How to recruit clone troopers in Star Wars Zero Company and assemble a full-fledged squad of clones
Clone armor is available almost immediately. Real clone operators are not. Here's how unlocking works, how to recruit your own fighters, and how to turn them into a squad that is more than four identical helmets sitting in a lair.
In Star Wars Zero Company, it's surprisingly easy to make it seem like you're controlling a squad of clones long before it's possible. Clone armor is available early in the game, helmets add proper voice modulation, and Trick stands in the Lair as living proof that the Grand Army of the Republic hasn't completely abandoned the building. The confusing part is that the Clone Operator origin is only available after completing the story campaign. You can dress people in clone costumes before the game allows you to recruit real clones. This difference raises a surprising amount of confusion.
Once unlocked, however, Zero Company becomes unusually generous. You can create clone operators, hire them through the Lair, choose any standard specializations, customize their armor and assemble an entire squad consisting mainly of clones. Bit Reactor confirmed before launch that creating a full team of clone troopers was possible, and the final game delivered on that promise.
Short answer
Clone troopers become available for recruitment after completing the story stage associated with Captain Rex. Until this point, clone armor is only cosmetic. Once unlocked, create or select clone operators from the character database, then recruit them through the Lair recruitment office for credits. In a campaign started after beating the game, clone operators are available from the very beginning.In missions that do not require the use of Hawks, you can assemble a squad of four clones; There is still room for a commander in story missions.
When will clone troopers become available?
On your first playthrough, they are not unlocked during character creation and do not become available simply because you found a set of white armor. You need to progress through the main campaign until the story opens up the possibility of recruiting clones with the help of Rex. The game then adds clones as an origin option that can appear through the Recruitment Center. There is no need to blindly rush to a specific cycle number, since this is related to progress in the plot, and not to a universal calendar date.
This distinguishes clone recruitment from regular customization. The Clone Operator is a separate specialization that only appears in the recruiting pool after being specified in the campaign.
There is one useful reward for completing the campaign: in subsequent new campaigns, clone operators can be hired from the very beginning.This makes a second playthrough the easiest way to create a themed clone company without spending the first half of the game waiting for the squad option to appear.
Clone armor is not the same as a clone operator.
This is the most important difference in the entire guide. Cosmetic clone armor items become available before clone recruitment. Zero Company allows non-clones to wear Republic armor, and the clone trooper's helmet even adds the familiar voice-filtering effect. This means that the squad can appear to be clone troopers at a surprisingly early stage, even though the actual origin of the clone is still locked down.
From a mechanical point of view, origin does not require the choice of a special “clone class”. Recruitable clones use the same eight standard specializations as other custom operatives. If you want one clone to be a Heavy, another to be a Scout, and another to act like someone who discovered that two pistols are better than one, the game is fine with that.
How to create and hire your own clone operators
The process is split into two places, so it's easy to think that something has gone wrong. The Character Database is where you create and save custom operatives. At the recruiting station in the Lair, you actually recruit them to participate in the campaign. Creating a clone does not automatically add that character to the active roster.
1. Continue through the storyline until the option to recruit clonesbecomes available. Continue following the main storyline until the "Clone" version of the origin becomes available. If this is a new playthrough after completing the main campaign, then this feature is already active from the very beginning.
2. Open the character database. From the main menu, create a new custom operator and select "Clone" as the origin. Give the fighter a name, appearance, armor set, character, voice, specialization, shooting direction and talents. The exact parameters of combat are much less constant than they appear from the menu.
3. Save the cloned operator. Saving places the character into your user operator database. This is your permanent library, not the campaign character list itself.
4. Return to the Lair and use the recruitment points. Look through the list of candidates and recruit the clone operator when he appears. Recruitment costs credits, so save some extra cash instead of spending every last penny on some shiny accessory from the Black Market.
5. Update the list ofcandidates as needed. The list of candidates changes as cycles progress and may also be updated. If the clone you created does not immediately appear in the list, do not assume that the creation failed.
6. Make sure you have enough roster spaces. In Zero Company, the number of active characters is limited.If the company is already full, recruiting new characters becomes a management problem rather than a character creation problem.
Don't spend too much time creating a perfect starter build before recruiting. Specializations, weapons, and focus point choices can all be adjusted later, meaning that an important decision early on is to take a clone into the company and give him a useful job, rather than achieving mathematical perfection before he even fires a single shot.
Is it possible to assemble a full-fledged squad of clones? Yes, but Hawks matters.
Yes. Bit Reactor has explicitly confirmed that Zero Company can field a full squad of clone troopers, and the non-story missions bring that fantasy to life exactly as advertised. Four clone helmets, four different professions, and the temptation to give everyone names that sound like they came up with a bet in a bar.
Story missions are an exception, since Hawks is required. In such operations, the closest option to a pure clone team is Hawks plus three clone operators. In side missions or skirmish style missions where a commander is not required, all four deployment slots can be occupied by clones.This is the same type of roster split that matters when people experiment with all-droid rosters: the game is happy to let you experiment, but the plot sometimes insists that the main character be present at the meeting.
The squad needs someone who can handle pressure, someone who can create value for the entire team, someone who can keep everyone else alive, and someone who can reliably turn enemy health bars into administrative failures.
A simple squad of four clones that actually works.
For a themed squad that is still practical, the safest starting options are Heavy, Scout, Medic, and Gunner. This is not the only option, and one of the main advantages of Zero Company is that it does not require any one sacred composition, but these four professions cover the basic problems without requiring every fighter to perform tactical stunts.
- Clone Heavy: Frontline control, Taunt-style pressure, and the ability to be in a dangerous place without immediately becoming a plaque.
- Scout Clone: Provides advantage and utility on the battlefield. Scout is at the top of our list of specializations precisely because this class improves the capabilities of all others.
- Clone Medic:Heals, buffs, and a very useful talent that allows your carefully tuned fighters to survive long enough to become characters you become emotionally attached to.
- Shooter Clone: Straight-line damage at range and excellent pressure on multiple targets.Sometimes tactical sophistication does mean shooting more effectively.
The group can be significantly diversified by adding secondary specializations and cross-training.
Remember: custom clones may die.
Themed squads create another problem: you start to get attached to them. Custom clone operators are subject to normal campaign rules, including permadeath if enabled. If your favorite clone has accumulated wounds, the smartest thing to do is to replace it often, rather than insisting that a sergeant in incredibly cool armor must fight in yet another optional fight.
Why is my clone not showing up?
If you feel like there's a lack of information about the clone's origins or the ability to create your own clone, read the boring explanations before assuming that the game has a personal distaste for the Republic.
- The story has not yet been unlocked. The presence of clone armor does not mean that clone recruitment is active.
- This operator has been created in the character database, but has not yet appeared in the current list of job candidates.
- It is necessary to expand or update the personnel reserve.
- Your active list is full.
- You don't have enough credits to hire another operator.
- You are expecting four clones to be deployed, but the mission requires Hawks.
Clone Company is one of the best Zero Company sandboxes.
The best thing about recruiting clones in Zero Company is that the game doesn't turn it into some kind of secondary class.The game gives you the visual language of the Clone Wars and then hands you the tactical decision making. One soldier might be an armored wall, another might be doing reconnaissance, a third might be tending to the wounded, and a fourth might spend the entire mission demonstrating why suppressive fire is usually more effective when it hits its target.
The videos used in this guide clearly demonstrate why this system is fun before the fight even begins. The different paint options, helmets, and personalities make the Lair feel less like a menu of characters and more like a unit that has accumulated its own little history. Create four clones if you want to completely recreate this theme, or just add one or two to the mix and let them evolve with Trick and the rest of Zero Company.