Dark Empire Revelations.Anser to the question:Why did the Empire make so many superweapons?

Many have wondered....why did Palpatine have so many superweapons built?Why not spend money on more conventional ships,like Star Destroyers?Certainly all those weapons weren't needed to destroy the will of one galaxy...he was doing just fine without them.

That is true.Palpatine didn't need them to conquer the SW Galaxy.Rather he needed them to conquer galaxies.

I've been reading through the DE Sourcebook recently,and I've discovered all sorts of gems of info in it.

Palpatine's only desire was ultimate power.Supreme power.He only wished to make a mark on the galaxy.Nothing more.He had no desire to bring order to the galaxy.In fact ,he had set up the Empire so that if he ever failed,the Empire would would collapse into civil war and take the galaxy with it.(luckily the bulk of the Empire was destroyed at Byss... there was nothing left tto wreck havoc,there was very little to fight over,and to very little to fight with)

Palpatine's ultimate goal was to spread his dark will over the universe.Hey...he was eternal.He would have the time to do it.He planned to conquer other galaxies.

Let's take the World Devastators.These weapons were supposed to be the lead ships of a galactic invasion Force.They';re basically mobile bases/factories/shipyards/colonies.

A world devastator stripmines a planet.It sucks up everything in it's path and uses whatever's useful.A devastator is like a living thing,in that it grows.It uses the raw materials to make itself more powerful.It can get bigger and more powerful.

Imagine a fleet of devastators in another galaxy.They wouldn't need to go back to the Empire proper for supplies and reinforcements.Nope.They have everything they need.They could become entire colonies,mamufacture Imperial Class Stardesroyers,fighters, etc etc.All the devastators would need for an escort at first,would be an Eclipse or Sovereign Class Super Star Destroyer.Ships armed with mini superlasers.

The only problem I see with Palpatines plan is maintaining control over the guy you put in charge of watching you galaxy.

But you could always have the devastaors program codes into all Imperial machinery,codes that would allow you to destroy or control any single bit of Imperial technology,if someone tries to use it against you.

Then again knowing Palpatine,he probaly had some Sith trick up his sleave.

 

Matt,

Sorry, but that one doesn't hold up against the Dark Empire trump card - the original source. Taken from the text background material of Dark Empire...
"Welcome to Byss, A Dark Side World
...It is on Byss that the Emperor is establishing his model for the Galaxy-wide society of the far future, when the Dark Side of the Force will rule all without the need for weapons."

Now, several interesting things...
1. I suppose the Emperor wasn't stupid. He knew his model of a Galaxy-wide society (which presumably meant in-galaxy, but the whole thing - Wildspace, Unknown Regions, Hutt Space, etc.) was a long way off until the Dark Side ruled all. So, he figured in the interim, why not crank out as many weapons of destruction as he could to hedge his bet a little in case that day was longer off than he thought.
2. Star Wars has to some degree been about Lucas' own hippie-inspired philosophies. The Empire represents the cold, mechanistic universe - unfeeling, uncaring, but extremely efficient. The Rebellion by siding with the young farmboy and tree-hugging Ewoks represents the chaotic embodiment of nature. It is the natural/supernatural which is more than the match for technology. It is the mystic Force which destroys the Death Star. Now, Palaptine, the root of all evil as the leader of the mechanistic universe has done a complete 180-degree spin to side with nature?

 

Dude...there are two parts in the source book,where it says that he planned to expand outside the galaxy....lemme find em.

 

"He had succeeded where all others had failed in taming the Dark Side.He would journey across the UNIVERSE spreading the shadow of his rule,blotting out the stars themselves,and taking his dark rule to other helpless GALAXIES.

-Dark Empire,page38under the Palpatine entry

Not only that but there's a part in the book where a rebel commander discusses Palpatine's long term plans.

Yes Palpatine's goal was to eventually not have to rely on weapons,but the fulfillment of that goal was far off into the future.

During the time of DE ,his plans still relied heavily on superweapons.

And I suppose he planned to spread his model galactic society to many galaxies.

 

Cool.

 

MT...
"And I suppose he planned to spread his model galactic society to many galaxies."

Yep, you're right. I guess he would've indeed known they're out there since the Nagai had been doing advance-scouting sorties for a generation prior to their invasion. The Vong had been sending people for 50 years and the Republic was going to shoot Jedi through the Hyperspace barrier.

I think like anything, the superweapons made life easier for him, so why not crank them out. Now, did he know of powers even more terrible than a Force Storm. I mean if he's dreaming of the day when he didn't have to make a galaxy gun or a sun crusher, he would've had to have some basis for abolishing those. Did Palpatine know of some pure Force-based, unaided, Force power like the Cron Cluster Buster?

 

Maybe he was wanting to spread to more galaxies purely for more power. Palpatine was drawing on the lives of those on Byss to empower him, and for a power-hungery person, you can't go wrong with drawing on the power of every living thing in an entire universe.

 

up

 

I think old Palpy was trying to compensate for something.

All joking aside, I think he made all those superweapons to strike fear in the galactic populace, as he ruled by fear. Personally, I'd be pretty damn scared if I was on some Rim world and I knew that the Emperor had a superweapon floating around, especially after he decided to demonstrate it.

EDIT: Speaking of extra-galactic conquest, check out this ship I found on a tech drawings site: [image=http://executor32.homestead.com/files/imperium.gif]
CAPTION:
"The embodiment of Palpatine's plans for extra-galactic conquest, the Imperium would have been as
powerful as a Death Star, but much more mobile. Equipped with a small fleet of capital ships, thousands of
fighters, and innumerable support craft, the Imperium would have had virtually unlimited range since it would
also have carried several World Devastators to produce needed supplies. With this ship, the immortal
Palpatine would have spread the Empire across the universe. Rumors suggest that the crew would also
have been "immortal" as well, thanks to cloning equipment that would have been onboard. Thankfully,
Palpatine was not as immortal as he had hoped, and the ship never progressed beyond initial planning
before his final death. While some die-hard Imperials wanted to try and actually build it to use against the
New Republic, saner heads prevailed and the Imperium remained only a terrible dream."

This isn't found in any literature, it's just the original artist's concept of a ship Palpy might use for extra-galactic conquest. This isn't the original version, as the scale was off, which I fixed. Also, after measuring it carefully, I found that it should say 577 kilometers, not 537.

 

It is the whole Tarkin Doctrine. Rule through fear of force. Obviously Palpatine couldn't rule everyone through the Dark Side yet, and he is unable to subjugate the peoples of the galaxy independent of support. With superweapons in control of a few subordinates he can control, he furthurs his own power by proxy.

Come to think of it, it is possible that this is his final end anyways. Fear is of the Dark Side, (remember Yoda's speach), and through this fear, he may be able to obtain the power he so desperately craves. So the superweapons might be for that.

Or maybe it is just a human oversight believing that the bigger gun is better?

 

Just be glad that Emperor Palpatine never got his hands on the Sun Crusher, if he had it he would have destroyed every star system that threatened him and the Rebel Alliance would have been dead real fast.

 

that's if he had plenty of those resonance torpedoes. But really the galaxy gun was much better than the sun crusher, because of it's destroy from anwhere advantage, and much easier to defend.

 

I do not think that the information presented by Matthew Trias and Genghis12 contradicts each other; rather, I think they complement each other.

In any case, thank you for the valuable information, Matthew. This seems like the definitive answer to the old canard, "Why would the Emperor make superweapons?"

I need to get that Dark Empire Sourcebook.

 

hmm...i may need to invest in that (and the X-Wing) Sourcebook after all......i always found old Prune butt's philosophical muddelings entertaining...

 

you'll never find the x-wing sourcebook, since it was never produced, .

 

Another conceivable answer to the question?

The authors are the reason.

I think, Matthew, that a lot of these superweapons/supervessels were created merely because the author liked the idea of playing in a universe that gave them the power to create awesomely powerful constructions, and the existance of superweapons as created by the authors before them provided them with a precedent and a basis upon which to build them. I think they are merely plot devices, sometimes poorly used, sometimes poorly conceived, and sometimes ingenius and a credit to the story line.

While opening a discussion like this is, in my mind, healthy, enjoyable and thought provokinng, i feel that the real reason is hidden in there.

 

But if you want to talk turkey, here's my two cents.

I think they are the manifestation of Palpatine's megalomaniacal, thanatos oriented('death-instinct' i think that means, please correct me, freudians) personality. He had to control, he had to destroy. Superweapons were the tool which Palpatine could use to satisfy both urges on MASSIVE scales and with instant and devestating and NOTICABLE results. The also induced fear and paranoia- two states of mind which Palpatine not only enjoyed observing in those beneath him, but thrived off. He had the resources, so why not?

 

"While opening a discussion like this is, in my mind, healthy, enjoyable and thought provokinng, i feel that the real reason is hidden in there. "

Well duh.That's basically the real reason to everything.

But the superweapons alo tell us something about Palpatine's character.

 

They were built to instill fear into the hearts of those who would challenge the Emperor's rule. Truly the ultimate expression of the concept of collective punishment.

 

After a while thought that fear thing doesn't explain it any more......i mean...i understand the star destroyer...its huge...what? 1.6 Miles long or something, right?...i can understand the executor...even bigger...visibibly noticably bigger and far more imposing.........but why the heck does he need to build anything bigger(Death Star excluded for its obvious addtional fear inducing capacity)!?...i mean really, why did he need the eclipse class or any of the other jumbo destroyers? or any of the other superweapons...after a while they are horribly inefficient...not only as functioning ships but also as weapons of fear...he'd get the same responce to a ship smaller than the eclipse...like the executor...and yet he builds it anyway......and it would probobly be more useful to spend that time and money on regular Star Destroyers anyway...

 

Jaster...
"after a while they are horribly inefficient...not only as functioning ships but also as weapons of fear...he'd get the same responce to a ship smaller than the eclipse...like the executor...and yet he builds it anyway"

I think the reason for "bigger is better" is because the fear factor of a Super-class Star Destroyer was all but destroyed when one was taken out by a single fighter.

When your enemies don't fear you, you have to do something else. If Palaptine showed up with the Executer II as his flagship, the New Republic would be like..."Executer? Bah, is that all you have?"

So, Palps makes a bigger, better ship and they crap their pants all over again.

 

"Executer? Bah, is that all you have?"

Now that's something I'd love to hear someone like Mon Mothma say.

 

How many Super Class Star Destroyers had they destroyed by the time of DE?

 

I personally think the whole SSD thing is a crock. I mean, fine, a couple of SSDs like the executor, iron fist, lusunkya and maybe even the black fleet one (there was one, wasn't there?)- they all maintained something approaching plausability and a decent level of awe and fear, but then you've got the eclipse, sovereign, and a thousand other ones. I just think its implausible to believe the empire would

a) have that many resources (financial, human, mineral) to keep on pumping into countless Super Star Destroyers

b) be stupid enough to keep doing it when time after time they just get screwed.

c) further to (b), want to keep on putting all their eggs in one basket like that, when people just keep on dropping the basket.

 

From that excerpt, it sounds like maybe the Yuzzies should thank the Rebels.