Weird thing about the Death Star

Utsanomiko · Post by **Utsanomiko** » 2005-03-02 02:11am

I think I recall hearing that the DSII's increased size was mainly to enable a much faster recharge time between shots. Either that or the dish being large enough to fire off axis...

Jadeite wrote:I'd suggest not using the Essential Guides, they're crap. They don't even get the number of engines the Executor had right, and that's a simple counting job.

There's several image errors in that book. Switching the ISD and VSD schematics, incorrect Outrider plan, etc.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2005-03-02 02:29am

Duken wrote:
Praxis wrote:In six months, and all the resources were transported by a single shipping company (Black Sun).
Isn't the Black Sun a criminal organisation. I thought Xizor Industrial Systems was the actual company. But it's been a long time since I've read the book...

Dunno, either way, it was a company owned by Xizor and the Empire did have a deal with Black Sun, so I thought it was Black Sun. It could have been XIS.

Jim Raynor · Post by **Jim Raynor** » 2005-03-02 02:50pm

Xizor Transport Systems is the legitimate company. Black Sun is the criminal organization.

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-03-02 06:00pm

Darth Fanboy wrote:
Robert Walper wrote:Why the hell did the Empire need to make the second Death Star so much bigger? Damn waste of resources if you ask me. Any practical reasons the DSII needed to be fives time the diameter and 125 times the ovlume of the original? Dick waving contests aside that is...
Possibly something to do with the ability to target capital ships or fire more shots repeatedly?

And they needed to make a station 125 times larger to accomplish this?

I also thought it had something to do with the Emperor wanting to have his own deadly artificial world to rule from, I know the essential guides are crap but they do mention a 100 story observation tower for the Emperor's throne room on the most heavily shielded part of the station, perhaps he was going to rule the galaxy from the DSII rather than Coruscant to project his power anywhere at anytime.

And why doesn't a 160 KM diameter DS suffice?

Robert Walper · Post by **Robert Walper** » 2005-03-02 06:01pm

Striderteen wrote:
Robert Walper wrote:Why the hell did the Empire need to make the second Death Star so much bigger? Damn waste of resources if you ask me. Any practical reasons the DSII needed to be fives time the diameter and 125 times the ovlume of the original? Dick waving contests aside that is...
It's a giant "fuck you" to the Rebel Alliance.

I think a smaller and much faster constructed DS would've accomplished that much better.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2005-03-02 06:04pm

Robert Walper wrote:
Striderteen wrote:
Robert Walper wrote:Why the hell did the Empire need to make the second Death Star so much bigger? Damn waste of resources if you ask me. Any practical reasons the DSII needed to be fives time the diameter and 125 times the ovlume of the original? Dick waving contests aside that is...
It's a giant "fuck you" to the Rebel Alliance.
I think a smaller and much faster constructed DS would've accomplished that much better.

And given that this entire thing was nothing more then a trap...does it really matter?

He liked to reveal in overwhelming power. This was shown throughout the entire series. Somehow now going "Why build smaller and faster?" goes against the very proof they show of his overwhelming lust for big.

He wanted bigger and badder, it wasn't even a problem.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2005-03-02 06:53pm

Robert Walper wrote:
Darth Fanboy wrote:
Robert Walper wrote:Why the hell did the Empire need to make the second Death Star so much bigger? Damn waste of resources if you ask me. Any practical reasons the DSII needed to be fives time the diameter and 125 times the ovlume of the original? Dick waving contests aside that is...
Possibly something to do with the ability to target capital ships or fire more shots repeatedly?
And they needed to make a station 125 times larger to accomplish this?

The DS2 had something like a 60x increase in superlaser charging speed according to official sources. Which makes for a hell of a better demonstration if there are multiple shielded planets in the same system, like what would happen if the Corellian system went into open rebellion.

Which is more awe inspiring, the station sitting there for eight hours letting people leave, before taking out the next target, or it wiping out every inhabited planet in the system in the first hour?

Someone may also have brought to the Emperor's attention the fact that Centerpoint Station was bigger than his first DS, and he may just have felt the need to shout "I've got a bigger tonker than anyone else" to the galaxy.

Kartr_Kana · Post by **Kartr_Kana** » 2005-03-03 03:38pm

How big is a small moon? I know that earths moon is a couple thousand km in diameter. Is there any referance from ANH to visualy calculate DS1s size? Because 120-160 km seems real small to me.

Lord Revan · Post by **Lord Revan** » 2005-03-03 03:45pm

Kartr_Kana wrote:How big is a small moon? I know that earths moon is a couple thousand km in diameter. Is there any referance from ANH to visualy calculate DS1s size? Because 120-160 km seems real small to me.

as far as I know there is no lower limit (the moons of Mars are so small that their gravity doesn't make them spheres)

SPOOFE · Post by **SPOOFE** » 2005-03-03 04:36pm

Is there any referance from ANH to visualy calculate DS1s size?

Not really. The only scaling opportunity is when Vader's Star Destroyer is making its approach, and then the camera cuts away way before it gets close enough to make a good estimate.

Because 120-160 km seems real small to me.

Care to explain why? It's not exactly a tiny distance.

Star-Blighter · Post by **Star-Blighter** » 2005-03-09 02:53am

Robert Walper wrote:
Striderteen wrote:
Robert Walper wrote:Why the hell did the Empire need to make the second Death Star so much bigger? Damn waste of resources if you ask me. Any practical reasons the DSII needed to be fives time the diameter and 125 times the ovlume of the original? Dick waving contests aside that is...
It's a giant "fuck you" to the Rebel Alliance.
I think a smaller and much faster constructed DS would've accomplished that much better.

That much smaller and faster built deathstar would then not be able to target capships or fire the superlaser every few minutes. There's a reason for it being bigger you know. If I were Palpy, I would want a better superlaser then the old DSI too.

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2005-03-09 08:29am

Where does the numbers of their size come from?

Firefox · Post by **Firefox** » 2005-03-09 10:58am

For the Death Stars? Here.

Gustav32Vasa · Post by **Gustav32Vasa** » 2005-03-09 11:16am

Firefox wrote:For the Death Stars? Here.

Right, I knew that.

It was a long time since I read his page. Does anyone know if he intend to update his book"review" page?

Post by **NecronLord** » 2005-03-09 11:45am

Robert Walper wrote:Why the hell did the Empire need to make the second Death Star so much bigger? Damn waste of resources if you ask me. Any practical reasons the DSII needed to be fives time the diameter and 125 times the ovlume of the original? Dick waving contests aside that is...

So no one would ever question Palapatine's endowment again.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2005-03-11 10:54pm

For a more practical explanation of the DS2's enormous size, perhaps we should consider the possibility that Palpatine was actually planning to move the capital of his Empire from Coruscant to DS2.

It would be a mobile Imperial Palace, capable of the administration of his empire in an environment which is nigh-impervious to direct assault (once completed) and which is also far easier to secure from spies and terrorists than the largely civilian centre which is Coruscant.

It would contain administrators, bureaucrats, all of his Imperial dignitaries and hangers-on, etc. It would be like a small planet in terms of its population capacity, because it essentially has to be.

Post by **Vympel** » 2005-03-11 11:02pm

That's a pretty good idea- a mobile capital, with enough firepower to fight off any assault conceivable, travelling to the further corners of his Empire at will and delivering Imperial Justice (TM) to any traitors.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-03-11 11:10pm

If he used the DS2 as a throneworld, Palpy would be secure, even when mobile. Immune to assault, safe from defectors, rebels, even the fleet.

The only issue would be one of supply: but who could besiege the Death Star?

Coriolis · Post by **Coriolis** » 2005-03-12 12:03am

Well...I suppose Palpy could carry around a few World Devastators for materials.

Techno_Union · Post by **Techno_Union** » 2005-03-12 03:32pm

StarWarsJunkie89 wrote:Well...I suppose Palpy could carry around a few World Devastators for materials.

And if he didn't want them, he could simply go to a near by planet/system with resources and take them... seeing as though he would have the DS II supporting him.

But it would make sense to actually have World Devastator type facilities in the DS II.

Assassin X · Post by **Assassin X** » 2005-03-13 12:10am

I noticed lots of places says diffrent things about the sizes of all the ships in the Star Wars universe.

I always thought it would have been great if they made really small version of the death stars Super Lasers... kind of like Space Turrets that were really mobile in space but still small enough that they can been moved quickly.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2005-03-13 12:14am

Assassin X wrote:I noticed lots of places says diffrent things about the sizes of all the ships in the Star Wars universe.

I always thought it would have been great if they made really small version of the death stars Super Lasers... kind of like Space Turrets that were really mobile in space but still small enough that they can been moved quickly.

Ship-scale ones exist, though I beleive all were destroyed.

Techno_Union · Post by **Techno_Union** » 2005-03-13 12:27am

SirNitram wrote:
Assassin X wrote:I noticed lots of places says diffrent things about the sizes of all the ships in the Star Wars universe.

I always thought it would have been great if they made really small version of the death stars Super Lasers... kind of like Space Turrets that were really mobile in space but still small enough that they can been moved quickly.
Ship-scale ones exist, though I beleive all were destroyed.

Were all the Sovereigns destroyed?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2005-03-13 08:54am

Were any Soveriegns even completed? AFAIK, they exist only in a bit of DE fluff in a vehicle book. They're not in DE itself, and they're never ever seen anywhere ever. Would've looked stupid anyway.

Post by **Ghost Rider** » 2005-03-13 09:24am

Stark wrote:Were any Soveriegns even completed? AFAIK, they exist only in a bit of DE fluff in a vehicle book. They're not in DE itself, and they're never ever seen anywhere ever. Would've looked stupid anyway.

Apparently only the main ship itself. The others I believe were in production.

My problem is pretty much the same. They were made to be a slightly, smaller, slightly less powerful version of the Ecilipse. Which honestly they could used a bit better design. Sure, it was meant to be fanwankish...but put some style into it, not a really big cake slice.