Star Wars Rethink: Was The Death Star A Good Idea?

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On this episode of Star Wars rethink I look at the Death Star the empires battle station, but was it really a good idea or a terrible blunder?

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[vampyrjack]

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin - the more star systems will slip through your fingers" - Leia, Episode IV
Don't know about you, but a quote like that makes it sound like there's talk of a bit more than just a few small insurgencies here and there, but a more planet even system wide thing.

[SultanOfAwesomeness]

"Was the Death Star a good idea?"
I don't think Alderaan thinks so.

[TheVoiceOfReason]

"I look at the state of the Empire and think, 'How many Super Star Destroyers could we have made with the resources we threw into Tarkin's folly?'"

― Grand General Cassio Tagge, referring to the Death Star

[dantewilliams]

more star destroyers would of been a better investment

[FalcnKing]

the death star is a perfect example of generals perfecting a war in time for the next one.
During the time of its conception the death star made some sense as it would have won the clone war outright (although the massive investment of ressources nessessary to build it would cause the collapse of even or especialy a war economy)
In the clone wars where convincing planets over to your side was as important as taking enemy ones the threat of denying planets by destruction would have caused most neutral planets to join the side who could field the death star.Furthermore a lot of worlds would desert or face destabilising political and social crisis as many would oppose the decicion to face of against such a weapon. Additionaly any space engagement could be won easily as no spacefleet could hope to overcome such a massive combat presence (well except using massive design flaws within the deathstars superstructure). this meant that enemy strongholds, fortifications or main industrial centres could be destroyed or isolated without much difficulty. However the construction of a superweapon like this makes only sense in stalemate, not in a hot and active war.

The empire faced not an enemy but a partly homegrown insurrection. massive military investment leads only to short term gains and can be counterproductive in the long term. It is similar with the effect the fear of the death would have on the overall population as such threat would worry not only the disloyal part of the imperium but could alienate th loyal elemnts of the imperium.

However the ultimate decicion to build it was given to a dictator. As seen in our own history dictators have a liking to extreme superweapons as means to express both their power as well as their prestige.
the emperor was no different.

summa summarum:
 the death star was great at the time of its conception, but failed to deal with the actual problems of a galaxy-spanning imperium several decades later.
 thus creating it was waste of ressources, manpower and burocracy(anyone thought of logistics required by a moon sized space station)

[metalc.s]

I think thrawn was right when he said he thought it was a waste of resources

[pjt]

Over all a good video but I have a few issues

The Death Star was first conceived as a large mobile base for large ships such as star destroyers and had a Troop carting capability of 600, 000 troops. Making it essentially a mobile army and navy. Even if its Star Destroyer hangers were taken out of the final design.

Assuming that you don't need so many troops for security they would probably serve as ground troops for Occupation and invasion. Meaning the Super laser served more as a weapon of last resort and reminder that if shit keeps going the way its going. BOOM

So the empire was unlikely to use it unless it had too and would likely not need to use it often. Having a giant dooms days machine floating around your planet and watching troops fly out of it and land at your doorstep sounds like a pretty good motivation not to fight them.

Next is the cost of the Death stars. Its hard to calculate the relative cost of the station compared to the total GDP of a galaxy spanning civilization. But it would seem to me that with the Death stars mobility a handful of these stations could replace dozens of Ports and dry docks and basses around the galaxy. Its a little like saying "A Aircraft carrier is expensive. Make the navy use all land bases" Well a Land base is an easier target and can be siege and cut off from supplies. Not to mention nothing says "Up yours, Were in charge" quite like parking a Nimitz Class Carrier off your coast and threatening to rain fire on your house.

So with the reduction of basses and supply lines in theory a Death Star could Save the Empire money long term. Both in terms of Bases and many power needed for planetary occupation.

[TheRomanRuler]

Yes it was good idea. It was built to combat Yuuzhan Vong "world ships". Palpatine knew about upcoming Yuuzhan vong invasion, which is why i believe he built up his military forces to be far stronger than he needed to fight rebels.
" It is known that, by 27 BBY, at the start of the Outbound Flight Project, Palpatine had somehow gained knowledge of the incoming Yuuzhan Vong fleet, though he planned to withhold it from the Republic until after his New Order could be instituted."
So reason why Yuuzhan Vong war was so bloody is becouse rebels won the galactic civil war. Had Empire won civil war, Empire would have been prepared to face Yuuzhan Vong invasion and Yuuzhan Vong would have been driven away with far smaller losses.
So, indirectly, blame rebels for losses suffered during Yuuzhan Vong invasion.
And remember that Death Star was only 1 weapon, Empire never wanted to have many of them. So after Death Star had been built all resources could again be spent to build traditional warships. And death Star itself did not bring fear to Galaxy, it was Emperor who happened to be Dark lord of the Sith.

[shadowwriter]

If the Empire was going against the Republic, like in terms of a scenario of Knights of the Old Republic, then the Death Star would be somewhat helpful. I only say somewhat because there would be some hatred toward the Empire within depending on the planet that gets destroyed

[dane]

I think the Death Star was a good idea, because it struck fear in the heart of the Empire's enemies, but it was severely flawed. The Imperials and the Emperor himself were way to confident in the station itself. It was truly a brute, but the port hole on Death Star 1 made it too vulnerable. Death Star II was a huge blunder, though it was truly massive. The Emperors over confidence was its downfall. The station itself was not even close to finished, and had a huge gapping hole in it.

[sluggy]

As another person has already said, remember that Palpatine (In original EU) knew that the Yuuzhan Vong were coming, and that the Death Star could fight them. Unfortunately, with the disregarding of EU canon, it does make no sense, and shouldn't have been built if we are only going of actual canon.

[raiderfox]

The cost would be small. For an Empire that spans across THE GALAXY.
But, destroying the damn thing is another thing...

[voji]

Not sure if you are okay with legends but you must remember the alternative motive to the death star - to combat extra galactic invaders like the Yuuzhan vong.

[TheZeldaplayer]

We all know that Palpatine predicted the invasion of the galaxy by the Yuuzahn Vang and wanted to use the Death Star against them...wait, it's just me? Okay then....

[GlitchyShadow]

if the empire was locked in a cold war with another galatic superpower like the USA and USSR were in our world, having a Death Star or some other WMD would serve as a deterrent and could prevent another galatic war. Like in our world with our cold war.

Buuuut the Empire had no rival superpower, and it really wouldn't need something like that

[luongo]

I was thinking the same thing. People will initially fear you, but eventually, that fear turns into hate. The best way to rule anything is thru love!

[ErichZornerzfun]

Honestly seems that investing more money into the army but in terms of equipment and RnD would pay off far more in the long-run.

[LoreGuy]

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and put your opinions below!

[santiagotamulis]

Well I always tought that the Star Wars galaxy has enough mony to sustain a Death Star and the loss of several planets

[toledochristianmatthew]

Well, in legends the purpose of the Death Star was to prepare the galaxy for an incoming invasion from the Yuzhonn Vong. Palpatine foresaw what would happen that might threaten his rule. The Death Star vas meant to counter the Vong's advanced organic world destructive weaponry. The Vong nearly destroyed the galaxy and later on even the Rebels regretted destroying the Death Stars.