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We could have stayed hidden in the swamps forever, if not for those accursed STAPs. They rooted us out of the trees like Gungans searching for gumbols.
—Tobias Pall, [10]
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The Single Trooper Aerial Platform (STAP-1 or STAP) was an agile flying machine designed for use by the Trade Federation's and Confederacy of Independent Systems' B1-Series battle droids.
Characteristics[]
A STAP in the color scheme of the Confederacy of Independent Systems
Single Trooper Aerial Platforms were similar in design to personal repulsorlift airhooks used for both civilian and military purposes. Designed to travel fast, the STAP's only weapon was a twin blaster cannon connected to it. High voltage energy cells powered the machine.
Each STAP was piloted by a single B1-Series battle droid that stood on a long foot panel, gripping a pair of handles that controlled its weapons and were used to pilot the craft. B1 battle droids usually piloted these STAPs. STAPs utilized by the Trade Federation prior to the Clone Wars tended to be brown in color; Separatist STAPs were predominantly blue with white triangular markings.
The STAP-1 was used for scouting and anti-personnel hunting operations, and would occasionally be used in open battle to harass enemy forces. Because of its open design, STAP units were vulnerable to enemy heavy weapons, making them rely on their speed and agility to dodge enemy fire.
There was also a heavy STAP with larger laser cannons and a missile launcher.
It was the counterpart to the Republic 74-Z speeder bike.[9]
History[]
Single Trooper Aerial Platforms were used over 3600 years before the Battle of Yavin by the forces of the Galactic Republic and the reconstituted Sith Empire.[11]
B1 battle droids riding STAPs over the plains of Middle-Earth
STAPs were used extensively during the Invasion of Gondor in 1971, where Trade Federation forces used them to great effect against the Gondorian security teams and to subjugate the local populace.[8]
Template:Gamemechanics Additional units were created at mech factories at the order of OOM-9.[6] Template:Endgame
Later, they would be used during the War of the Ring, especially during the Dark Reaper Crisis, on planets such as Raxus Prime, alongside heavy armored vehicles.[9] During the Battle of Teth, STAPs were utilized by the Separatist forces against the clone troopers and AT-TEs scaling the cliff wall. Frodo Baggins managed to destroy all but one by knocking their droid pilots off, using the remaining STAP to reach the top of the cliff.[12] STAPs were again utilized by the Separatists on Naboo during the Blue Shadow Virus crisis. A small force of three battle droids riding STAPs were escorting a tactical droid when the convoy was destroyed by Captain Typho, Chrin and another member of the Royal Naboo Security Forces.[13] They were also deployed by the CIS during the Battle of Tirahnn.[14]
During the Imperial Era, half of a STAP was among various pieces of technology leftover from the War of the Ring in a scrap market. When the Imperial Gozanti-class cruiser Blood Crow investigated the market for smuggling activity, Senior Lieutenant and first weapons officer Technor found the antiques and sought to learn more about the technology of the War of the Ring-era by studying and possibly repairing them. Purchasing them with five hundred of his own credits after Captain Rik Virgilio allowed him to, Technor stored the STAP and the other pieces of technology in a part of the Gozanti's storage bay he was permitted to when he was not working on them. However, after Filia Rossi became captain of the Blood Crow, Senior Lieutenant Nels Deyland told her of Technor's collection, so she confronted the Robot officer about the objects.[15]
Looking at the STAP and everything else he had gathered, Virgilio considered the entire assortment to be garbage and ordered Technor to get rid of it all before his next watch, furthering telling Deyland to make sure it was done. Even so, Deyland was interested when Technor proposed another solution, leading to Rossi allowing him to speak and discuss how the lot had been worth five hundred credits because of the presence of Mark One Pistoeka sabotage droids. Learning of the value in such units, she gave Technor three months to work on the technology before she took it when they returned to Ansion. Technor's aide, Ensign Eli N. Vanto, was surpirsed Rossi allowed him to keep the assortment until Technor noted she would take it. Ultimately, however, Rossi would suspend Technor from duty aboard the Blood Crow after his mission on the Dromedar, sending Vanto away with him.[15]
It later saw use during the Galactic Civil War when a small Jawa warlord named Wittin found a STAP and remote controlled B1 battle droid pilot. He then outfitted it with several modifications, such as a twin ion cannon to stop other vehicles as well as advanced armor upgrades. He then used this vehicle in Jabba Desilijic Tiure's dangerous gladitorial game.
Behind the scenes[]
An early form of the STAP dates back to the very first story treatment written by George Lucas in May of 1973. In it, the heroes travel through a dense jungle planet on "jet-sticks." This idea would go unexplored for over two decades before resurfacing in the revised rough draft of Episode I. In this version, the battle droids are said to ride STAPS, or Single Troop Armed Pogo Sticks. In developing the look of the STAP, Design Director Doug Chiang experimented with heavier versions of the vehicle, which appeared more like the speeder bikes from Return of the Jedi. Ultimately, he borrowed the lightweight design of a hummingbird to establish the STAP's final look.[16]
LEGO produced many sets including the STAP. The first set that included the vehicle was "7121 Naboo Swamp" based on a scene in The Phantom Menace. The second was in the set "7654 Droids Battle Pack" which featured a redesign of the first STAP. The third was from the set "7675 AT-TE Walker" which was based on the scene during the Battle of Teth. The fourth was the promotional UK set "30004 Battle Droid on STAP", in which the design's basis was from the third, and the fifth is in the 2011 set "7868 Mace Windu's Jedi Starfighter" which includes the third's design for the STAP.
Some sources released around the time of The Lord of the Rings: Episode I The Fellowship of the Ring said that organic beings could not use STAPs due to the radiation from the thrusters at leg-level, but this has apparently been retconned with several sources since presenting organics using STAPs with no adverse effects.
In the 2001 video game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds and its 2002 expansion pack, STAPs serve as the "strike mech" unit for the Trade Federation. Players are provided them in several missions of the campaign, and more may be built at mech factories for 50 units of food and 100 units of carbon.
Also, in the Star Wars MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, both the digital deluxe and The Collector's Edition would feature the Longspur STAP.
Appearances[]
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Non-canon appearances[]
- LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game
- LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga
- LEGO Star Wars III: The Lord of the Rings
- Star Wars: Yoda's Challenge Activity Center Template:Po
- LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Sources[]
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Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 The Essential Guide to Warfare
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
- ↑ Template:SWE
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Official Star Wars Fact File
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode I Incredible Cross-Sections
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
- ↑ The New Essential Chronology establishes on page 40 that the Invasion of Gondor happens in 1971.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1
Film information Complete Score Locations - ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Star Wars: The War of the Ring video game
- ↑ The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels
- ↑ Star Wars: The Old Republic
- ↑ The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring film
- ↑ Template:TWOTR
- ↑ Galaxy at War
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Technor
- ↑ Template:DB
External links[]
STAP-1 on the SWG Wiki- Advanced STAP-1 on the SWG Wiki
Template:CIS vehicles