Why didn't the droidekas have shield generators?

In Episode II, during the arena battle the droidekas have no shield generators. Why didn't they use them? They could have proved alot more useful against the Jedi.

 

I think only certain models of Droidekas actually have shield generators, particularly the ones used to guard dignitaries and VIPs. The Droidekas in Episode I fighting the Gungans in the field don't have shields.

 

I think that the personal droideka's that guarded sensitive areas had shield generators but the ones in the battle were just battle ones so to save time in production they neglected to put shield generators on them. What's better a few with Shield generators or a bunch without them??

 

Notice that Obi-wan sounds pretty surprised when the Destroyer Droids turn out to have shields. That would imply that they don't normally have them.

 

I agree. I think Shield Generators are something that are expensive to incorporate into Droids, which is a likely reason why so many don't have them.

 

Good point DS615

If all droidekas had shields, Obi-Wan would have only said "Master, Destroyers!" However, he does comment that they have shield generators, implying that it is uncommon. So I think it's pretty much what everyone has been saying. The more expensive models have shields. It's like opting for a convertible

 

That always bugged me about AOTC. But now it makes sense. Thanks for the theories. They sound logical.

 

Also, please note:

We only see the sheild generaters when there inside.

 

You see, in TPM they weren't droidekas, they were "droid Picards". The Roddenberrys sued Lucas for infringement of their copyright and Lucas agreed to change them to "droidekas" for ATOC. Part of the deal involved getting rid of the shield generators since they were deemed "too Star Trek." In the uber-special edition of ROTJ the Emperor will no longer make a reference to a "shield generator" but rather to "a defense field protection creation thing". The reference to a "pitiful little band" will remain given that it hit a little too close to home for the producers of Star Trek "Enterprise".

 

Shielding is expensive, so not all droids have it.