How would SW combat droids be implemented into various era of USA conflicts

[RogueIce]

Still, even in small numbers, Battle Droids are a game changer.

They don't need to eat or sleep, and can communicate with each other completely silently. They have superior to human sensor capability, and they can operate under water.

In World War 2 - Just drop a squad of them off at an isolated part of the German border, and give them orders to move silently, and at night, and they'll probably make Berlin and kill Hitler before anyone notices.

Commando droids maybe but your typical B1s and B2s were anything but subtle. With a lot of luck they might make it into Berlin but it won't be through stealth and guile.

Droidekas perhaps, thanks to their speed, so long as their endurance holds out. Were they to be given order to avoid contact and depending on just how good their sensors are in ball-mode when they get up to speed.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

Still, even in small numbers, Battle Droids are a game changer.

They don't need to eat or sleep, and can communicate with each other completely silently. They have superior to human sensor capability, and they can operate under water.

In World War 2 - Just drop a squad of them off at an isolated part of the German border, and give them orders to move silently, and at night, and they'll probably make Berlin and kill Hitler before anyone notices.

It would mean thousands of troops wouldn't be slaughtered on the beaches of Normandy on D-day for one. An interesting question would be how they would be used in the Pacific War, I don't know which battle droids (if any) would be deployed against surface ships.

[Solauren]

Still, even in small numbers, Battle Droids are a game changer.

They don't need to eat or sleep, and can communicate with each other completely silently. They have superior to human sensor capability, and they can operate under water.

In World War 2 - Just drop a squad of them off at an isolated part of the German border, and give them orders to move silently, and at night, and they'll probably make Berlin and kill Hitler before anyone notices.

It would mean thousands of troops wouldn't be slaughtered on the beaches of Normandy on D-day for one. An interesting question would be how they would be used in the Pacific War, I don't know which battle droids (if any) would be deployed against surface ships.

Since he specifically said combat droids, that would include the Vulture Droids and Tri-Fighters, and similar from the Trade Federation/Confederacy

Meaning, you could have a squadron of Vulture droids flying at high altitude over the Pacific Ocean at 1,200 kph (meaning nothing the Japanese had could come close to it), and hitting the Japanese ships with Blaster or missile fire, and the Japanese not being able to do a damn thing about it.

Hell, they could start bombing Japan itself. They'd just have to go Orbital, fly roughly 5200 miles, and open fire from orbit.

[Batman]

Except CT said 'Only Bipedal, Walkers, Tanks apply'

[RogueIce]

Yeah, no Vulture Droids means that the Droid Army becomes the Droid Marine Corps, but the naval battles remain (largely) unchanged...unless droid manufacture significantly impacts naval building somehow. Probably not - if the Droid Army effectively replaces all of the land forces of the US, they probably won't need to divert from ships and aircraft too much. They don't need as many B1s and especially B2s to be hideously combat effective, to say nothing of the terror droidekas and the tanks would be, compared to the OTL size of the US Army and Marine Corps. So unless the droids are massively more expensive, it'll probably balance out.

[Bedlam]

Even if they wern't overpowered compared to the tech in each conflict employing robots mean less human casualties on the American side which means likely a weaker political will to cease the fighting. It's likely that WW2 would flow over into a war against the Soviets. There wouldn't be the pull out of Vietnam and in the War on terror garrison's would carry on in Iraq and Athganistan for much longer.

[Lord Revan]

Perhaps Tattooine is far enough from the Republic's sphere of influence at that point that trying to exchange Republic credits is likely to bring hostile attention.

It could even be a sheer lack of interest. If neither Watto nor any of his regular business partners have any interest in going anywhere with Republic money, then they're functionally worthless. Watto would have to take a bad exchange in order to be able to sell them.

The Novelization of the Phantom Menace seem to imply this, there technically even being a republic governor of Tattooine but in practice the planet being so far from anything the Galactic Republic government cared that Republic Credits were worthless to anyone.

[EnterpriseSovereign]

For the present-day War on Terror we'd probably get a Robocop/Elysium situation with droids being deployed to a lot of problem countries.

[Eternal_Freedom]

For the WW2 situation in the Pacific, I wonder how effective B2 droids would be as anti-air systems? Since they won't be being used in ground combat while the fleet is approaching/softening up a target, line em up on the flight deck and let them fire at Japanese bombers/kamikazes.

If they can elevate their guns far enough and track quickly enough, I'd imagine Droidekas might be good in that role as well.

[Gandalf]

That raises the neat idea that the droid isn't the most interesting part of this issue. It's the blasters they carry.

Could you relegate the droids to manual labour tasks, and redistribute their weapons to other spots?

[Solauren]

I was operating under the assumption that unless it was a built in weapon system, the droids didn't have it.

Therefore, you'd have B1 and B2s armed with modern weapons, but Destroyers with blaster cannons.

Really, giving them Star Wars weapons is stupid. Why? Someone lucks out and takes one out, they can now pick up the blaster and use it against the other droids.

Why give your enemy weapons that can hurt your forces?

[Gandalf]

That makes more sense. Then I wonder if you could just glue a whole bunch of droidekas to a tank of some sort so they could be both shields and weapons?

[Eternal_Freedom]

Pretty sure the B2's have in-built weapons, it's only the B1's that carry a rifle.

I'm now imagining USAAF raids on Japan, where instead of dropping incendiarys they just load a bunch of B2's with parachutes into the B-29's and drop them all over Tokyo.

[Solauren]

That makes more sense. Then I wonder if you could just glue a whole bunch of droidekas to a tank of some sort so they could be both shields and weapons?

The problem with that is how Destroyer Droid shields work. It the ROTS novelization, it's revealed that when a Destroyer droids shields are activated, it accounts for the exsistence of the floor. However, if it's flung up in the air, say be a loss or reversal of gravity, whatever contacts it (the ceiling, the floor when it lands) is considered a hostile attack and they ramp up the power to destroy it (burning out the shields)

Also, why bother with Tanks? Destroyers are probably better then any land vehicle that has ever existed in the US arsenal.

[Solauren]

Pretty sure the B2's have in-built weapons, it's only the B1's that carry a rifle.

I'm now imagining USAAF raids on Japan, where instead of dropping incendiarys they just load a bunch of B2's with parachutes into the B-29's and drop them all over Tokyo.

Now, there's a mental image!

[Eternal_Freedom]

It'd be a better use for the USAAF heavy bombers at Midway - boarding action from the air.

[RogueIce]

There are B2s with in-built jet packs, so you don't even need the parachutes.

[Bedlam]

It'd be a better use for the USAAF heavy bombers at Midway - boarding action from the air.

I don't know how accurate they would be on a comparatively 'small' target like a battleship or aircraft carrier, maybe slightly better than bombs as the droids can presumably steer parachutes to a certain level but those that miss presumably sink to the bottom of the ocean, they don't look like they'll be much good as swimming.

[Solauren]

How much does a B1 or B2 weight in comparison to a human?
Maybe they could launch from a bomber at night, and glide down using hang-gliders for landing and boarding actions.

[RogueIce]

Again: B2s have jetpacks, or at least certain models of them do. Aiming won't be an issue.

Anyway that's pretty inefficient if you want to wreck the IJN's shit. Just unleash these guys in the general direction of the Japanese Fleet and have them blast out the underside of every major warship with near impunity. Or hop up and board them, whatever floats your boat (ha!).

[Jub]

This could also give the US guided munitions capabilities years early. Just implant a droid brain into a missile/torpedo and have it steer into targets.

[RogueIce]

This could also give the US guided munitions capabilities years early. Just implant a droid brain into a missile/torpedo and have it steer into targets.

Not really. Per the OP: "Couple of things to note while the US can manufacture these droids somehow they cannot apply the tech seen in the droids." So basically they can build them as-is, but trying to get cute is a no-no. They can make droidekas with shields but can't reverse engineer in order to shield B-29s and P-51s.

I suppose technically they can equip one human soldier with a blaster for every B1 they make, just have the B1s go be manual labor like Gandalf said earlier. Wouldn't put them on the front lines - too much risk a blaster falls into enemy hands, though presumably they're as incapable of reverse engineering as the US is - but their rear area security will be well-armed for the role.

[Jub]

Not really. Per the OP: "Couple of things to note while the US can manufacture these droids somehow they cannot apply the tech seen in the droids." So basically they can build them as-is, but trying to get cute is a no-no. They can make droidekas with shields but can't reverse engineer in order to shield B-29s and P-51s.

I suppose technically they can equip one human soldier with a blaster for every B1 they make, just have the B1s go be manual labor like Gandalf said earlier. Wouldn't put them on the front lines - too much risk a blaster falls into enemy hands, though presumably they're as incapable of reverse engineering as the US is - but their rear area security will be well-armed for the role.

You can still put an entire droid in there in that case, kamikaze style. You could probably go even further and remove the droid's limbs, outer shell, and other non-essential systems to get it almost as light as you could if you just had a droid brain alone to work with. Heck, if you were willing to sacrifice a second droid you could use the power pack to power your torpedoes too. I make my assumptions as I do because even if the manufacturing process is a black box there's nothing to stop you from taking the droids apart afterwards and some parts, like power cells, servos, and logic boards, should be obvious even to a 1940's engineer. The B2's might even be smart enough to give you the basics of their functions if you ask them.

[GuppyShark]

Battledroid-crewed submarines would be pretty formidable for the time.

[Solauren]

Thought - if SW Combat Droids can magnetize their feet, they can cling to vehicles, right?

Imagine Aircraft covered in Destroyer Droids, magnetized to the hull. They should shot down any incoming missiles and anything else in the sky, and deflect most weapons fire (especially during World War 2)