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It would appear that there is a new type of Battle Droid configured to utilize heavy or specialized weapons, including seeker missile-launchers and rapid-fire sniper rifles.

These 'droids are designated by a burnt sienna chassis, as opposed to the standard Battle Droids' cream color.

Where did you get this from ... I mean is there a cool pic you can point us to? Or is it just a 'what if' question. Because if it is, then I think there is definetly room for improvement in the droid army, and these would be welcomed additions!

Crown wrote:Where did you get this from ... I mean is there a cool pic you can point us to? Or is it just a 'what if' question. Because if it is, then I think there is definetly room for improvement in the droid army, and these would be welcomed additions!

Clone Wars cartoon.

I believe Episode 4.

We first see these droids during the middle of the second episode, when the ARC assault gunship is blown from the sky.

The second appearance (this time of snipers) is indeed in Chapter 4, where they display an obvious fire discipline.

One can deduce that these 'droids are somewhat more sound in terms of construction than their more numerous (?) cousins, the standard Battle Droids, owing to the greater kickback and strain of handling larger weapons.

Have we seen standard battle droids in the cartoon? The heavy weapons battledroids may just be a new color the Separatists adopted, or a fluke of lighting on the planet, or something. I think chassis color is not enough to definitively say this is a new type of droid.

Yes, we have seen standard 'droids - particularly during the "landing" scene in which the assault gunships fly down to Muunilist for the first time and engage the Seperatist army.

I suppose its a "new type configured" insofar as its required to hold the gun bazooka-fashion

Its not a new kind. The battle droids simply carry a different kind of weapon.

Yet one must remember that Battle Droid construction is tailored to permit them to use special weaponry in the first place: their blasters are specially-crafted.

Yet one must remember Padme had no trouble holding, much less firing one. I suppose Naboo Senators are also construction-tailored to permit them to use special weaponry?

This is like saying that if you substitute a rocket launcher for a clonetrooper rifle, you've created an entirely new class of soldier.

Droids with specialized functions have distinct colored markings on their armor. Blue denotes pilot droids. Red denotes security droids. Yellow denotes command droids, which function with increased autonomy compared to the standard infantry.

First of all, I point out to you the fact that most Battle Droids as seen during the invasion of Naboo were acting in concert, often under designated commanders. There seems to have been a requirement of quantity to offset individual inefficiency or, dare I say it, impotence. We have never seen Battle Droids acting alone, yet the individual automaton armed with a portable missile launcher in Chapter 2 does so without a problem.

http://www.the-chaos-crew.com/swrpg/dro ... ntryd6.htm

Unfortunately, Lucas streamlined his site; StarWars.com no longer has an individual entry for the Battle Droid blaster rifle, though one can see in the above link that there is a specialized blaster meant for use by the Trade Federation’s mechanical military. Padme might have been able to fire the weapon with a minimum of difficulty, but then again, she is a human being with articulate digits. Battle Droids were necessarily purpose-tailored to conserve funds.

Axis Kast wrote:]Droids with specialized functions have distinct colored markings on their armor. Blue denotes pilot droids. Red denotes security droids. Yellow denotes command droids, which function with increased autonomy compared to the standard infantry.

And standard infantry have the regular white/red/brown/what-have-you body shell, with no special markings. It doesn't take any degree of skill to aim and fire a missile launcher in the Star Wars universe; the droid did not appear to exhibit any special features other than the ability to point an object in the direction of an aircraft and depress a firing stud.

We have never seen Battle Droids acting alone, yet the individual automaton armed with a portable missile launcher in Chapter 2 does so without a problem.

Last I checked, it only takes a single man (droid) to operate a missile launcher. In all the scenarios from TPM and AOTC where we have seen droids operate together, it was for about two obvious reasons--fighting another army and acting as security. The duty of pointing an object in the direction of an aircraft and depressing a firing stud works best if a single soldier does so, to decrease the chance of detection.

Padme might have been able to fire the weapon with a minimum of difficulty, but then again, she is a human being with articulate digits. Battle Droids were necessarily purpose-tailored to conserve funds.

Did the droid in on Muunilist have special hands with which to fire the missile with? And more importantly, does this make it a whole new droid in and of itself, or simply one whose hands have been modified to use different weaponry? There are, for example, battle droids you must fight in Jedi Power Battles that use missile launchers, yet do not have any sort of special modifications, so the task of firing a missile is not unknown to them.

And standard infantry have the regular white/red/brown/what-have-you body shell, with no special markings. It doesn't take any degree of skill to aim and fire a missile launcher in the Star Wars universe; the droid did not appear to exhibit any special features other than the ability to point an object in the direction of an aircraft and depress a firing stud.

No Battle Droid is distinguished from another save by color of shoulder pauldrons or body shell, yet we know that different programming has been installed to permit these automatons to variously operate spacecraft, provide basic security, and serve as general infantry. If firing heavy weapons requires no skill that current ‘droids lack, why can’t basic infantry also act as guards?

It doesn’t take any degree of skill to fire a missile, even when guided? Substantiate this. Seekers can miss; poor aim or improper handling of kickback – something one wouldn’t be remiss to ask whether basic ‘droids could endure – can decrease accuracy.

ast I checked, it only takes a single man (droid) to operate a missile launcher. In all the scenarios from TPM and AOTC where we have seen droids operate together, it was for about two obvious reasons--fighting another army and acting as security. The duty of pointing an object in the direction of an aircraft and depressing a firing stud works best if a single soldier does so, to decrease the chance of detection.

It’s still a departure; there was no obvious commander relaying orders, as there has been in virtually all other scenes involving such ‘droids.

Did the droid in on Muunilist have special hands with which to fire the missile with? And more importantly, does this make it a whole new droid in and of itself, or simply one whose hands have been modified to use different weaponry? There are, for example, battle droids you must fight in Jedi Power Battles that use missile launchers, yet do not have any sort of special modifications, so the task of firing a missile is not unknown to them.

We don’t know whether or not they had special hands, although, going by past precedent, new colors mean new ‘droids (or at least assignments).

Axis Kast wrote:No Battle Droid is distinguished from another save by color of shoulder pauldrons or body shell, yet we know that different programming has been installed to permit these automatons to variously operate spacecraft, provide basic security, and serve as general infantry.

Droids are not distinguished from one another by body shell color, only by marking on that shell; the white droids on Naboo and the red ones in the Geonosis arena were identical. Any special programming has the droid marked with a special color (blue-pilots /red-security/ yellow- commander/ nothing-foot soldier).

If firing heavy weapons requires no skill that current ‘droids lack, why can’t basic infantry also act as guards?

Guards? What does that have to do with anything? As it is though, regular infantry droids were guarding the Queen and other prisoners being sent to camp 5 in TPM, until the timely arrival of Qui-Gon and his apprentice.

It doesn’t take any degree of skill to fire a missile, even when guided? Substantiate this. Seekers can miss; poor aim or improper handling of kickback – something one wouldn’t be remiss to ask whether basic ‘droids could endure – can decrease accuracy.

If the missile laucher used by the droid uses the same systems as the only other missile launcher witnessed in the SW universe to date--the PLX-2M--than the task of aiming comes down to selecting a target and choosing whether to use heat seeking or gravity-wave seeking missiles. Kickback can be taken care of through repulsors and support collars allowing the user to "fire multiple missiles without sacrificing accuracy."

It’s still a departure; there was no obvious commander relaying orders, as there has been in virtually all other scenes involving such ‘droids.

The security detatchment sent to capture Queen Amidala upon her return to the palace in Theed operated without the use of a commander droid. The droids sent to halt Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan from slicing open the Trade Federation command ship's bridge blast doors did so also.

We don’t know whether or not they had special hands, although, going by past precedent, new colors mean new ‘droids (or at least assignments).

Unless there were special markings on the droids shoulder and head, they were not new models. Droid type is not determined by body shell color--the droids at Naboo and Geonosis were identical despite their different shell colors.

Incidentially, a second check of the series video has proven that all the basic-style Battle 'Droids on Muunilist are rust-orange in color. However ...

The missile launchers used by the 'droids and the Clone Troopers are clearly different.

The droids in AOTC were the same reddish color. Obviously, these could be a new type of droid, but I fail to see why we should conclude this. They look exactly the same as the old droids, and we've never heard anything said about the old droids that indicates that they couldn't weild this type of weaponry.

Axis Kast wrote:The missile launchers used by the 'droids and the Clone Troopers are clearly different.

And...? The missile launchers used by the Nazis were different than those used by the Americans. Do you assume that the Nazis were a new type of human?

And...? The missile launchers used by the Nazis were different than those used by the Americans. Do you assume that the Nazis were a new type of human?

Battle Droids are tailor-made to utilize certain types of weaponry and fulfill certain roles to the exclusion of all others.

Darth's argument rested on there being a singular model of missile launcher with specific modifications that would permit its firing by virtually anyone (or anything).

Battle droids aren't tailor made to fit the weapons, the weapons are tailor made to fit the droids. Why would it be the other way around?

Robert Treder wrote:Battle droids aren't tailor made to fit the weapons, the weapons are tailor made to fit the droids. Why would it be the other way around?

Maybe it is in Kast's little dimension.

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:

Robert Treder wrote:Battle droids aren't tailor made to fit the weapons, the weapons are tailor made to fit the droids. Why would it be the other way around?

Maybe it is in Kast's little dimension.

I guess. I'm trying to find my EI Visual Dictionary, because I'm pretty sure it says that the weapons are made to fit the droids, but of course, you can't find shit when you need it.

I don't own it, and it's been about two years since I've even looked through it, but I think that's what it said, too.

Darth Garden Gnome wrote:If the missile laucher used by the droid uses the same systems as the only other missile launcher witnessed in the SW universe to date--the PLX-2M--...

[Nitpick]We also see:
PLX-1
KKA MM9
whatever the ESPO's use

There are also tons of grenade launchers.[/Nitpick]

Battle droids aren't tailor made to fit the weapons, the weapons are tailor made to fit the droids. Why would it be the other way around?

Because there's some question as to whether basic 'droids lack the fire discipline programming and structural integrity to handle larger weapons.

Axis Kast wrote:

Battle droids aren't tailor made to fit the weapons, the weapons are tailor made to fit the droids. Why would it be the other way around?

Because there's some question as to whether basic 'droids lack the fire discipline programming and structural integrity to handle larger weapons.

That makes no sense...

Indeed I'm perplexed. They have appendages, what else is required?

Of course it does.

Battle 'Droids as we saw them were quite fragile; one must therefore question whether a reinforced model would have been built to better handle the kickback and recoil of a projectile launcher.

Furthermore, we know there were in fact significant differences between those 'droids tasked with security and those classified as regular infantry. But why? One answer might be fire discipline. Security 'droids, meant to serve aboard ships, were potentially either more accurate or reserved. This begs the question of whether heavy-weapons users would have recieved similar modifications to make them less hasty with low-ammo or other special weapons.