star wars - Why did the Lars family need an astromech droid?

It was very clear why Owen decided to buy C-3PO:

OWEN: What I really need is a droid who understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.

But they appeared to be really interested in acquiring an astromech droid since when the first one (R5-D4) blew up because of a bad motivator, they decided to get R2-D2.

What use would they have for an astromech droid?

Answer

I agree it seems strange. R2 droids are specifically engineered to work on starfighters

this rounded, waist-high droid was made specifically to fit in military starfighter astromech slots

However, it probably retains the general purpose of an astromech droid:

a type of droid that served as an automated mechanic, performing a variety of repair duties

which means it would be handy to have around in a semi industrialized agricultural environment. We also see that R2 series is very high quality.

So this is a bit like buying the highest quality Swiss Army Knife -- sure it's engineered for military use, but it is handy in many other situations. Or maybe imagine buying a Humvee -- could be handy for some kinds of rural work.

Update: as @SQB pointed out above, Owen originally went for an R5 unit, which is the low cost budget version of the R2. Perhaps he gravitated to the R5 first out of frugal farmer instincts, but R2D2 (as a used unit) was a tolerable price.

Comments

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star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...

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