Air Force Officer Says Death Star Was a Bad Investment

[LobsterFeng]

I think The Death Star would be a much more practical investment if it was used as a deep-space exploration vessel instead of a mobile planet-destroying monstrosity.

I mean, think about it. It can travel through the Galaxy, holding years worth of rations and enough people to populate any suitable planet while the Deathstar helpfully orbits said planet to keep an eye on things. Man can travel pretty freely from Earth to the Moon so taking a moon-sized space station and sending it to any given Earth-like planet would be a pretty safe bet I'd think. You know, once we can get our own version of FTL travel or, finish our own version of the Hyper-Drive.

It would still be expensive as hell but using the station as an exploration vessel could potentially pay off in a HUGE way.

I don't see why it can't be both.

 

[Frostbite3789]

Actually the Death Star Superlaser was to be used mostly for civilian mining efforts to crack planets open and get to the fluffy mineral center. On occasion they'd blast a Rebel holdout, a pirate outpost or a revolting colony as a video op to reassure that the Empire was on top of things (and to keep dissenters from getting frisky), but mostly it was for planet-sized mining demolitions.

I feel like this is the best use of tax money since the CDC released those zombie survival tips.

The survival guidlines for outlasting a zombie outbreak are usually helpful in other kinds of disasters. Google the Zombie Squad, sometime.

238U.

I actually wasn't being sarcastic. I fully support this. It's awesome when a government can actually connect with it's people.

 

[Paragon Fury]

I think The Death Star would be a much more practical investment if it was used as a deep-space exploration vessel instead of a mobile planet-destroying monstrosity.

I mean, think about it. It can travel through the Galaxy, holding years worth of rations and enough people to populate any suitable planet while the Deathstar helpfully orbits said planet to keep an eye on things. Man can travel pretty freely from Earth to the Moon so taking a moon-sized space station and sending it to any given Earth-like planet would be a pretty safe bet I'd think. You know, once we can get our own version of FTL travel or, finish our own version of the Hyper-Drive.

It would still be expensive as hell but using the station as an exploration vessel could potentially pay off in a HUGE way.

Though, why bother building one? Why not just build the engines on an existing moon and fly it around if you want?

Rocket moon?


WHHHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

 

[Logic 0]

And here we have yet another bullet point why the tarkin doctrine just doesn't work in practice.

 

[Darth_Dude]

I have a question. Why did the death star have a vent if its in space?

It's actually a thermal exhaust port, to let all the heat / radiation / whatever out.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I liked The Emperor's reaction (see Robot Chicken) when Vader tells him the Death Star was destroyed.

30 years to build, 30 minutes to destroy.

The Death Star did have other purposes besides destroying planets.

 

[The Lugz]

typical military viewpoint is typical.
( this is why your relatives are still getting shot in wars, btw peeps they aren't given the tools for the job. )

the reason they lost, as any rts player will tell you is that spending your resources in one place for so long makes you vulnerable to attack
if they simply stockpiled the resources and equipment somewhere secret and built the death-star there in half the time it would have worked perfectly

the rebels were simply superior star-craft players.


this very same scenario is played out daily in supreme commander, 'i have experimental!!!!'
so what i just blew you up with 600 bombers.
'doh!!'

 

[remnant_phoenix]

Stuff like this reminds of why I ever liked Star Wars in the first place, in spite of George Lucas driving it to the center of the earth.

 

[Twad]

Well, with the same ressources i would prefer a fleet of several hundred capital ships (plus escorts and supply ships) rather that a single DeathStar.

Plus who need a planet-destroying laser? its useless. Its pointless. If you destroy planets they are lost forever, while with hundreds of warships you can still glass the planet form orbit (and get to keep it afterward if you want) and arent vulnerable to a single lucky teenager.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Well, if the US Military hadn't taken the funding off of NASA, they could have explored it properly.

(Bitter? Moi?)

 

[Gilhelmi]

Did anyone else read the article.

My favorite quote

In Return of the Jedi, viewers gain a fascinating insight into the programmatics of Empire acquisitions. In the single most realistic scene in the whole double-trilogy, Darth Vader complains that the second Death Star construction project is ? behind schedule. In fact, much of the drama in Episode VI revolves around this delay.
Consider the implications of pop culture?s most notorious schedule overrun. In the Star Wars universe, robots are self-aware, every ship has its own gravity, Jedi Knights use the Force, tiny green Muppets are formidable warriors and a piece of junk like the Millennium Falcon can make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. But even the florid imagination of George Lucas could not envision a project like the Death Star coming in on time, on budget. He knew it would take a Jedi mind trick beyond the skill of Master Yoda to make an audience suspend that much disbelief.

Think about it, we know it is true.

 

[Dutch 924]

Hmm. A giant space station with the power to destroy a planet is a bad idea.

No! Really?

 

[Antari]

So where was this daydreamer during the F-22 Raptor procurment process? Or the B-2 Spirits?

 

[Inkidu]

I always thought the point behind the Death Star was more fear-based than anything. Toe the line or boom Alderan chunks everywhere! I mean blowing up every planet would be stupid but having something than can travel the galaxy and oppress at the flip of the switch seems to be the Empire's shtick.

 

[senordesol]

What's a deathstar to an intergalactic empire, is a nuclear-powered submarine or aircraft carrier to an Earth force.

And just how many subs and carriers US army has?

Droids, eh? Yeah right.

The Army doesn't have any...sorry. Now the Navy...

I jest, but that's not really an accurate comparison

An Aircraft carrier or Submarine are pretty much the Star Destroyers and Nebulon Bs of our day. Our ICBM network is more like the Deathstar, which raises an interesting consideration: What if the Empire AND the Rebels had a Deathstar?

 

[Agent Larkin]

Stuff like this and AFblues are the reasons I can love the US military.

 

[Talvrae]

So glad how the american tax payer money is put to good work... Really hope Canada millitary dont do anything as stupid...

Damn what it is with American public sector and stupid report,, we had the FMA report on Zombie invasion, and now that... Does they have that much money to spend that they dont know what to use it for?

I think The Death Star would be a much more practical investment if it was used as a deep-space exploration vessel instead of a mobile planet-destroying monstrosity.

I mean, think about it. It can travel through the Galaxy, holding years worth of rations and enough people to populate any suitable planet while the Deathstar helpfully orbits said planet to keep an eye on things. Man can travel pretty freely from Earth to the Moon so taking a moon-sized space station and sending it to any given Earth-like planet would be a pretty safe bet I'd think. You know, once we can get our own version of FTL travel or, finish our own version of the Hyper-Drive.

It would still be expensive as hell but using the station as an exploration vessel could potentially pay off in a HUGE way.

Hummm no... You realise the whole series, including the EU all take place in the same galaxie... It's able to travel from star systhem to star systhem, not from galaxies to another