ST How Did the First Order Build Starkiller Base?

I really, really, like TFA, however there is one question I have that isn't answered directly in the film.

How did the First Order build Starkiller Base? They seemingly have the resources to build a super-weapon both larger and more powerful than the Empire could create at the height of its power. How is this possible? Where are they getting the personnel, materials, and money necessary to do something like this? The Empire controlled the entire galaxy and could only build two Death Stars.

Also, no one in the Republic noticed? The Rebel Alliance was aware of the construction of both Death Stars. They certainly weren't blindsided by the information the way the Resistance is in TFA.

I haven't read all of the lead-in materials in the new Expanded Universe, so perhaps there is something there that addresses this.

 

YES! Literally the biggest questions on my mind and you phrased them all perfectly. All the other mysteries I feel like we'll get answers to over time, but this one I feel like we won't, and it's all just a little too convenient (not that it ruins my enjoyment of the film, but it does gnaw on me).

The empire is neutered, has to sign a demilitarized truce with the new republic, and yet their leftover scraps, gathering on an unknown corner of the galaxy, are able to recruit/kidnap/brainwash enough people, and raise enough funds to build a bunch of star destroyers, gut an entire ice planet, engineer a new sun-sucking energy system, and build a Death Star that's ten times bigger than the previous ones? That's one hell of a Galactic Kickstarter campaign!

 

yes this is one of the big thing's that's not bothered to be answered in the movie. if the First Order isn't controlling the galaxy like the Empire, where are they getting the funding to do all this and how would the Republic not hear about this weapon being built?

 

Judging by the general laziness that was shown in the entire Starkiller plot that made it feel like an afterthought, I don't think we should ever expect answers to any of this!

 

I agree. I think it would have been cool to see the First Order as a small geurilla terroristic force rather than an unexplainable massive Empire with unlimited resources despite having (seemingly) ceded power to the Republic at some point.

 

I'm really hoping we get an answer to this in Episode VIII and it isn't left as a massive plot hole. My best guess at this point is it has something to do with Supreme Leader Snoke and the Unknown Regions. It is mentioned in the novel "Star Wars: Aftermath" that Palpatine believed he drew his power from the Unknown Regions. Perhaps there are resources out there that give budding space-fascists the ability to build new and improved super-weapons.

 

They control some territory. Some in the unknown regions, some maybe within the galaxy proper. They therefore have some number of panetary resources. We will find out more, but I expect them to expand before/during episode VIII.

 

Yes, I think that would have been a good approach as well. I mean, they could have had a powerful military, but one too small to be a threat to the Republic. Instead they rely on terrorism and sabotage to cripple the Republic/Resistance forces. An enemy for our times.

 

I wouldn't call the Starkiller larger than anything the Empire constructed. Yes, it's dug into the side of a planet, but it's not the entire planet. I'd bet that Death Star 2 was far more massive and required much more work to complete.

 

The Empire had... well, an Empire to run. Lots of resources tied up in paperwork and building palaces for Palpatine. Infrastructure, all the day to day business that requires credits. The First Order may only be a quarter the size of the Empire, but it appears they aren't messing around with "shovel ready work programs" and the like. Looks like they are putting ALL their resources into the military.

Also, even though the Starkiller is much larger, it may have been cheaper to build than a Death Star. Starkiller was built into an existing planet, no need to build the superstructure in space and have to worry about life support, artificial gravity, and all the problems that come with building something in space

 

Jar Jar Binks. This is all Jar Jar's fault.
Remember that he created the Empire by passing that bill?
That dude is actually Snoke. This is why he uses a hologram.
Jar Jar Binks is Snoke!

 

Its hard to say anything for sure without more information about the state of the galaxy during TFA. Providing a little context on the balance of power would have been helpful plot-wise. We don't get very much of this in the film.

 

Completely agree. The movie was lacking a quick, simple scene that explains it all. Like the Death Star conference room scene in ANH. With just a quick, 3 minute scene, we got all we needed to know about the state of the galaxy.

 

Seems the First Order was working in the shadows for the better part of 30 years. SOMEBODY has been supplying them somewhere. It's interesting. One of my very first ideas for Ep7 was to have the Mandalorian Empire as the main villains. I had imagined that during the Empire, the main weaponry was designed by and provided by the Mandalorians (hence the similarities between the original clone troopers and the Fetts).

And it is also possible that the First Order have invaded and gradually taken over many worlds and zapped all of their resources and finances. That or someone somewhere has been pulling systems together (like the Separtists). There may be some wealth out there. Dooku family? Wherever Benedicio Del Toro is from? Who knows? But every bit of politics and financial matter doesn't have to be explained.

And as far as the SK base itself, I imagine it's a matter of the Atomic Bomb versus the Hydrogen Bomb. The A-bomb was synonymous with WWII while the H-bomb associated with the Cold War and post-WWII era. There are worlds that apparently agree with the F.O.

 

With Union labor.

 

They control hundreds of Star Systems... which each likely contain populations of Billions. It's not all that far fetched to see them enslaving a vast group into constructing this. The Empire used enslaved wookies to build the first death star... but easily had the resources etc to build something of this scale if they had the ability to create the hyperspace weapon that Starkiller Base used... they just apparently didn't have that kind of tech, but they did have the tech for a superlaser for the Death Star.

 

Probably.

 

But how deep does the shaft go? And the technology is far more sophisticated than DS and DS II.

 

Who's to say it wasn't being built by the Empire and then the First Order just completed it? We already know the Empire didn't just fold after Vader and Palpatine died, even in the new canon.

I do really want to know more about the state of the galaxy 34 ABY when it takes place. The First Order, The Resistance and the new Republic.

 

The only tech difference is the weapon itself. How do we know the Empire hadn't done all the research, but just ran out of time before they could build it?

 

30 odd years is a long time, it took 19 years to build the death star which i imagine was a much tougher task.

 

with lighthammers and lightdrills?

 

Possibly.

 

It came from Beyond.

 

Well they pretty much stole the Star Forge idea from KOTOR, so maybe that technology will be a clue as to where they are getting these resources.