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Droideka/destroyer droid's shields seem crazy over powered I.e. Blocking (deflecting?) blaster shots.

So why aren't there more droidekas instead of standard battle droids or at least more droids with inbuilt shields?

I understand the advantage of super battle droids as they have better manoeuvrability than droidekas and wrist rockets for any anti-vehicle situations. However, standard battle droids seem roughly the same size as a rolling droideka (for transportation purposes), and a droideka would do a better job than a standard battle droids any day.

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    Droids seem quite expensive to make, droidekas and ultra battle droids even more so. The plan is to simply zerg rush your opponents; google.co.uk/…
    – Valorum
    Commented Jul 10, 2014 at 22:17
  • Same reason why most of US military troops still use assault rifles with lineage of decades instead of modern ones; and fly 50 year old planes instead of new ones. Funding.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Jul 14, 2014 at 1:47

2 Answers 2

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1). Cost

Droids are expensive, and these droids are very expensive. They carry four guns and personal shield generators. The Trade Federation could probably make many B-1 droids instead of just one droideka.

2). Combat effectiveness

Droidekas are clearly very powerful. Their shields can take a lot of damage before losing integrity. A strong blaster bolt (or a lightsaber to the top of their head) from some kind of vehicle is required to destroy one. That being said, they don't really seem to be strong in numbers unless they're lined up. B-1 battle droids seem to know how to shoot around their fellow troops, but droidekas have massive shields that extend off their bodies. This makes it difficult and dangerous to shoot around. Droidekas could become very dangerous to the surrounding battle droids because of their deflector shields. It's pretty easy for me to imagine one droideka accidentally shooting another and the shot ricocheting and hitting a battle droid in the face. Meaning that it is far easier to just use a bunch of battle droids. This, after all, is the Trade Federation's battle strategy; use a large amount of not-very-powerful troops to attack instead of a few strong ones.

3). Intelligence

Droidekas are not smart at all. They are killing machines that can't communicate (at least verbally) to the other droids, unlike B-1 battle droids. They can't give orders or make tactical decisions regarding their environment. Granted, B-1 droids are pretty dumb too, but they can communicate with other droids and give orders. In addition, battle droids can pilot or drive vehicles when needed, something that droidekas can't do.

So why doesn't the Trade Federation employ more droidekas? Because…

  • Thery're expensive to produce

  • You can't put that many on the battle field without risking B-1 battle droids, and it's not the Trade Federation's style

  • They're stupid and can't do anything more than shoot at stuff (and roll around).

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  • also, droidekas can be perfect assasins and can kill enemies, but the trade federation needs to OCCUPY the city and SEARCH for the princess. For occupation and subyugation of the civilians, you need mass. In this case, cheap mass.
    – diego.martinez
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 7:46
  • in the next prequel movies, you can see droidekas without shields. I suppose, the shields use a lot of energy? Or might be wipped out by enemy fire? In that case, droidekas are not suited for openfield battle, where B1 excel.
    – diego.martinez
    Commented Aug 12, 2015 at 7:50
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Just guessing here but it could have to do with the cost of manufacturing them and also why would you need a lot of battle droids when you have a near limitless supply of storm troopers?

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