Battle droids are a major staple of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars animated TV series. Consisting primarily of B1-series humanoid droid soldiers, these robots form the army of the Trade Federation in The Phantom Menace and make up the bulk of the Separatist Army in Attack Of The Clones, Revenge Of The Sith and the Clone Wars. B1 battle droids are spindly constructs that are programmed with standard military tactics and combat algorithms. While they are shown to be rather incompetent (especially in the TV series), they are often deployed in vast numbers, making them a serious threat to any combatants except perhaps the Jedi Knights. In The Phantom Menace, battle droids are controlled from Trade Federation control ships. If a control ship is destroyed, the droids operating under that ship's signal will shut down, as demonstrated during the Battle of Naboo. In the following films and Clone Wars series, battle droids all operate on independent power sources and as such are only destroyed through direct combat.