The “Collapse of the Republic” rulebook for the Star Wars RPG includes a little snippet that I just love. “The designers of the Tri-Fighter’s droid brain did a fantastic job of capturing the personality of the average starfighter pilot. The brain is an arrogant, aggressive construct given to showing off in flight and bragging in the hangar.” Yes. These things will BRAG TO OTHER DROIDS about killing you.

If the rebels used Tri Fighters the empire genuinely would not have stood a chance

I mean, the fastest ship in the CIS and let alone the entire galaxy? Terrifying laser cannon(s)? A menacing appearance, controlled by a droid brain, AND has missiles containing buzz droids?!? Yeah. Safe to assume these droid fighters are tamed beasts out to kill.

This thing was an absolute monster in Battlefront II (2005). Completely unmatched in peer to peer dogfights.

Buzz Droid missiles, very nimble, very powerful, very terrifying. The pinnacle of Droid Starfighter design imo, and one of my most favorite CIS droids and general starfighters in all of Star Wars.

Honestly I feel like Vulture droids are so insanely OP, that if plot armor were even like 2% weaker, they alone would guarantee complete air and space superiority for the Trade Alliance, no questions asked.

I was hoping that they were using trilateral symmetry for the Tri-Droid. You'd have a central pod with gun, power plant, sensors, computer, 3 sensors; and each of the three arms are identical. Arms that are damaged or destroyed are simply popped off and replaced on a Droid carrier warship. The Droid carrier Warship would carry extra arms to handle replacements while on board systems try to repair damaged arms. It'd show that the CIS uses alien races with their own psychology and unit design.

I liked the B2s in Republic Commando, as long as they weren't coming out those blasted spawners. They usually tested if you had placed your guys properly and managed your ammo right. You couldn't cheese them with melee like the Droidekas either. They were slow enough to maneuver around as well. Now those Geonosian beam guys, they sucked.

I loved the tri-fighters because they don't look like normal ships that could be piloted by humans, like the Vulture droids. These are droids, so the starfighters don't need to be designed like regular ships with wings. They could have weird and distinct designs! the tri-fighter is basically a ball with wings which looks way more menacing and is probably even cheaper to make

With out you I couldn’t brag to my dad about how much lore I know.

B2 droids are not that bad, I always saved my heavy munitions for them and that made their sections fine. B2 battle droid dispensers, on the other hand, are banes of my existence. I get RC does have rose tinted aspects to it, but it also shows how awesome it was to be what felt like a real squad. The positives of that and the environment make up for an admitingly aged FPS imo.

I’d love to see this prehistoric beast it’s based on.

It's funny when flying the Tri-fighter from 3rd perspective. It looks like you're piloting a Mk II Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica.

Whenever I build a fleet I always use these guys as my anti star fighter role. Save my aces from those death trap A Wings. Let them use X wings, B Wings & the best Tie defenders instead.

Having the center gyroscopically mounted is actually pretty brilliant, it means you don't need to rotate the whole ship to change your thrust vector. It would make you insanely agile.

You know I just realized something kinda fun. I could be very wrong of course but I can't help but draw the similarity. The Tie Defender seems to draw at least some inspiration from the Droid Tri-fighter. Evidence: Three powerful engines resulting in incredible bang-for-your-buck in speed and agility. Three "wings" with weapons as well as weapons on the center "ball" of the ship giving it impressive firepower. Absolutely terrifying for anyone to fight. Exceptionally high-performance for the time. And high cost compared to other equivalents. There may be more but that's the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Something to remember about those droid brains: They learned. The more encounters they survived, the better they got. Even if the fighter itself was destroyed, there is a high chance that brain could be recovered and that valuable experience moved into a new body. Part of what made the droid deadly was it programming and that was fresh off the assembly line and it only gets deadlier from there because of its capacity to learn.

By far my favorite CIS starfighter. Fast af, impressive weapons, able to think for itself in combat. Honestly cant think of a downside

Those tiny things would be impossible to hit. With droid reflexes, that thing is seriously deadly

Whaaat? I liked how the b2 was portrayed in RepCo. The slow constant advance while it soaks up both concentration and fire. B2 were IMO supposed to be scary and an utter pain to fight, since no one had a lightsaber

This actually reminded me of an old EU Star Wars book I read, centered on the Rogue Squadron. I can't remember which book in the series it was, but in it one of the members of Rogue Squadron goes undercover and has to pilot modified Tri-Fighters that had their domes replaced with a cockpit. It had no shields, old, fast, but still quite deadly even though it was intended to be controlled by a droid. I thought it was really interesting that a droid ship could be modified to allow organics to pilot it.

I haven’t looked at Star Wars in a hot minute outside of Ahsoka. Been on a trek groove. God I missed your voice. It really makes my night bro. That’s such a weird set of unrelated statements.

Counterpoint: RC is not being viewed through rose tinted glasses. It's shooting mechanics are dated but in an era of cheap Halo killers and generally very samey shooters, RC managed to do something quite fresh. While it's true that RC's shooting mechanics leave something to be desired, this largely comes down to just a couple somewhat poorly designed weapons. If you were there during the multiplayer days the mechanics there were actually very good for a Star Wars game nobody was really anticipating. What makes RC stand out, and what makes it a game people still love is it's unique blend of genres, and uniquely mature take on Star Wars, and the Clone Wars in particular. In my mind any analysis of any game has to include all of it's aspects, and cannot be limited to just a slice of the mechanics in the game, such as shooting, even if the game itself is a shooter. Furthermore you have to consider when a game was made, the original Deus Ex and KOTOR 1&2 are good examples of how a game can be utterly janky as hell, and yet still remain one of the best games in it's genre of all time. Execution, and and the ability, or lack thereof to create a cohesive experience are things that can make or break a game, and you just can't say Republic Commando isn't a consistent and cohesive experience that's well executed for what it is. You'd be hard pressed to find other shooters from the time that could reach it outside of the absolute kings of the genre, but you'd find hundreds that weren't anywhere near as good.

My head canon was, as the war progressed the separatists were fielding ever more advanced and devastating droid types, that if it wasn't for the shut down codes another year of fighting would have severely put the republic on the back foot.

The flying droidekas in space. Weird how all the space droid army is absolutely diabolical.

I see a Tri Fighter appreciation vid, I like Awesome vid Eck!

Great video! Imagine that, in DARK EMPIRE, the World Devastators had manufactured these instead of the TIE-D fighters......

The fastest fighter, nay, the fastest ship in the entire franchise, clocking in at 25,000 mph

7:36 I argue the opposite. Once you know how to take it down/ when they spawn, you can save all your ammo for the B2.

Everything about droid fighters are terrifying. The normal fighter can be both a fighter and a quick response droid mech/walker. The tri fighter is so good it's really disappointing other factions didn't utilize droid fighters more. In IRL how we use drones, factions in Star Wars should use droid fighters more in defense and sometimes offense. You can have them at the exterior of the ship and have the main piloted fighters deploy to target the enemy naval ship.

I don't think Palpatine cared which faction won the war. I think he EXPECTED the Republic to win - stronger economy, better base troops, Jedi - but I don't doubt that, had the CIS pulled a rabbit out of the hat, as they very nearly did with the Supertanks, he had a plan to become emperor that way as well.

The shooting mechanics in republic commando are fine, I'm not sure how you're going to explain that one but I'm interested in hearing why you think that. To me, it's not the mechanics it's the feeling of using the weapon. Halo always made the player feel like they had some meat to the weapon they were using, this was done with sound effects primarily, but secondarily, sometimes what they did. Starwars has a very specific sound effect set, so making them sound beefy is difficult. Now, that being said I do find the complaint about the enemies being bullet spongy/a bit repetitive valid, but I almost think that was the point. You ARE in the clone wars, where you're constantly out numbered 10 to 1 by essentially the SAME droid types all the time. I think it's meant to represent being outnumbered without actually outnumbering the player, but I could be wrong. I've played republic commando recently myself, and while it's not necessarily anything ground breaking, it is a good game. I'm honestly not sure how you can like halo but not this game, that's just a little weird to me personally. But hey, to each their own.

4:09 This actually does make sense in some ways. I'm not big into physics (not that physics matter in Star Wars anyways), but I am a huge military aviation nerd, so I do see some advantages here. This configuration would help with its maneuverability. Newton's first law of physics; it takes energy to move something at rest or in a constant trajectory. It takes a lot of energy to spin or yaw something as heavy as a reactor. Allowing the Trifighter to spin and yaw freely while the reactor stays still would make it significantly more maneuverable. Yes the reactor will have to change course with the Trifighter when it pitches, but it doesn't need to spin with it while the fighter is rolling. This would give the Trifighter that extreme roll rate it joyfully exploits in almost every scene it appears in. By the way one last note on the Trifighter from an aviation nerd, here's a real one for you designed by Germany during WWII; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lippisch_P.13a

It’s probably what Bayformers Starscream and his seeker mates transformed into on Cybertron.

That is a Mustafar-hot take right at the end even if you have some good points

Honestly now that I think about them they strike me as a possible inspiration for Thrawn’s Tie Defender design

Haven't watched your channel in a year and its good to see you guys doing fine

I personally love the droid Trifighter. Such an angry little guy.

Your ask eck at the end there really spoke to me lol 😂 I've been playing through Republic Commando myself, and Justin thinking that if the enemies in general were less bullet spongey, the game could be perfect. I think it could have a fantastic remake, if Star Wars wants to cement Delta Squad into canon. Heck, it doesn't even have to be it's own game, like they could make Star Wars battlefront 3 and make the Republic Commando campaign a dlc campaign, and it would still be incredible.

2:35 That transition was 👌

I remember getting the lego set for the arc 170 and the tri fighter as a kid. Treasured memory.

fun fact during the battle of corosaunt you can se one of the Tri fighter swiveling a bit

Always loved this fighter has a predator aesthetic and an interesting engine noise that will surely work it's way into every member of the republic's dreams

Eckhart's Tri-ladder is an enjoyable NON-bastard.

also fun fact: this is by description a real droid (unlike r2d2 whos not a droid). for context: george lukas likey took the word droid from android only to later learn that it means resembler or resembling wich is why so many prequel droids either have a coresponding species in the galaxy far far away or look like something you may recognise outright.

0:18 Cue “Canadian apologies” jokes.

The tri-fighter became one of my favorite ships, funny enough, from playing Lego Star Wars. There was a space flight level set during the Battle of Coruscant and you could cycle through a bunch of ships, the ARC-170, the LAAT Republic Gunship, the Delta-7 "Jedi starfighter" and so on. One of them was the droid tri-fighter and I thought it was the coolest looking thing. I loved the radial symmetry of it and the way it has a gun on the end of each of its three canards.

I would've love to see a story of a pirate crew that got their hands on a Tri-fighter, attached a small shield generator just to reduce maintenance from debris, and used it as an ace fighter when a job went south. Even a small Imperial patrol with a number of ties would've been hard pressed against one or two Tri-fighters.

Tri-Fighter: I'll try spinning, thats a good trick!

0:47 Tri-fighter is definitely on my list of favorite star fighters as well.

One of my favorite Droid's.

Give me flashbacks to Space Above and Beyond. Loved that show and the fighters that the aliens had.

- calls normal fighter goofy looking - tri-fighter has eyes, a mosquito-nose and a mohawk

Droids are forbidden, only the spicy will Flow

I love this droid statfigher and its rockets with blue tails

The Tri Fighters always reminded of the TIE Phantom from Rebel Assault 2

LOOOOVE playing these in Dice Battlefront 2. they feel so dame fast and deadly.

I don’t know if it was just LEGO being LEGO (because, let’s be real, they certainly love to put in little Easter eggs and features that aren’t canon), but I seem to recall something about modified versions of the Tri-Fighter with a cockpit in the stead of the brain module in the center sphere. Maybe that’s an explanation for the gyroscopic center section? That aside, I just wanna say that the Tri-Fighter had a presence like no other CIS craft when it did appear. I’m not sure if it was the three-fingered claw shape that it had, or the fact that it’s receptor eyes look like the eyes of some predatory beast. Whatever it is, it has this mean, sinister, ferocious feel to it, especially with the looks and it’s canonical technical aspects combined.

The things you can accomplish without a meat suit. Enough to make a cylon proud.

I used the Tri-Fighter to farm studs in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, Episode 3 - Level 1. Unlocked most of the figures/vehicles that way, a good run of the level would get me upwards of 60,000 at once. The other starfighters could have eventually gotten me to the same place, but just the fact that it fired 3 lasers toward a point straight ahead of the ship made it SO much easier to hit, let alone destroy, things. I will appreciate it for that as long as I remember that game.

Catch me with a squad of Tri-Fighters, and I can _guarantee_ you won't be waking up tomorrow

in the LEGO games, honestly one of my favourite ships, i just naturally gravitate towards them and the vulture droids.

My guess for the Gyro mounted Reactor has to be due to some sensitive component that might not like High G-Force. Like the reactors fuel source, it would be really bad if the droid was doing a high speed turn and then the g forces pushed all of the fuel OUT of the reactor or something.

Kinda wish the besh type transport from the legacy comics had more info on it. Woukd live to see that

Eck did you ever play squad shooters like ghost recon, rainbow six? It was always way more than then it was a halo killer and the slow methodical gameplay was exactly what I wanted coming from those squad tactics games. Especially after reading the books too. The enemies are spongy though I can't cope that one away

Like a small condensed mass of angry flying mean. It even looks like its scowling at you evilly as it tries to Kentucky fry you.

Equivalent speed and superior maneuverability to the TIE Fighter using technology that was two decades older. Imagine an updated version.

another great video

Darth Vader: I want piloted Tri-Fighters. Mechanic: Ok here’s your Tie-Fighters as requested. Darth Vader: … I requested Tri-Fighters. Mechanic: Yeah. I gave you Tie-Fighters. Darth Vader: *Walks away.

Republic Commando definitely had shortcomings, though that unique perspective was refreshing. I would hands down grab the sequel or remaster.

The tri fighter was one of my favorite star fighters in the "lego star wars the complete saga" video game

Always though it was weird that it only had 2 eye sections, but i guess it was to make it look more like an evil face, giving it a 3rd eye would help with the blind spot that the snoot gun causes, plus...why not 6 missiles racks instead of 2? its got the space for it!!!

Hey Eck, i think your problem with RC is every time ive heard you or corey talk about it or seen you play it, youre trying to play Halo. Uts a tactical shooter which isnt everyones type of game but if you play the game how it wants to be played, you wont notice bullet sponge enemies or clubky shooting befause youll be tactically taking down enemies with your team

Arma a few weeks. "Wampa there's a funny little tridroid above us. Probably about to CAS us." Looks up, gets domed by tridroid.

I always like the pure dogfighting monsters in starwars Considering how quickly starfighter engagements devolved into dogfighting, its no wonder ships like the Tri-Fighter or TIE Interceptor (and the more expensive TIEs) were so deadly and feared. I think for pure starfighter combat, agility and speed are key. Boom and zoom tactics, like with the A-wing or V-wing are also very effective. I would say the V19, but it wasn't so effective. Though ships like the X-wing and Head Hunter are better protected and have munitions, they struggle against fast interceptors. Their best bet is to fire off their munitions then retreat to the fleet for cover. Once the interceptors get close, and they will in seconds, they will have the advantage.

Yeah I've been working on making one in trailmakers because of how well it can transition from space to atmosphere and have next generation fighter maneuverability.

I had a toy of it as a kid. One of my favorites.

Never ever heard someone describe the fearsome Droid Starfighter as "goofy" looking before.

Clone pilot: Droids will never surpass us in anything! Tri-Fighter: “Menacingly making an impossible turn in a matter of seconds” Am I a joke to you?

"Tri fighter, on your tail" -original battlefront 2

Am I just bugging or does it look a precursor to the Tie defender that thrawn made? Like he saw how they were devastated the republic and made a tie fighter based off of its design that was actually really fast, tanky, and had great fire power. Unfortunately he couldn’t miniaturize the profile since he needed to fit a person in there but it’s shield more then made up for that.

Trifighters would be amazing to see in the warhammer vs star wars series. Heavily armored fighter craft versus extremely light fast glass cannons.

I’m still a sucker for the Vulture Droid, as it can be used on the ground as heavy infantry, as well as be a cheeper/more efficient method of air combat. In fact, I’d argue that the Vulture Droids were a far better option (both cost and efficiency) for the Tie Fighter.

IDK where I read this, but I read that after the CloneWars, the TriFighter and the Buzz droids were left derelect in space with a proximity warning activating it and attacking anyone it sensed and therefore external weapons were still needed in case you encountered Buzz Droids

I have an idea for a Mandalorian era character that's basically a gentleman pirate. The Captain as we'll call him flies a super decked out C-ROC Gozanti and has come across two Tri-Fighters and one Vulture Droid that can be deployed from the C-ROC. It's basically just me fanficing some of my favorite ships into Star Wars together.

One of the very few droids from the sequels thats actually cool.

Ghost Worf is not afraid.

#AskEck I am rereading the Republic Commando series and it frequently states Etain has difficulty sensing droids. Is this just a problem she has or is it a problem force sensitives have in general?

Quick correction, obi almost gets taken out by a regular vulture. Its one of those mandala affect things. I thought the same till i had a discussion with some friends

I wonder how the Tri fighter wouldnhave compared to the Tie Defender

#AskEck Where’s our dogo chad ECK? Pappy didn’t think we notice but we did.

Ah, my favorite interceptor in the OG battlefront 2.

I love republic commando but it has a lot of class hence why it would need a remake not a remaster

I always wanted a Lego tri fighter when I was younger.

Lol the opening❤

Dude CIS ships in general are powerhouses its somewhat surprising to me how the republic was actually overpowering the CIS so much that palpatine actually had to bring in a new ship Vulture droids in general can act as soft tanks like CIS AT-RTs but they can also take off into the air as well as space ofc Im kinda surprised we dont see them as ground units more often cause they be fairly powerful against most tanks especially when taking flight You see the republic has to take time to bring their fighters from either landing pads on planet or space and while some of them where fast the vulture droids are already there and can just take off launch like 2 missle at the AT-TE and disable it there and let the CIS forces just steamroll the rest of the infantry

I see the son of Mogh.

The carnivorous space bugs are the best war droid manufacturers and that planet is space Australia.

Absolutely my favorite ship from the original Battlefront 2❤

Valhiem deathsquitos in space