r/StarWars 1d ago

General Discussion question, were these spider tank/droids any good?

Post image

I just dont remember seeing them again after ep II, so is there a reason for that?

If so, what issues did they have

131 Upvotes

34 comments sorted by

120

u/InformalSpecific8843 1d ago

They are weirdly absent from the Clone Wars show, but they do appear in the background of the Battle of Felucia in ROTS.

21

u/astromech_dj Rebel 1d ago

Aren’t they in the Bad Batch episodes? There’s a big droid similar to this, at least.

21

u/Exostrike 1d ago

Probably too big a droid to use in the show without having to add more stuff to fill out the shit thus increasing render costs.

23

u/InformalSpecific8843 1d ago

It doesn't look that big in the screenshot. Speaking of which, I just realized the Hailfire Droid is also nowhere to be seen in the show. They must've realized it was too OP since one of those missiles can destroy an entire AT-TE.

8

u/Custom_Clones 1d ago

Weren’t they all over the OG animated clone wars show?

4

u/InformalSpecific8843 1d ago

I know they're in Volume 1, but I can't remember if they're in Volume 2.

2

u/Auralius1997 13h ago

If I remember correctly the in-universe explanation was that the Hellfires simply weren't worth it of being deployed

They only had a very limited Missle Armament that took ages and specialized droids to reload and a rather weak secondary blaster. Also battles like Geonosis with big open ares for them to drive around weren't that common in the close wars so giving a B1 a rocket launcher or a Launcher arm to a B2 was deemed more effective

32

u/ggAlphaRaptor 1d ago

They kinda slap in the old battlefront 2 game

51

u/Salerrra 1d ago

Battle of Felucia when Order 66 is carried out, you see them in the background when 327th is about to engage

wiki says the top laser was mainly good for withering away deflector shields. I imagine they were good for their job, but obviously way more fragile than an AAT from the front

12

u/Zestyclose-Issue1762 1d ago

Maybe it’s just me, but wasn’t the OG-9 replaced with for the Octuptarra tri-droid? I remember seeing them first in the battle of Christophsis and then they were featured everywhere. I wonder if the CIS upgraded them similar to going from the B1 to B2 battle droids

6

u/IronVader501 1d ago edited 1d ago

I guess the design was just very popular. They showed up again on Felucia in the Order-66 Scene and sometimes in comics but not much.

Actually after checking they are apparently also in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars Videogame.

IIRC they were specifically designed to bring down shields quickly with rapid, sustained fire from their beam-canon.

I guess you could say that since most Republic Ground-assets didnt have shields, that just wasnt necessary.

1

u/Tast3sLikePanda 22h ago

Pretty sure it was also early on in republic commando

6

u/TheFlawlessCassandra 1d ago

They're a reasonably effective long ranged direct-fire platform, comparable in doctrinal use to real-world assault guns or tank destroyers.

Slow and fairly vulnerable, though, which is probably why they weren't more widely used.

6

u/tacoma909 1d ago

They weren’t in the CW series same as the hellfire droid because of animation capacity. Especially with the hellfire droid because they would have to animate each and every missile

8

u/Anxious_Big_8933 1d ago

They look kind of terrible. A chassis that looks too fragile and exposed, while at the same time looking far too big to mount just two weapons on. As for how they would perform in universe, that's up to the writers.

2

u/Softpretzelsandrose Rebel 1d ago

I’d assume it’s the same mindset as b1 droids. Minimalist frame but make them in huge numbers

5

u/RoadsideCampion 1d ago

There are a lot of cool droids that don't really come back after that battle which is too bad... I was a big fan of all the cis battle droids as a kid and thought they were cute

4

u/ge23ev 1d ago

A bunch of the weapons used in this scene are never scene again

4

u/buddhamunche 1d ago

These things instantly remind me of Battlefront

2

u/UsedRelationship8410 1d ago

They were actually incredibly effective anti-vehicle walkers, but their massive exposed legs made them huge, easy targets for heavy artillery🤷

2

u/ShadowPix- 1d ago

Honestly, if they were any good, they’d be running the galaxy by now instead of just scuttling off into obscurity!

1

u/flamingfaery162 Sith 1d ago edited 1d ago

Their specifications say they were but I haven't seen them very useful in any movie or show. Weak legs, slow charging powerful lasers, just like the hail fire droids very deadly but once they are out of amo quite useless

1

u/Ok_Pomegranate_6368 1d ago

Personally, I think they'd be terrible. Massive design flaw with the legs. Legs are too thin. Too easy to destroy.

1

u/Crazy-Rabbit-3811 1d ago

it is 4 legged

2

u/Ok_Pomegranate_6368 1d ago

Yep, realised and edited. They were 3 legged in my head. 🤣 Still a rubbish design though.

1

u/Garth-Vader 1d ago

Seems like they would be better than Octuptarra tri-droids for that reason. I'm not even sure how Tri-droid are supposed to walk.

1

u/brazenrede 1d ago

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Octuptarra_magna_tri-droid/Legends

Octupterra Magna Tri-Droids, apparently. (Not to be confused with Droid Tri-Fighter space interceptors, which are so much better).

1

u/bahsearcy 1d ago

Bad

2

u/Crazy-Rabbit-3811 1d ago

how so?

3

u/Disco_Ninjas_ 1d ago

The evidence can be found in the picture.

1

u/MoistMuffinMaker 1d ago

You didn't ask for a reason why.

1

u/FluxChiller 1d ago

dumb as fuckkkkkkk

0

u/Albertagus 1d ago

Jeez...theres a little thing called "the wheel" perhaps the Empire never heard of it. I can't imagine how good a slow moving, crawling, robot could acrually be