The Vulture droid was the Trade Federation’s starfighter of choice. It was armed with four blaster cannons and two torpedo tubes, but it lacked protective shields. A droid starfighter had several advantages over an organic pilot. Droid Starfighters are cheaper to mass-produce, easier to train, required no life support systems, and wouldn’t question orders. But a droid couldn’t think creatively, and in an unusual situation, would fall back on its predictable programming. This made it easy to anticipate in combat. Another weakness was its reliance on a central control computer. If the computer was knocked out, the droid would automatically shut down.