If the super weapon is a planet...

Well, building a superweapon that, judging by the "starkiller" base name, destroys not only planets, but stars, collapsing the entire affected star system, and somehow not make it movable or long distance looks like as dumb an idea as having a small thermal exhaust port that leads directly to the reactor system, in the sense that if it could only destroy the star system it is on, it would be a "one shot use" super weapon..

From seeing the poster I was thinking movable, but long distance does make much more sense

 

Assuming there are two inhabited planets in a star system, one loyal to the First Order, the other one loyal to the Resistance - What will you do?

I hope there's a good rationalization coming our way, otherwise the Death Stars were more versatile / practical.

 

I guess the rational will be something along the lines of "well, you should have kept your neighboring planets in line too..."
It's a step above Tarkin's "Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station."

 

One could speculate that they would need to have the weapons shot (laser?!) get through hyperspace to make for an effective, but stationary weapon. Else it would travel for years before hitting anything.


Would be quite a new technology in the Star Wears universe to open wormholes for planetary super weapons to travel hyperspace and then annihilate star systems far far away. But then, the 1st Order would really have the ultimate weapon.

 

But if they are stuck on a planet that can't move, they would essentially be a sitting duck. Just have the Resistance build a Death Star and send it to the First Order's planet, problem solved.

IMHO, Rebels is already overusing the "hit-and-jump" approach (didn't Solo mention something about careful course-plotting through hyperspace in ANH?), but it vividly demonstrates the advantage of being mobile which I would consider practical, essential and necessary for any kind of superweapon.

Let's not forget that this was also the strategy of the Alliance in ROJ: I.e. to destroy the second Death Star (and the Emperor along with it) while it was being constructed and stuck in the orbit of the moon of Endor. Once it would have become operational, this "bird" would have flown.

 

Well, but while they were building the Rebel Death Star, couldn't the First Order just blast the star system where they are building it out of the sky?

 

Of course! Especially when the weapon is mounted in a trench on a planet and can move through this like on rails for aiming and then fire through hyperspace.

 

“You can type this s–t, George, but you can’t say it.”

 

Has anybody noticed how slow that super weapons blast seems to be when Kylo is watching it from the star ships bridge? It looks much raw and ‘fuzzy’, not unlike Kylo’s lightsaber.

For me, that blast does not look like a laser, at least not like the coherent one from the Death Star. The ‘projectile’ speed looks more like a missile or something similar, although showing it in a great distance might enhance that effect.

And yes, wormholes are very un-Star Wars like - but would help if starkiller base is immobile.

 

I thought secrecy was a major factor during the construction of the Death Stars or are you saying the Resistance wouldn't be capable of doing that?

Alternately, unite with every military entitity in the known galaxy and attack the superweapon planet. I think nobody could stand the thought that there might be a power with a "gun" bigger than all the others. Either they'd try to get their hands on it, too, or have it destroyed.

 

The First Order's interrogation techniques might be more effective than the rebellion's...

I guess that is what will happen in TFA

 

I seem to recall some time ago, I think it was Dark Empire trilogy, that the Emperor had a weapon that fired a projectile into space, then it travelled via Hyperspace towards its target. I wonder if Starkiller base' primary weapon is something similar? A gigantic projectile that can travel through hyperspace towards a star system? And the projectile is fully programmable as well? Just a thought...only my second post on here I think lol

 

It could be a mobile planet. It's icy, so they may not need to be near any star anyways. Also, the First Order could have developed something to heat the planet's core to both warm it up enough for life and to blast that red projectile/laser.

BTW, I think it's a great idea to make the new Death Star out of a planet. Sounds cheaper and also, if it has several life forms, it would act as a shield to stop the Resistance to blow it up.

 

I'm disappointed they are doing the super weapon (with a trench!) thing again.

That said, none of this makes sense based on the info we have, so hopefully there are some interesting things that are new and will explain it.

The only thing I can come up with, based on the planet, the trench. and that orb on the poster, is that maybe the starlit let base LAUNCHES "mini Death Stars" that go into hyperspace and slam into the sun in the form of a red beam, making the sun go "red supernova" and destroy the system. Notice in that Kylo Ren shot with the red beam (and lens flare..really JJ?) there is an imperial probe droid out in space. I think it's collecting data or something. You could see it better if not for the lens flare. Sigh.

Anyway, that's where my thinking takes me.

Star Wars is religion based, not science based, so I don't think we'll get a chief o'brien style technobabble explanation, just something very quick and basic. Which is fine with me.

 

If it can open remote wormholes, why even fire a projectile at all?

Just open one end near the target and the other near a black hole/supergiant sun/quasar/pulsar/etc.

Or open up a gravitational rift inside the sun/target, collapsing it on itself.




It would seem there is no reason to shoot a giant frickin' laserbeam into the wormhole if they have such technology.

--- Double Post Merged, Nov 22, 2015, Original Post Date: Nov 22, 2015 ---

Also, these were some of my concerns in the now locked 'TFA negativity thread'

 

Maybe it's just me, but Starkiller base reminds me of Halo.
http://halo.wikia.com/wiki/Halo_Array

 

Another disadvantage of such a weapon is that you would have to wait for the planet to be aligned with it's target, instead of aiming at what you're shooting at.

 

I concur, but according to the latest speculation in the latest starwarsnewsnet official thread there is some talk that the superweapon uses molten lava / magma from the planet's core.

Here is the thing with / difference to the previous Death Stars: These were artificial facilities designed entirely for the purpose to vaporize an entire planet many times bigger than the Death Stars themselves. Whether these used antimatter, hypermatter, dark energy (no pun) or a combination of these and/or other ingredients remained open to speculation.

Should Starkiller base, however, draw its energy from the molten lava and/or the planet's core we then are somewhat "'grounded" in terms what is realistically possible and what not (why use geothermal energy when much more energy efficient stellar fusion energy already comes in camping gear size?).

I hope they don't show the "science" of "science fiction" the door, but should I see that new weapon spitting chunks of molten lava into space to destroy stars I will probably die from laughing. I hope I'm dead wrong but somehow I don't have a good feeling about this.