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Starkiller Base. Superweapons in Star Wars (And fiction fantasy in general)

Discussion in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' started by MarkaN, Oct 18, 2015.

?

Are the WMD in the poster and Star Killer Base in the trailer in the same?

  1. Yes, they are the same

    20 vote(s)
    80.0%
  2. No, they are different weapons

    5 vote(s)
    20.0%
  1. ITG

    ITG Force Sensitive

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    I wouldn't mind seeing Luke take down the StarKiller by using the force. Now that'd be a great way to make his entrance!

    "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force."
     
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  2. Amanaman

    Amanaman Rebel Official

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    Where did the guys who wrote those novels get the idea that the Death Star was a practically immoblie space station? Did they watch ANH at all? The very fact that apart from being able to destroy a planet, the moon sized station was mobile was the nasty thing about the Death Star and that would put fear in the hearts of everyone who opposed the Empire! Sure it couldn't travel at light speed like your average ship but let's look at some events from ANH more closely. The Death Star was able to travel from the Alderaan system to the Yavin sistem within a day after the Falcon escaped. Darth Vader stated "This will be a day long remembered. It has seen the end of Kenobi; it will soon see the end of the Rebellion." This clearly indicates that only a few hours passed between the escape of our heros and the Death Star's arrival at Yavin. If this isn't considered fast for a station the size of a moon then I don't know what is! On another subject, another thing that has me thinking is the picture from the poster. Does anybody have a larger pic that we can actually comfirm that the surface is indeed a planetary surface? Sure it may not look like the regular metal surface that we are used to seeing on the Death Star but it could still be any other material and not necesarilly a planetary surface. It would seem odd that a super weapon that could destroy whole sistems would be stuck on the surface of an imobile planet as in order to be a real threat it has to have some way of locomotion.
     
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  3. Derth Nadir

    Derth Nadir Rebel General

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    It's an ice planet similar to Hoth. I would guess those are mountains and you just can't see what trees there are from this distance.
    [​IMG]
     
  4. MarsPhoenix

    MarsPhoenix Sith Psychiatrist

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    What if this time, instead of having no morality dilemna into destroying a space station, they have to deal with an actual planet, and the fact that they would have to destroy it in order to eliminate a weapon of mass destruction. Like if the First Order has taken a whole planet in hostage.
     
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  5. Pastor Barndog

    Pastor Barndog Force Attuned

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    The code name for the Star Killer was "Catapult" I have the feeling that its a stationary weapon and it uses the planet and/or "the array" to launch projectiles at hyperspace speeds.
     
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  6. Schwarma

    Schwarma Clone Commander

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    Maybe this is why its designed as a frozen wasteland? Perhaps it doesn't have other cultures on it.

    I must say, I am interested to know how The First Order found the resources to build something to rival The Death Star, considering they're probably only an Empiure remnant.
     
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  7. cassidy

    cassidy Rebel Official

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    My thoughts exactly.

    I'm thinking it's alien technology or something secret the Empire was working on.
     
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  8. Stillwatch

    Stillwatch Rebelscum

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    Yea i gotta say his whole idea is pretty tired. Yet again another planet destroying super weapon thag looks pretty much like the first two? Tired.

    For the record I'll go ahead and guess that the guy harnesses energy from the planet core (plasma?) and hurls it at a star to destabilize it's mass and make it super nova.

    Couldn't they have done something more original like a sith created bio weapon? Imagine a galaxy wide black plague? Playing on the very thing that makes star wars amazing ? A disease spreading from person to person by space travel. There's so many other waya to have handled it.
     
  9. Kyle

    Kyle Guest

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    I think it's a Dyson sphere. Use a star to kill a star. Say the First Order found a volatile star and found a way to harness its power. They've had thirty-five years to work on it.

    In case anyone is unfamiliar with the term; Dyson spheres are massive structures that a scientist named Dyson predicted advanced alien civilizations would eventually use to cover a star and use its power directly.

    I think this is something along that line...
     
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  10. Gassman

    Gassman Rebelscum

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    JJ and LK are very intelligent men. I'm not worried there will be a great explanation for all of this. Can't just be a copy of the OT because of a lack of ideas. Come on. There's got to be something interesting in there. Every actor mentionned how great the script was and bla bla. Even Harisson Ford said it was fantastic. Not sure he would approve a simple copy of the Death Star.

    A lot of people are disappointed with new things. Always. It takes time to sink in. Remember Kylo's Saber last year ? My God, I think 1 person out of 2 was outraged. We got used to it. Period.
     
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  11. Travcon

    Travcon Rebel Official

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    Going in a slightly different direction than the conversation I would like to compare the similarities in super weapons in the SW universe to that of RL. Our super weapons from the 1950-1960's time frame really have not changed much if at all really. Specifically nuclear ballistic missiles for the last 60 years have not changed much in terms of general appearance and concept. You go from the Jupiter ICBMs to the current crop of Minuteman or sub launched ICBM and their virtually identical appearance wise. The biggest differences come in terms of guidance systems, multiple warheads, and explosive yield but those are evolutions over 60+ years. Even our RL thoughts of what our next gen super weapons will be like do not represent big changes. ICBM that will simply detonate in the upper atmosphere to create EMP, hypersonic cruise missiles with nuclear warheads, rail guns, and perhaps the biggest evolution will be conventional vehicles that will serve as laser platforms still do not represent major revolutionary changes just evolutions.

    The point being, the time passage between ROTJ and TFA represents only 30 years or half the difference in evolution in weaponry. Thus it is not unreasonable to think that the super weapon's basic appearance and mechanism probably would not change much. And the integrating it with a planet, the multiplying of its destructive capability, and possibly a moveable array to greatly increase its range represents more than enough evolution in design to make it interesting and plausible for the new movie IMHO.
     
    #31 Travcon, Oct 19, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2015
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  12. Darth Garth

    Darth Garth Rebel General

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    From a first look yeah, it looks fairly immobile, but how do we know that for sure? I think there is more to this super weapon then we know.
     
  13. Assy McGee

    Assy McGee Rebel Official

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    The Death Star reappearing in ROTJ never really bothered me and it doesn't concern me too much in TFA either. The character's journeys are the central focus of the movie and things like the Death Star are only there to push them along their path.
     
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  14. Rufus2fist

    Rufus2fist Rebelscum

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    A few things
    well this seems to be on the side of the Resistance not first order.
    secondly wasn't the resistance weapon called catapult I suspect this is a purpoltion or tractor beam system to hurl uninhabited moons at large groupings of star destroyers or the first orders base.
     
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  15. master_shaitan

    master_shaitan Jedi General

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    I'm actually shocked at the similarities of not only the Death Star and the Starkiller base but what the story of TFA sounds like compared with ANH.
    I really hope they do something different with this Starkiller base rather than just a rehash of the ANH finale.
    Meh, we'll see.
     
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  16. Derth Nadir

    Derth Nadir Rebel General

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    You can't really go by where things are located in the poster. There are X-Wings on the left and Star Destroyers and TIEs on the right. And there are FO troopers across the bottom. There are good and bad characters on both sides.
    Regarding the the "catapult," it was the name used for Starkiller Base....
    "The Sledgehammer" was the Resistance weapon. It seems to be some kind of drone ship that smashes through FO ships. Sort of a pilotless Kamikaze
     
    #36 Derth Nadir, Oct 19, 2015
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2015
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  17. Rieekan

    Rieekan SWNN Hawkeye
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    [​IMG] [​IMG]
    MacQuarrie concepts.
     
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  18. MarkaN

    MarkaN Rebel General

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    Exactly. In truth, the Empire never intended to have just a single Death Star in the first place. So much for the ambitions. The Emperor wanted more just like the previous Sith Emperor (Vitiate) felt that a single galaxy is not enough.
     
  19. Cyber Dyne 1000

    Cyber Dyne 1000 Rebel Official

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    if you look closely, there is a thin blue layer kinda like an atmophere, who knows maybe its a magnetic shield. but if this is indeed a planet, maybe that exaust port is some sort of machine to harvest the core of the planet and use that as energy. maybe they are collecting as much energy as possible in order to buildsomething bigger ? who knows
     
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  20. Derth Nadir

    Derth Nadir Rebel General

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