Octuptarra combat tri-droid

This article is about octuptarra combat tri-droid. You may be looking for the similarly named octuptarra magna tri-droid or the droid tri-fighter.

The octuptarra combat tri-droids were advanced combat droids used by the Techno Union and the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. It was a smaller version of the titanic Octuptarra magna tri-droid.

Characteristics[]

The virus variants were nicknamed "virus droids".^[3]

Their rotating multi-jointed assemblies allowed them to change facing almost instantly and they could fire from extended ranges, though they were vulnerable in close-quarters fighting. It was almost impossible to approach such droids, as all sides conceivably faced the front.^[2]

Tri-droid variant[]

Certain battlefield demands led to the creation of a larger model: the octuptarra magna tri-droid. The Techno Union decided to reduce costs by scaling up the size of previous models. Chain-fed ordnance launchers^[2] replaced the laser cannons of its predecessors, with the reserves of ammunition stored within the hollows of its bulbous head, although some models did retain laser cannons as seen in the Battle of Christophsis. One rocket fired from a single behemoth was powerful enough to annihilate a UT-AT if aimed correctly, as seen in the Battle of Mygeeto.

History[]

Octuptarra on Utapau — Octuptarra combat tri-droid during the Battle of Utapau.

During the Battle of Coruscant, a group of octuptarra tri-droids used their laser beam cannons against Jedi Masters Mace Windu and Yoda. The beams could be maintained, similar to the OG-9 homing spider droid's turret, so the Jedi were able to destroy several tri-droids with one beam by deflecting it with their lightsabers.

When the battle was over, the remains of the droids fell into the Coruscant underlevels, where strains of the virus leaked out and caused an unfortunate outbreak of moulting in the city's numerous avian species.

Octuptarra tri-droids also saw action during the Battle of Utapau, where they protected General Grievous' headquarters.

Following the execution of the Separatist Council by Darth Sidious's new apprentice, Darth Vader, these units were de-activated, although some remained active on the planet Uba IV.

Behind the scenes[]

There seem to be a contradiction about the height of the up-scaled magna tri-droid version of octuptarra droid. The Databank gives the height of the tri-droid as 3.7 meters, which is only slightly more than the height of the octuptarra droid. However, all visual sources portray it as many times larger than a Human, and even the same Databank entry describes it as "gigantic" compared to the 3.6 meter octuptarra droid. While it is safe to assume that "3.7 meters" height is an error, the exact height of the up-scaled variant remains unknown.