Superweapons of the Empire (Death Star, Galaxy gun, Eclipse SD, Dark Troopers)

[Darth_Yuthura]

What would be the point of housing a grand army? The Death Star is more massive than it needs to be, more powerful than it needs to be, and more expensive than it needs to be. Just because the Empire isn't short of credits doesn't require such a lavish expenditure as the Death Stars. I don't think that all the other superweapons on the list combined didn't equal the expenditure of treasury or resources as a single Death Star.

 

In addition, one mistake doomed the first station and it was all lost. It made more sense to have a larger number of smaller weapons capable of generating as much fear as a single DS or Eclipse SD. That way, if one were lost, there would be another ready... just in case.

[Litofsky]

I do believe that you're forgetting the Tarkin Doctrine, DY. The Empire's goal, in the construction of the Death Star(s), was to put as much fear into their subjects as possible: therefore, all other items (cost, etc) were secondary concerns.

 

The other items on the list might not have been as expensive, but, to a regular citizen of the Empire, which would be more frightening: a massive battlestation (that was capable of being mistaken for a moon) that could destroy planets at the Emperor's whim, or a multitude of small, less powerful ships that could be destroyed?

[Darth_Yuthura]

A SINGLE star destroyer was difficult for any planet to counter. A single Eclipse would have been enough to rival the Death Star's fear factor. I would have imagined the Tarkin Doctrine didn't address how losing their one symbol of terror would have rallied the enemies of the Empire it was meant to intimidate.

 

When the galaxy gun was built, it was more terrorizing than anything equipped with a Superlaser because it could destroy anything anywhere within hours. The same thing goes with the Sun Crusher. They shifted the loyalties of MANY New Republic Allies with the mere knowledge of their existence, but when the Galaxy Gun (and the second Eclipse ironically) were destroyed, the Empire lost much more than the planet Byss. Having two or three superweapons all capable as the Death Star would have made it much more difficult for anyone to be rallied if one was lost.

 

Two or three Eclipse SSD made much more sense than one Death Star tactically and for roughly the same fear factor. One Galaxy gun was all that was needed, but still had that "one weapon" problem.