On 9/23/2017 at 2:16 AM, Ironlord said:

I did - back when I thought it was 60km long, before Pablo revealed that it was 60km wide, not long:

So as wide as Rhode Island is...phew I was worried this was gonna be huge or something.

On 9/22/2017 at 0:38 PM, JgzMan said:

Well, sure, but why agree when we can have an interesting argument?

Yes, but would it be an upgrade from the model that doesn't have to do that? What is gained?

We should assume that SOMETHING is gained, even if it's just the improved mobility that is claimed by JJ, or whoever. Tradeoff - extra mobility for less convenient tools. Worthwhile? Could be. I could even see the standard R2 unit remaining for normal people, and the BB model being marketed as an all-terrain version for people who go on adventures with their droid.

No-one said they couldn't. Just that it's an inconvenience for BB-8 to have to move away from whatever he's working on and dance around in order to bring the correct face to bear. This is, arguably, a downgrade from the R2 model, which keeps all the tools in front.

Speaking from experience as an engineer, here are the main possibilities I see for what could be gained:

1. As you stated, mobility. The rolling sphere can certainly handle a wider variety of terrain the the R2 model can.
2. Smaller form factor allows for uses where the larger R2 unit can't fit.
3. Possible cost-savings. Fewer tools, smaller size likely translates to lower cost to manufacture. Increased complexity of sphere transportation can be offset by 30 years (from RotJ timeframe to TFA) of development.
4. Purely marketing. It's cute, after all. (Marketing usually wins over engineering when it comes to decisions as to what to develop next...)

A BB series droid doesn't need to be better than an R2 series at everything, after all. It just needs to be better at one thing to potentially be worth it (especially if that one thing is cost...)

people got to realise this was designed to be a headquarters for a potentially massive fleet similar to the death star (which was a giant death laser combined with a headquarters) it would act as a base until the empire could be brought back, which is pretty smart since if the two forces kept fighting some alien empire is going to come in and be taking over.

if any of this is wrong or incorrect please specify with evidence