Author Topic: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids  (Read 5156 times)

Offline Artoo

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Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« on: July 20, 2006, 11:04 PM »
Any specific reason known yet,beside Lucas couldn't of done BDs back when the OT came out. :P The Empire could of out numbered the Rebels.
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Offline Ryan

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #1 on: July 20, 2006, 11:50 PM »
The Empire already did outnumber the Rebels...

But anyways I think it has a lot to do with the Emperor feeling that the clones and regular human trooper are far more independent than droids. When trooper are out in the feild it'd also be much easier for civilians to communicate with troopers than with droids.
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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2006, 12:02 AM »
I would imagine that the Seperatist Battle Doids were largely obsolete even before the Clones touched down in Geonosis... but with a droid army, it's simply a numbers game, anyway - if you don't have enough droids to completely overwhelm the enemy, you're screwed...

That said, the first problem I see with having a droid army against the Rebellion, would be that the Rebel Alliance was playing a nasty intelligence-based guerrila war against the empire...

I can't see the Artificial Intelligence of a Battle Droid being advanced enough to pick a suspicious nerf herder out of a crowd for "questioning"... or even be capable of carrying out "questioning", due to their shoddy communication skills (as seen in the movies)...

The Empire could of out numbered the Rebels.

The Empire already outnumbered the Rebels in every way, so wasting resources on battle droids wouldn't make much sense... the material could be used for alot more useful stuff.

Offline Artoo

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2006, 01:06 AM »
I think my brain was thinking something but my fingers typed something else,I meant would of one over the Rebels on Endor,now that I have reasoning I know.Makes sense.
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Offline Angry Ewok

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2006, 01:15 PM »
I think my brain was thinking something but my fingers typed something else,I meant would of one over the Rebels on Endor,now that I have reasoning I know.Makes sense.

You may have reasoning, but it's being lost in translation. You're pretty hard to understand, usually. Are you asking 'Why didn't the Rebels use Sep Droids'?

In that case, you've got the same answer from me... the droids were already obsolete, leaving victory to depend on a heavy numbers game. It may have been ineffecient for the Empire, but for the Rebels, they probably couldn't afford to - it'd be a huge waste of resources... because, like I said, the battle droid AI would likely be completely incapable of operating in the sort of war that the Rebels were waging.
« Last Edit: July 21, 2006, 01:18 PM by Angry Ewok »

Offline Jesse James

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #5 on: July 22, 2006, 01:46 AM »
In the films droids are largely disregarded as being "dumb" or inferior in every facet...  That's kind of a weird way that Lucas plays on classes by showing R2 and 3PO as such pivotal characters while other characters largely treat them like shite.  And not just the baddies either...

-Han largely loathes droids.  He talks down to them routinely, especially 3PO (but others as well), and treats them merely as objects.

-Obi-Wan Kenobi has disparaging remarks about Droids in the prequals, implying he too doesn't regard them highly, however he seems to change over time and perhaps wisdom, to appreciate R2 and 3PO.

At the same time though, Luke forms a special bond with droids, and yet at the same time Luke has the apparant ability to revert to treating droids as nothing more than slaves or property...  So does his father ironically, who treats EVERYTHING like ****.  Weird.

In the films though, the battledroids are definitely inferior product...  They're, as Brad pointed out, playing the numbers game.  While the Separatists maybe have the ability (and did) muster sentient armies for the war, they would largely keep them out of harm's way or use them for pure planetary defense (IE: Geonosians fight on Geonosis alongside Droid armies, Neimoidians fight on Cato Neimoidia but not elsewhere, etc.).  The droids are simply a way for the Seps to increase their armies en masse in short periods of time.  You figure the Clones took time, and by taking time they got a better product...  They were always outnumbered though, but "quality over quantity", as we like to say around here...  Better to have 10 great soldiers than 50 inefficient ones.

If you want to take a real-world look at it, look at the Russians in World War 2 (or the allies in general) compared to the German and Axis forces.  This is sort of a crude analogy in a way but it's applicable.

In the war between the Soviets and Germany (to narrow it down), the Germans didn't have the manpower to throw into combat because they were being spread thinly.  They had fronts in Italy, North Africa, W. Europe eventually...  The Russians had one thing Germany didn't, and that was a large population to throw almost entirely at the German incursion into Russia.  They dumped men, women, children...  Everyone.  They also suffered immense casualty rates as compared to the other allied forces.

Though that's not to say similar situations didn't happen to the other allies...  For instance, Germany had superior armor in most every way during the war.  The Tiger I tank and Panther were vicious compared to the weaker Sherman tank...  The Allies in Western Europe and other theaters dumped LOTS of Shermans at the enemy though, and a common tactic for Allied armored columns was to outflank a single Tiger I.  The result was usually the loss of 2 or maybe 3 Shermans to that one Tiger, but taking out that one Tiger was a huge loss to the German war machine that was stretched to its limit.

The droids are kind of a similar tactic...  Using quantity over quality and gambling that it's what will win the day for you.  Sometimes it does, sometimes not.

Come the time of the Galactic Civil War though, I agree with Brad completely that a main reason to not use BD's is simply the fact you outnumber your enemy in numbers and (in theory) superior weapons (be they trained men, blasters, armor, air(space)craft, etc.).  The Empire was the dominant force in every way...  supposedly.

The Empire (according to EU) dabbles in droid military...  They don't abandon it.  In EU they use "Tank Droids" extensively for patrol, perimeter defense, crowd supression, etc...  They'd be ideal on inhospitable worlds where patrols and things become burdensome (is that a word?) on the stationed troops...  Especially if patrols are extended ones.  So imagine say a garrison is set up on Tatooine on the fringe of Mos Eisley or Espa...  The droid tank could be set to patrol part of the dune sea perhaps, or whatnot.  Saves the men who can patrol the city and just on its outskirts perhaps.

Also the Dark Trooper project under General Mohc is an effort to introduce droids into the Imp. Military, however it's an effort to introduce NEW, and vastly superior Droids into the ranks.  Droids capable of great destruction and a single unit cable of overwhelming multiple enemies head-on due to its construction (special alloys relatively impervious to damage from blasters, etc.). 

The project was perhaps an effort to put sentients out of harm's way (perhaps at the demand of the public who the Emperor would ultimately like to make happy on one level or another).  Perhaps it was just a way to get yet another tactical advantage on the growing Alliance, who perhaps were starting to gain an alarming momentum?
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Offline Jediknight760071

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2006, 10:11 PM »
Screw you and your smear tactics Jesse.  ;) :-*

Offline dafoo

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #7 on: September 26, 2006, 06:19 PM »
Come the time of the Galactic Civil War though, I agree with Brad completely that a main reason to not use BD's is simply the fact you outnumber your enemy in numbers and (in theory) superior weapons (be they trained men, blasters, armor, air(space)craft, etc.).  The Empire was the dominant force in every way...  supposedly.

That's one of my biggest beefs with EU.  The indominable Empire cracks so easily.  They go from galactic dominance to inept fools that can barely hold the Core sectors in like 2 years.
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Offline Clone Commander

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Re: Why Didn't the Empire use the Sep Droids
« Reply #8 on: September 30, 2006, 07:39 PM »
Well, the clone troopers were far more superior to battle droids and thanks to recruitment on planets across the galaxy they would have a very large, very diverse army from which they could find new clone templates to go with the plain ol' Jango's.
The empire had already out numbered them and you also have to keep in mind that the empire had top notch equipment and the rebels were basically a rag tag group that would constantly scrounge up anything they could find.
The imperial officers in charge over the battle droids that might have been would constantly have to be giving orders, as the battle droids cannot think for themselves as freely as humans can.
I suppose the fact that they are all humans ect. living organisms binds them together and knowing that the droids would be far less independant and wouldnt offer the same combat growing experiance that a human soldier could pick up.
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