Capacitors are the bottleneck resource in Star Wars Zero Company. Credits pile up quickly, but Capacitors trickle in, and they gate the permanent Upgrade Facility research that makes the rest of your campaign easier. You never buy them, and you never grind them out of repeatable content, so knowing exactly which missions and Influence tiers hand them over matters more than any other resource decision.
Quick answer: Capacitors come from three places only — story missions that list them under Rewards, non-story missions that list them under Rewards, and hitting specific Zone Influence tiers on the Holotable. Open the Holotable, check the Rewards panel on each mission before launching, and prioritize the ones showing a Capacitor icon.
What Capacitors do and where your count is displayed
The game describes them plainly in the tooltip: “Capacitors are a rare resource needed for key upgrades at the Upgrade Facility.” They are not consumables, they are not gear, and they cannot be spent on operators. They exist purely to unlock permanent company-wide upgrades.
Your running total sits in the top-right corner of the screen alongside your other resources. That counter is the fastest way to confirm a reward actually landed — check it before you launch a mission and again when you return to The Den.
To spend them, head to the upgrade terminal in The Den and open the Facilities tab. Upgrades such as BETTER BLACK MARKET DEALS, MID INFLUENCE II, and OUTER INFLUENCE II all list a Capacitor cost next to their Credit cost, and anything you can’t afford stays locked until the count catches up.
Every Capacitor source in Star Wars Zero Company
There are three routes, and each one behaves differently. Mission rewards are one-time payouts tied to specific contracts. Influence rewards are one-time payouts tied to crossing a tier threshold in a Zone. Operation choices are branching decisions where one option happens to include a Capacitor.
| Source | How it pays out |
|---|---|
| Story missions | Listed under REWARDS on the mission card. Smugglers’ Den, from the JEDI UNDERCOVER thread, gives +3,000 Credits and +1 Capacitor. |
| Non-story missions | Some optional contracts on the Holotable include a Capacitor in their reward line. Read the panel before launching. |
| Zone Influence tiers | Reaching a set tier in a Zone pays out immediately. Zone Herf gives +1 at Tier 1, Zone Dorn gives +2 at Tier 2. |
| Operation choices | Certain branching decisions award a Capacitor as part of the outcome. |
How to find Capacitor missions on the Holotable
Zone Influence tiers that award Capacitors
The Influence tab on the Holotable is the source most players miss. Each Zone has a ladder of Influence tiers, and each tier lists its own reward. Selecting a Zone shows that ladder in full, so you can see which threshold pays what before deciding where to push your Influence.
ZONE HERF and ZONE DORN are the two to watch. Herf hands over +1 Capacitor at its first tier, and Dorn pays +2 at its second tier, which makes Dorn the single largest one-time Capacitor payout available from Influence.
Tip: Influence is also a common reward from Operations and dialogue choices, so a decision that looks like it only grants “+4 Zone Dorn Influence” can be what tips you over a tier and drops Capacitors into your total.
Operation choices that include a Capacitor
A handful of Critical Operations put a Capacitor on one side of a branching decision. Since these are one-time story events, picking the other option means that Capacitor is gone for the rest of the run.
| Operation | Capacitor option and what else it gives |
|---|---|
| Back Channels | Runa’s Connection: +1 Capacitor, a random Exquisite Utility Item, and the Storm Basin Mission. Neesh’s Connection gives a Weapon Mod and Contracts instead. |
| Quid Pro Quo | Send a team: +4 Zone Herf Influence, +1 Capacitor, +125 Den Level. Carries a moderate injury risk. |
| Job Ain’t Done | Steal equipment records: +6 Zone Esk Influence, +1 Capacitor, +1,000 Credits. The intelligence records option swaps the Capacitor for +25 Intel. |
Operations with a moderate or high risk rating can injure the operators you assign, so send healthy squad members on the Capacitor branches rather than anyone already recovering.
Confirming a Capacitor was awarded
The Capacitor counter in the top-right corner updates as soon as you return to The Den after a completed mission, a resolved Operation, or a Zone crossing an Influence tier. If the number hasn’t moved, the reward didn’t trigger.
The two usual reasons are simple. The mission wasn’t completed, so its reward line never paid out, or the Zone sat just short of the tier threshold rather than crossing it. Reopen the Influence tab and check where the Zone’s progress bar actually stopped.
Because supply is capped by what the campaign hands you, treat Capacitors as a planning problem rather than a farming one. Decide which Upgrade Facility unlocks you want early, check the Rewards line on every Holotable node before you deploy, and steer Influence toward Herf and Dorn when a decision offers you the choice.
