Super battle droids
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
In the fictional Star Wars universe, super battle droids are upgraded versions of the battle droids used by the Trade Federation during the Battle of Naboo and later used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems in the prequel trilogy.
One of the main design flaws of the standard B-1 battle droid was its reliance on a Droid Control Ship to provide a signal; if the ship is disabled, the battle droids would become utterly useless. The super battle droid (or B-2) does not rely on such a signal and has a greater capacity for independence, as well as much more aggressive combat intelligence (in the Battle of Geonosis, super battle droids could be seen actually knocking down older-model B-1s in order to get a better shot at the enemy). Their frames are larger and more heavily armored but remain skeletal to emphasize intimidation. Blasters are mounted on their arms, but they are capable of using certain external weapons, though their large hands make it difficult for them to use smaller blasters. Due to the high cost of manufacturing a new droid, the super battle droid uses many of the same parts as the standard B-1.
Though more advanced than standard battle droids, super battle droids are still no match for the creative intelligence of clone troopers. Both super battle droids and clone troopers first saw combat at the Battle of Geonosis, and the new B-2 designs proved formidable but ultimately inferior.
Super battle droids saw use throughout the Clone Wars as soldiers for the Confederacy along with its smaller cousins and the dreaded Droideka. Though the first super battle droids seen on Geonosis wore an unpainted dull silver tone, many of the droids used in later battles of the Clone Wars were painted a metallic blue, likely to help them stand out from the red coloration the Confederacy used for its standard battle droids.
It is unclear who invented the B-2 battle droid; the Geonosians designed the standard B-1 and even modelled it after themselves. It is believed that the B-2 upgrade (which has many design elements of the B-1) was produced following a deal between Count Dooku and Poggle the Lesser, but other sources claim that the Techno Union foreman Wat Tambor took the existing design and upgraded it. The Techno Union and its member world of Geonosis are the chief suppliers of both kinds of droids for the Confederacy.
In Revenge of the Sith the super battle droids have speech abilities like the battle droids do and their genders would be male or female depending on their programmings.
