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Zero Company dilemmas explained

Dilemmas are authored decision points where Hawks faces an important choice and each squad member argues from their own history and values. Agreeing with an Operator strengthens your Bond with them; disagreeing can weaken or fracture it. Choices can drive a character away from Zero Company entirely — a second way to lose an Operator that has nothing to do with permadeath.

Confirmed
Confidence
Confirmed
Verified
14 August 2026
Version
pre-release (no retail build)

The squad is built to disagree

The roster is assembled from people with incompatible histories: a clone trooper, an Umbaran who fought the Republic, a Mandalorian pursuing a vendetta, a Jedi Padawan, a noblewoman and a crook. They will not always agree, and a Dilemma is where that stops being flavour.

The friction is specific rather than generic. Trick is a clone and Luco Bronc defended Umbara against the clones, so the two start on poor terms — a Dilemma touching the Clone Wars is not a neutral question for either of them.

Losing an Operator without permadeath

The consequence that matters for squad building is that a choice can drive a character out of the company. That is a different kind of loss from permadeath: no Injuries accumulate, no fight goes wrong, and the Operator is simply no longer available.

It means a roster plan has two independent failure modes. A squad built around Cly Kullervo's Advantage-hungry kit can lose her to three Injuries, or to a conversation. Only the first is something the Squad Builder can reason about.

Bonds move in both directions here, which connects Dilemmas to the progression layer. A Bond that fractures is Cross Training progress lost, and Cross Training is permanent capability rather than a per-mission bonus.

Confirmed

The rules as officially stated

  • Dilemmas are authored story decision points at certain moments in the campaign.
  • Each squad member offers a position reflecting their own values and history.
  • Agreeing with an Operator strengthens the Bond with them.
  • Disagreement can weaken or fracture a Bond.
  • Player choices can drive a character away from Zero Company permanently.
  • That departure is explicitly a different kind of loss from permadeath.

Planning

What this means for squad building

  • Do not build a squad that only works with one specific Operator. They can be lost to a conversation as well as to a fight.
  • Treat Bond damage as progression damage — a fractured Bond costs Cross Training, which is permanent capability.
  • Expect the squad's internal history to matter. Trick and Luco Bronc start at odds, and that is by design.
  • The Squad Builder cannot model any of this. A roster risk that comes from dialogue is a manual consideration.

What we don't know yet

The game has not been released. These are open questions we have chosen not to guess at.

  • How often Dilemmas occur, and what triggers them.
  • How many options a Dilemma presents.
  • How much Bond a single agreement or disagreement moves.
  • Which characters can actually be driven away, and whether every Operator can be.
  • Whether a fractured Bond can be repaired, and at what cost.
  • Whether a departed Operator can ever return.

Questions

Common questions

The way these come up in search, answered directly.

Can an Operator leave the squad?
Yes. Bonds can fall, and a companion pushed far enough can leave Zero Company permanently.

Every question, answered with its sources

Related mechanics

Sources