Well all I have to go on is Wookieepedia, and it references more than WEG.

I have the Fact Files it references, but im not going to go look it up. But their info may have come from WEG anyway.

However, since R2s were about in the PT, its fair to assume the R1 was a very old design, a prototype of sorts. If the R2 had been about then, and the R4 in common use barely 10 years later, its not a stretch to believe its even older.

But what else do we have to go on? You cite bad research, but really... how much more research can someone do without access to some extraordinary sources?

By bad research I meant the various inconsistencies of the entire line, not the R1 specifically. I just don't think the R1 should have been lumped in with the others as an astromech. Yes its description explains it away (capital ships, even though there are far older astromechs in later EU that are as small as the R2 so why go so big in the first place?), but I think it would have been a better choice to make it some sort of other droid. That barrel sticking out of it's head is a weapon? Security Droid. That barrel is a tool? Some sort of large plasma welder construction droid. Something completely different would have been more creative (imho) then noting one little characteristic (dome head) and calling it an astromech even though so many other characteristics screams it's not one. Doctorwhat's image posted above kind tells it all for me.

Sorry for the tanget, I will go put some large mittens on.

I get where you are coming from, and its not helped when you look at Wookieepedia and the precurser to the R1... which looks just like an R2, but is 2.3 metres tall!

But I dont know where that originally came from (Either that or the R1), so... who knows

If R2 is the series name, I think D2 could be an exact model type within that series. As in the very first basic R2's may have been R2-A0's. Perhaps an R2-B0 came with an arc welder that the A0's didn't have, etc. In the realworld there is an M16 rifle. Later models included the M16A1, M16A2, M16A3, etc.

I like the ideas stated above that "R2-D2" is just part of a long name shortened for biologicals that couldn't remember "R2-D2-78X9-5T83-RTY7". It's like a first name or shortened nickname. When R2-D2-78X9-5T83-RTY7 is the only R2 unit around, it's easy to call her R2. If R2-B1-64X9-3Y89-NUI8 also joined the party you might have to lengthen the first R2's nickname to R2-D2 and the new guy would be R2-B1. If another astromech of the exact same series and model happened to show up you might give up and slap on some completely new nicknames (like "Choppa") instead of going for R2-D2-78 and R2-D2-56.

I like that Sturn, nice way of looking at it!

R2 - Series

D2 - Yearly Model

XXXXXXXX - Individual Serial number.

Works well!

This is an issue of George Lucas ignoring the EU canon. Basically, the story goes like this:

In the original trilogy, we meet R2-D2 and several similar droids, like "Red" who blows his top, the clear-domed droids on the Death Star, the flower-pot-headed droids, etc. Luke calls "Red" an "R2 unit."

The Star Wars Adventure Journal , a West End Games quarterly publication, printed an article about the R-series astromechs, in which they designated the different droids we see in the original trilogy as R1-, R2-, R3-, R4-, or R5-series droids based on their head shape (or size in the case of the enormous R1). This was the canon for several years.

Suddenly, George Lucas is doing the Prequels. He ignores the EU canon on this matter and just throws astromech designations around willy-nilly (such that Obi-Wan has a droid called R4-P22 or something, when its head is an opaque dome, which WEG earlier had designated an R2 unit). The Clone Wars TV show follows George's model, just using R-whatever-the-hell-we-feel-like for all astromechs, regardless of what their dome looks like.

The EU scrambles to cover for this for a time. Writers explain that the Clone Wars are savage, and droids are destroyed and rebuilt using scrap parts from other models.

But, now with Disney canon, even that retcon is out the window. It's unclear what the new system will be on designating astromech droids by model. It seems we're somewhere where any squat astromech is an R2-series droid. It's unknown if that huge droid at the sandcrawler is still an R1.

Finally, just to confirm what others said: The class of a droid has nothing to do with its model number. And I would argue that the class really has nothing to do with the droid's intelligence, either, at least not in the way someone suggested above. The class is merely a descriptor of the droid's role, whether that be technical, applied sciences, labor, etc.

I mean that the R1 is a 2 meter tall droid with no legs. The only thing it has in common with the other astromech droids is it has a round head. Short, squat, legged, barrel shaped, dome or cone headed versus tall, not squat, not legged, not barrel shaped, with a dome head. I think it was WEG saying, "what the heck is this thing?" and just tossing it into the astromech pile due to the dome head with the addendum of "ut oh it's so big it must be only used on capital ships!"

The fact it is so different from the others never bothered me much as I just assumed the compny thought, "this design is crap, lets do better with the next model."

The thing that had bothered me was, just where did those Jawas get their hands on it? Do lots of capital ships crash into Tattooine? More to the point, why are they hoping a moisture farmer will want a capital ship astromech droid?

I love the WEG stuff but occasionally they lost the plot

The fact it is so different from the others never bothered me much as I just assumed the compny thought, "this design is crap, lets do better with the next model."

The thing that had bothered me was, just where did those Jawas get their hands on it? Do lots of capital ships crash into Tattooine? More to the point, why are they hoping a moisture farmer will want a capital ship astromech droid?

I love the WEG stuff but occasionally they lost the plot

Don't delve too deep. Next you will be asking why the Owens homestead wanted an astromech droid! The original novelization called "Red" (R5D4) an "agricultural droid", which made sense for them to choose it from the jawas. Even so it looked alot like the astromech R2D2 which would later be chosen as its replacement.

WEG could have just as easily went the route that barrel shaped legged droids weren't all astromechs, but a common format for utility droids with varying duties - agricultural, astromech, slicer, mechanic, etc. With their later commonality in the EU and movies (they are always rolling about) this would make more sense if someone wanted to completely rewrite the history of R-series droids.

The fact it is so different from the others never bothered me much as I just assumed the compny thought, "this design is crap, lets do better with the next model."

The thing that had bothered me was, just where did those Jawas get their hands on it? Do lots of capital ships crash into Tattooine? More to the point, why are they hoping a moisture farmer will want a capital ship astromech droid?

I love the WEG stuff but occasionally they lost the plot

Don't delve too deep. Next you will be asking why the Owens homestead wanted an astromech droid! The original novelization called "Red" (R5D4) an "agricultural droid", which made sense for them to choose it from the jawas. Even so it looked alot like the astromech R2D2 which would later be chosen as its replacement.

WEG could have just as easily went the route that barrel shaped legged droids weren't all astromechs, but a common format for utility droids with varying duties - agricultural, astromech, slicer, mechanic, etc. With their later commonality in the EU and movies (they are always rolling about) this would make more sense if someone wanted to completely rewrite the history of R-series droids.

I would assume Lars went for the R5 because it was the cheaper model, and the Jawas sold him R2 when R5 went pop.

It would be safe to assume an R2 ASTROmech could do everything an R5 AGROmech could do, PLUS more.

It would be like buying high end Snapon brand tools for use in foxing your lawnmower... they will do the job, but so would cheaper alternatives.... while you wouldnt use a Budget cheapo brand when working on high end fine engineering.

Organics are flawed. If the droids could have named themselves, it would have been very nicely perfect and organized and making a lot more sense.

A droid desingation is probably a lot longer, including sub-serial numbers for location of manufacturer, year, model & option designations, and a QA technician number. THink about how complicated firearms markings were in the late-19th century. I think it would be normal to drop several digits off a full serial number for the sake of brevity (and sanity).

Also, the more numbers and letters, the harder it is to be witty with the name.

A little spoiler info from the game.

There's no reason why R4-W9 wouldn't be able to have the data he is being sought for in Trouble Brewing. While wookiepedia lists the R4 as being capable of only holding one set of jump coordinates, remember that R4-W9 is special. He's the manumitted former property of a retired smuggler. R4's are supposed to be durable and less high-tech, but the former owner could have been uprgaded the droid with the R2's capabilities and used an R4 chassis as a sort of disguise.

They are probably like VIN numbers.

One thing to remember about West End Games. is they had no other sources. They had the movies, the sketchbooks. and that is it. No fact file, no wookieebedia nothin. They created a lot of the star wars universe.

One thing to remember about West End Games. is they had no other sources. They had the movies, the sketchbooks. and that is it. No fact file, no wookieebedia nothin. They created a lot of the star wars universe.

Don't get me wrong. I loved WEG. I have almost the entire collection in my basement. I even had a subscription to the gaming magazine. I'm simply pointing out that I disagree with a few choices. I thought the same back when WEG was being released (the E11 is a Blaster Carbine not a Blaster Rifle!!!). WEG did a great job overall. I just have a few quibbles here and there that I wish later games would have corrected instead of continued.

One thing to remember about West End Games. is they had no other sources. They had the movies, the sketchbooks. and that is it. No fact file, no wookieebedia nothin. They created a lot of the star wars universe.

Don't get me wrong. I loved WEG. I have almost the entire collection in my basement. I even had a subscription to the gaming magazine. I'm simply pointing out that I disagree with a few choices. I thought the same back when WEG was being released (the E11 is a Blaster Carbine not a Blaster Rifle!!!). WEG did a great job overall. I just have a few quibbles here and there that I wish later games would have corrected instead of continued.

Technically a Sterling is a submachine gun. Not a carbine. So an E-11 would not even be a carbine.

Don't get me wrong. I loved WEG. I have almost the entire collection in my basement. I even had a subscription to the gaming magazine. I'm simply pointing out that I disagree with a few choices. I thought the same back when WEG was being released (the E11 is a Blaster Carbine not a Blaster Rifle!!!). WEG did a great job overall. I just have a few quibbles here and there that I wish later games would have corrected instead of continued.

Technically a Sterling is a submachine gun. Not a carbine. So an E-11 would not even be a carbine.

Brother, this (it's made from a Sterling) has always been one of my talking points:

FOR THE LOVE OF THE FORCE THAT'S A CARBINE, NOT A RIFLE!

The E-11 was made a "rifle" by WEG and this has persisted. The E-11 is very small, can be shot one-handed by a skinny kid from Tatooine, is used in CQB fighting aboard ships/stations, and can even be holstered like a pistol. The E-11 was even based upon a real world submachinegun. I made it a carbine and stuck with it. I'm right and no one, not even George or Zahn, could convince be differently.

WEG screwed up completely. For some reason no other Star Wars RPG has thought to fix the error. So, I keep house ruling it's a Blaster Carbine every time a new system comes out.

1. It's short to the point it even fits in a holster like a pistol.

2. It can be fired one-handed.

3. The prop is a Sterling sub-machinegun, a step BELOW a carbine in size.

4. There is actually more of an argument to make it a heavy blaster pistol then a rifle.

5. IT'S A CARBINE!

definitely can't argue with this. The picture of it shows it as a short-barreled weapon with just enough of a rear to act as a shoulder stock.

I'm guessing that WEG classified it as a rifle because of information they got from LucasArts that probably called it that at some point. Part of the problem of even using the name "rifle" is that it would be a complete anachronism as the change from musket to rifle was about the interior of the barrel, the rifling, that spins a bullet in a set direction and rate to stabilize the flight. What good is that to a ball/beam of plasma gas?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaster_%28Star_Wars%29#mediaviewer/File:StormTrooper_Blaster.jpg

The shoulder stock folds down and forward. That thing bellow the barrel is the folded shoulder stock.

Oh and spinning a gas will stabilize it's flight. Look up vortex air cannons.