next enemy activation. If the enemy is already controlled and the objective is safe, keeping enough for a stronger response can make sense. The lesson is to attach Advantage to a concrete result, not to preserve or spend it by habit.
3. Build Force Push and Overwatch traps
Overwatch becomes more reliable when you control where the target moves. Place a watched area across a useful lane, then use Force Push or another displacement effect to send an enemy through danger or out of protective cover.
Set the reaction first. Check that the watcher has line of sight, enough remaining AP, and a position that will survive the enemy turn. Then examine the Push direction: moving a target sideways into a firing lane can be safer than pushing it deeper toward the rest of your squad. Ledges and hazards may create other opportunities, but only use what the current map clearly supports.
The combination fails when the pushed enemy never enters the watched area, the shot is blocked, or the watcher becomes the easiest target. If the geometry is uncertain, use displacement for the simpler benefit—breaking cover or separating a defender—and save Overwatch for a doorway or objective route the enemy must cross naturally.
4. Bring healing or a Combat Stim
A beginner squad should carry a recovery option through a Medic, another healing ability, or a Combat Stim. Healing does not replace cover, but it gives you a way to stop one unlucky exchange from deciding the rest of the mission.
Keep support close enough to reach the front without making it the first target. A healer stranded two turns behind the squad is only theoretical insurance, while one standing in open ground may go down before helping anyone. Move through protected tiles and preserve enough AP to perform the recovery action when it matters.
Use healing to preserve future activations, not merely to top off every small loss. If an ally can safely finish the objective, that AP may be better spent on control. If the same ally is one hit from going down, recovery becomes part of your offense because it protects their next turn and avoids another injury.
5. Respect injuries and optional permadeath
With permadeath enabled, an Operator dies on the third injury. A downed character can be rallied, but getting back up does not erase the campaign cost, so repeated knockdowns are a warning to change the plan.
Check health and existing injuries before choosing a mission at The Den. A Bond partner or highly specialized Operator may be central to the squad, yet that importance is a reason to rest them when the risk is poor. Bring a substitute who can cover the essential role, even if the replacement produces less damage.
During combat, know when the objective is already won. Pursuing optional kills can expose a weakened Operator for rewards that do not justify a permanent loss. Rally when it restores a useful activation or enables escape, protect the injured unit’s route, and end the mission instead of treating every surviving enemy as unfinished business.
Practice a repeatable turn, not a perfect combo
A dependable plan has a target, a backup after a miss, and a safe ending position. Once you can produce that turn consistently, Bonds, Focus Trees, and dual Specializations give you more ways to improve it without changing the underlying discipline.
Learn one new interaction at a time on a lower-risk mission. Move the Overwatch cone, change the activation order, or test a support ability while keeping the rest of the plan familiar. That makes it clear which choice helped and prevents a full squad rebuild from hiding the lesson.
For the rules beneath these tips, read the Action Points, Advantage, and permadeath guide. If your problem is choosing roles rather than using them, the classes and dual Specializations guide is the better follow-up.