Something about R2 that occurred to me...

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2004-10-15 04:19pm

Y-wing do have astromech droids

Seggybop · Post by **Seggybop** » 2004-10-15 05:32pm

There's absolutely no technical reason that R2 would be incapable of speaking Basic. We have computer programs now that can more or less simulate human speech if given text; something like that would be trivial in SW. The only explanation that makes sense is that for whatever reason R2 doesn't want to talk normally.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-10-15 06:21pm

Lord Revan wrote:Y-wing do have astromech droids

I did not know that.

That changes things a bit... basically, the newer model fighters don't have them, then, which speaks to onboard navigational systems.

Of course, there is also differences in mission... Y-Wings are primarily bombing platforms, while X-Wings are essentially fighter-bombers. A-Wings are high-speed interceptors, and B-Wings are pretty much pocket gunboats.

Tychu · Post by **Tychu** » 2004-10-15 10:50pm

Seggybop wrote:There's absolutely no technical reason that R2 would be incapable of speaking Basic. We have computer programs now that can more or less simulate human speech if given text; something like that would be trivial in SW. The only explanation that makes sense is that for whatever reason R2 doesn't want to talk normally.

You forget that R2 was never made to have emotions. So far people have based R2 binary in being able to learn basic and speak it. Droids are meant to have memmory sweeps now and then. R2 and C-3P0 never had one at least since Episode 1. Like one of the posts before someone stated that droids are meant to just take orders and the pilots not worry about the droid actually doing it if he felt like it. They dont have emotions so they dont feel like doing anything else. R2 has emotions and Luke can figure out what he says by the tone in the beeps he dosent know what hes saying.

Beep Beep Beep? to Luke means "Where not going with the Fleet"?
R2: could be saying "Should we tell someone were not going with the Fleet"? Luke dosent know the details of R2's sentences just the feel. Since droids arent suppose to be able to speak basic and they have no purpose so there will never be anyone making a program to make astromech droids speak basic.

Oh and the E-wing uses the R9 series astromech. I belive Luke and one of his nephews had a discussion about whats better the XJ-Wing with R2's or E-wings with R9's

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-10-16 03:48am

Tychu wrote:You forget that R2 was never made to have emotions. So far people have based R2 binary in being able to learn basic and speak it. Droids are meant to have memmory sweeps now and then. R2 and C-3P0 never had one at least since Episode 1. Like one of the posts before someone stated that droids are meant to just take orders and the pilots not worry about the droid actually doing it if he felt like it. They dont have emotions so they dont feel like doing anything else. R2 has emotions and Luke can figure out what he says by the tone in the beeps he dosent know what hes saying.

Beep Beep Beep? to Luke means "Where not going with the Fleet"?
R2: could be saying "Should we tell someone were not going with the Fleet"? Luke dosent know the details of R2's sentences just the feel. Since droids arent suppose to be able to speak basic and they have no purpose so there will never be anyone making a program to make astromech droids speak basic.

Oh and the E-wing uses the R9 series astromech. I belive Luke and one of his nephews had a discussion about whats better the XJ-Wing with R2's or E-wings with R9's

Yeah, Luke had an E-Wing in that Black Fleet trilogy, or whatever it was, with the alien of the week, I remember now.

I was being joking about the 'me time' thing, though.

All the same, I still say that if a droid is supposed to function in combat as an assistant, it should be programmed to speak standard. Tones and nuances just don't cut it when clarity for mission-specific data purposes is required.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-10-16 07:00am

Don't worry that's not the wierdiest thought I've had about that driod...

If someone could find my old refrence to SW 2.5 they would understand....

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2004-10-19 02:52pm

McC wrote:That's inconclusive, Sharp-kun. Luke may not know droidspeak, but that's not to say that it is not learnable as a language. C3PO clearly understands it, and as it is a language with specific grammatical rules and vocabulary, anyone who wishes to should be able to learn it. I think we see a gradual increase in Luke's understanding of R2's speech. In the first movie, he doesn't evidence understanding R2 at all. In the second movie, he picks up on the general meaning R2 is trying to convey. In the third, he seems to have progressed a bit further.

So while you're correct that initially Luke doesn't understand it, he begins to, and there's no logical reason why humans (or any other species) should be incapable of understanding the language.

IIRC, in one of the novels with Ysalimiri (however the hell you spell it

), it's mentioned that Luke understands R2 due to the Force, and can only understand general emotions from his whistling otherwise (fear, excitement, etc). It would be in the Heir to the Empire trilogy, if anyone can hunt for R2 references in that (sorry, I don't have them, and haven't read them in a few years).

Petrosjko wrote:Which begs other questions, such as why the X-Wing requires an astromech for navigation, but the A-Wing, B-Wing, and Y-Wing don't. If you go into the EU, neither does the Tie Defender.

The Y-Wings do use an astromech (as mentioned by Revan). They're actually visible on the old Micro Machines model as a hemispherical bump halfway between the cockpit and the junction of the engines. A-Wings use a computer pre-programmed with jumps. It's less flexible than the astromech, as it can only go between a handful of systems (about half a dozen, IIRC), as opposed to an R-type unit's ability to figure jump paths on the fly.