ST The Workings of Starkiller Base

Starkiller base doesn't make a ton of sense to me. So it's a planet turned Deathstar, which I can buy into, but does that mean it's stuck in orbit around its star? And once it eats up its star, now is it free to travel? How does it make it to the next star?

Its first attack was against those planets with the Republic, but it seemed like it was able to destroy those planets *without* eating up a star for power. How? And if it did eat one up, how did it navigate to the next star to eat up, in order to blow up the planet with the Resistance on it?

Mav Edit: Edited title to better reflect general thread discussion.

 

It is very likely a mobile base : otherwise it could only fire a couple of shot and then become useless. Also, with the considerable amount of energy it gets from an entire star, there is probably enough leftover to provide some form of propulsion.

So, STB probably sucked another star off-screen, and then jumped toward the nearest one to reload.

 

Pablo Hidalgo says it is mobile. Check his Twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/pablohidalgo/status/679446383925960704

 

I can buy the movable planet theory. In fact, that's the ONLY thing that makes sense, otherwise it would be a one-and-done trick. But that does lead to issues.

First, it's a fully contained planet - trees, weather, etc. So that must mean the First Order put a TON of resources into somehow shielding the planet and artificially maintaining the environment. In that regard, the Death Star concept (fully self-contained craft) makes WAY more sense than using a planet.

Second, assuming that they are protecting the biosphere of the planet, even as it moves from one system to the next, how did Finn and the Resistance find it? After they fired the first time*, they would have had to move to a new system. Finn had left the FO by that point, so he should have no idea where they were going, right? I mean, even if Snoke/Kylo/Hux had a list of systems they planned to move to, a lowly recently-promoted janitor wouldn't have that list, would he?


*My Marvel No-Prize entry - the base was built in a binary star system, which means they wiped out one star for the first shot, but didn't have to move before taking the second shot because there was a second star to charge from. Doesn't answer the question about artificially maintaining the biosphere, though.

 

With the star gone the starkiller planet would be released from it's gravity well and he free to travel. It may be big, but outside a gravity well it wouldn't require anything more than a few giant manuevering thrusters and a hyperdrive. It could destroy star 1, then jump into another system where it would be captured by that star's gravity and go into orbit. Then repeat.

 

It has to be mobile. When we first saw it fire, it was bright daylight, so it could not have drained the energy from the star it was currently orbiting. It must have consumed the energy which destroyed the Hosnian system from a different star before moving to its current location. It had shields so was able to protect the surface of the planet, its atmosphere and its ecosystem during hyperspace travel. Whether it was always an ice planet is debateable. That might be a consequence of its latest orbit around the star we see it located at in TFA

 

It's one of the most stupid ideas for a plot device in the history of movies. It makes no sense.

No, it is not mobile. It's a planet. Duh! I know Pablo Hidalgo said "It can move" on twitter, but I doubt he knows, I doubt anyone at LucasFilm knows, because this plot device was so clearly not thought through. On Pablo Hidalgo's twitter page it clearly says, :"DO NOT CITE TWEETS AS CANON." His response was to a fan, and he had to say something, and come up with some excuse as to how this stupid thing works.

There is nothing in any canon novel, comic or the movie itself which suggests it can move. Nothing. In fact, the fact that the laser-bean can travel through hyperspace suggests that the planet obviously can't move. The whole reason why they made the laser-bean hyperspace-capable was because the planet itself was not. If the planet could move through hyperspace, they wouldn't have made the laserbeam hyperspace capable would they?

That's the giveaway right there. It's a dead giveaway that it can't move. Sadly, they will probably decide in official canon that it is mobile, but that's just making things up on the run. which is what happens when you have a stupid plot idea that doesn't make sense.

 

Dude, it's a planet. It cant be mobile. It makes no sense.

Why do you think they made the laser-beam hyperspace capable?

As I stated in my other post, they will probably "decide on the run" that it is mobile, but that would be utterly stupid. I mean it's a planet that clearly wasn't initially thought of as being mobile, because.... you know.... it's a friggin planet! But because of implausibilities in the plot, which were not thought through properly, they are probably going to have to re-invent history and have a "canon" moving planet. It's just so stupid, and lazy from the story writers,

 

There is no evidence of the base being mobile , Pablo is just doing damage control cause its his job as "Keeper of the Holocron".

 

I think it's already implied that it's mobile since it was charged once and fired, and then had to charge a second time to try to fire again. That in and of itself says it already ate 1 star and moved on without us seeing it. It just ate the first star and held the charge until after they were at the next star before firing the first time.

Being hyperspace capable just means it can strike from one system to another. Considering how hyperspace works in Star Wars, it HAS to be mobile, as you can't just hyperspace from one spot to any other spot in the Galaxy in Star Wars, you have to take certain hyperspace routes. That's why they needed a map to the first Jedi temple in the first place, otherwise just the system location would be enough... it wasn't... they needed the hyperspace route to be able to get there as well.

Yes... as you say, it's a planet.... but this is Star Wars. The tech in Star Wars exists because the story requires it. There doesn't need to be a Star Trek explanation for a planet moving. Hell... in the old EU, not only did they have a planet that moved, but that planet was actually a living being!

In the end, how is it really any different for Star Wars to have the tech to move a planet when they have the tech to destroy a planet with a single laser blast? That same laser being on a man-made station the size of a moon? That same moon sized station with the ability to hyperspace travel?

This is a Galaxy that has spaceworms, lightsabers, repulsorlifts, walking tanks etc... yet you need a detailed explanation for the ability to move a planet?

 

Honestly I think they would have been better off having the Starkiller base as more of a "spit and sawdust" weapon, something the First Order had cobbled together on the relative cheap to give them the power of the Deathstar without needing close to the same resources.

That would have made a lot more sense all around IMHO, the First Order doesn't need to be so powerful, the defence of the base can realistically be overcome in the fashion we saw AND indeed that the whole thing is intended as more of a 1-2 shot deal just using one star. The Deathstar needed to be moveble as it was intended to enforce the Empires rule but you could argue the Starkiller base as intended more to tip the balance of power in the First Orders favour via taking out the centre of the Republic.

You could argue I spose that Snokes response to Hux telling him the base is going down does suggest he expected it to and maybe that it had already fulfilled its main purpose.

 

There is no indication in the film, the novel or any canon material that the planet could move. None. In fact the novel contradicts it.

Please note that the following Poe's statement comes AFTER they had seen the schematics of Starkiller base from survey team they sent, which means they would have seen/known if it has a hyperdrive:

“We’d likely get only one shot at it,” Poe put in. “What Admiral Ackbar said about keeping it secret would only work as long as its location remains unknown. Once the First Order realizes that we know where it is, they’d throw everything they’ve got into defending it with ships, mobile stations, and long-range detectors. We might never get close to it again.”

Note that he doesn't simply say "once First Order realizes that we know where it is, they will fore hyperdrive and move it".

Star Wars doesn't have to be 100% scientifically accurate. But it DOES have to be plausible. Star Killer Base is not plausible. A planet travelling through hyperspace is idiotic, implausible and simply stupid.

The story didn't require a weapon that can only be charged once with one Sun. The story could have been that the weapon can charge thousnads of times from the one Sun. The story didn't require StarKiller Base to exist with so many implausibilities.

Yeah, well, the EU was way out of hand if they did that. That's just dumb.

You can't see the difference. It's a planet! You can't move a planet. It is just implausible. There was clearly no suggestion of "moving" the planet because there is NOTHING in any canon material that says the planet can move. Hell, the super-weapon itself has a hyperspace capable laser beam, which you'd think is proof that the story-writers didn't have a plan for the planet to move.

The Death Star was essentially a giant spaceship. It was built. Obvioiusly it makes sense that it can travel through hyperspace, to go from planet to planet and destroy them if need be. It makes no sense for a planet to be able to do this. It's not plausible. That's why the story-writers decided that the laser-beam must be hyperspace-capable - to compensate for the fact that the planet is not, because it's... you know, a planet.

 

I'm kind a bummed didn't get to see it in hyperspace. How cool would the sky look as you planet goes throug hyperspace?

 

Dan2626 Again... I find it no more implausible than anything else Star Wars has ever done.

 

Apart from the space slug, everything else can be explained pseudo scientifically.

Lightsabers - They use a technology we havn't invented yet.
Hyperspace - See above
Repulsorlifts - See above
The Force - It's like a more evolved version of extra sensory perception that an advanced being may have.
Walking tanks (AT-AT's) - There is nothing implausible about that. It's a piece of technology built to go in any conditions.


All these things can be explained pseudo-scientifically.

But you cannot destroy the sun that you orbit around and still live. If you are a planet, you can't live without a Sun. Destroying your own Sun cannot be rationally or plausibly explained. It can't be explained pseudo-scientifically. it doesn't fit with the rules that have existed in the other 6 films.

 

Unless you have a tech we haven't invented yet...

 

Oh give me a break.

What is more implausible than a planet destroying it's own Sun and killing everyone on the planet, but no one on the planet worrying about it, because they are all alive for reasons no one can explain? Oh I forgot, the planet can move through hyperspace (actually it can't but someone at LucasFilm story group will say that it can move to invent a reason for how they were supposed to live when the Sun was destroyed)

It's not just the most implausible thing in all 7 movies. It is EASILY the most implausible thing. It's utterly ridiculous.

 

The planet has a shield, why does everyone have to die?

 

Which doesn't make sense, because we are not talking about technology, we are talking about the basic physics of the way the Universe works. There is a big difference.

StarKiller Base is a planet, and nothing in the realm of plausibility can make it survive without a Sun. For starters what happens with gravity when the Sun is gone? Last time I checked gravity was still a "thing" in Star Wars.

Everything else can be explained through advanced technology. StarKiller Base surviving without a Sun can't. It's a bridge too far in terms of implausibility and the movie suffers big time because of it.

 

Going by that logic you can just explain away everything, no matter how implausible. Maybe the whole Universe can have a shield. Hey why not, if we are going to be inventing ridiculous things. For God's sake, the thing is a planet.

Here's how I would have solved the implausibility issue.

1.) Have Finn explain that the weapon can charge from the Sun thousands of times, instead of saying "it uses the power from the Sun until it is gone." This would solve the problem of the Sun disappearing, because it would still be there.

2.) The stupid line where Poe says, "When the Sun is gone, the weapon will be ready to fire. As long as trhe Sn is shining there is still hope"...... scratch that line. All of it.

3.)The implausible aspect of Finn witnessing the destruction of Hosnian Prime thousands of light years away from another Solar system. Scratch that. Instead, have general Leia Organ, come up to the main characters and say, "I have some sad news to report. The Hosnian system, capital of the Republic has been destroyed"

 

...the force :3

 

Why are people bringing up the laws of science when this movie is SCIENCE FICTION?

 

Well. It's cold on Starkiller for a reason. . But the idea, I think, is that once you've killed the star, you go to a new system and get in orbit of a new star in its habitable zone. Honetly, if THIS is your biggest believability issues with Star Wars, these might not be the movies for you. Star Wars is full of stuff that is not possible. It's a fantasy.

 

it'd be a waste of resources if it couldn't move.

 

Surely it is mobile like Death Star - since it destroys Hosnian system it already has devoured one star and then it devours other to prepare destruction of Ileeum-system. Could be that it orbited twin suns though at first?

Entire concept is not believable though but this is SW- hyperdrive is impossibility and lightsaber probably as well. But in that way SW is more fantasy than scifi.

Though I think that in-universe logic requires that planet itself was made "habitable" by other means so it doesn't require sun to get warmth and light. It is shielded with numerous shield bunkers and other crazy scifi-technology things to keep atmosphere stabile. Shields that Phasma shuts down are just those that prevent assault- not life-support systems or whatever planet must be filled with. I think they used planetary base just to save expenses- so they don't need to build gigantic battle station- only convert a planet in to one. Surely it makes no sense according to real physics but most movies have scientific impossibilities in them- especially likes of SW.