Players are very unhappy that basic ability math is broken in Star Wars Zero Company
In turn-based tactics, the real enemy isn't the unit on the map – it's the feeling that the rules just stopped applying. Genre veterans have long made peace with missing a 95% shot. That's baked into the DNA of the genre.
But when the ability holding your entire squad defense together fires correctly only half the time, for reasons that have nothing to do with math, strategy turns into guesswork.
That's exactly the situation with the Overwatch mechanic in Star Wars Zero Company right now. Bit Reactor, the studio behind this tactical game, was founded by former Firaxis developers who worked on XCOM.
Star Wars Zero Company takes place during the Clone Wars. One player posted a clip on Reddit showing a no-reload Expert Beskar difficulty run.
The last enemy standing has less than 5 HP, sits inside two overlapping overwatch cones, and just walks through both without taking a single shot.
The move itself checks out mathematically. Each overwatch shot has roughly a 15% miss chance, meaning the odds of dodging two shots in a row sit around 2.25%. The alternative, sending the operative Kabb into cover, would only guarantee a win on the following turn – and would give the enemy about a 50% chance to land a hit on someone first.
The issue isn't a rare whiff, though. It's a bug, and based on other players reporting the same thing, it shows up at least once per mission.
A pattern has emerged from the reports. Overwatch tends to break most often when cones overlap each other or when an enemy starts its turn already inside a watched zone. Some players noticed the mechanic works fine on lower difficulties and only starts acting up closer to the Legend setting.
Experienced players recommend drawing cones ahead of an enemy's expected path and avoiding overlaps altogether.
Playing a strategy game, putting together a plan, then having it all go wrong because the game doesn't work right is just completely disenfranchising.
A quick fix doesn't seem likely, and it's not from a lack of effort. According to players, Bit Reactor furloughed most of its staff, around 80% of the team, shortly before launch after the studio ran into trouble making payroll.
