Star Wars: The Empire’s Five Greatest Superweapons
Boy, the Empire sure does love building massive superweapons. Look at how many Death Stars they made! Which superweapon is your favorite?
Ever since the Death Star first showed up on screen in 1977, Star Wars and superweapons have gone hand in hand. In particular, it’s the evil Empire that’s known for its many and varied massive weapon projects. No less than five Star Wars movies, countless books, games, and shows deal directly with trying to destroy these WMDs.
Starkiller Base
Carved out of the planet Ilum, Starkiller Base was one of, if not the, most powerful weapons built by the Empire. By draining a sun, it could shoot powerful attacks across hyperspace and destroy multiple worlds from a distance. It was also itself a world that could move and host a planet’s worth of military forces. But Starkiller Base took so long to build that the Empire fell before it could be used. In the end, it was up to the First Order to make use of the superweapon.
But the base had a fatal flaw built in. The base was destroyed simply by striking the right point by a handful of fighters attacking it. The fact that this flaw was built without sabotage is dumb. In addition, the First Order had the lesions of two Death Stars to learn from and failed to do that. That failure, combined with the need to suck suns dry to fire, make it a pretty poor superweapon overall. For that reason, it ranks low on the list of the Empire’s greatest superweapons.
The World Devastators
A smaller but still deadly superweapon, a World Devastator did just what the name suggested. These massive ships would arrive on a world and start to “eat” it. Using massive tractor beams, they would tear the world apart. A fleet of them could destroy a world just as completely as a Death Star shot, though they needed more time. They were also less wasteful. The tractored bits of planet were fed into the massive forges and factories within the Devastator. The ship would then use these bits to produce fighters, droids, and starships. It could destroy a world and build a fleet at the same time. Who knew the Empire was so into recycling?
The Death Star is a Classic Superweapon
You know it and you love it. The Death Star is the most classic and iconic of all Star Wars superweapons. Some would even say it is the Empire’s greatest superweapon. It’s a heavily armored space station that can move through hyperspace. It carries a massive number of ships and guns with it. And most importantly of all its superlaser can reduce a planet to rubble. If not for a flew planted by a disgruntled worker it could have ensured the end of the Rebellion.
The Second Death Star
It’s bigger and badder than the Death Star, it’s the Death Star II! While it shares a lot with its predecessor this station takes it all up to 11. It’s bigger and carries more ships. A massive shield protects it. Its superlaser has a quick-fire setting that can destroy ships with ease. It’s also used a lot more intelligently. Rather than being sent out to just wander around and hopefully find the Rebels, it’s part of a trap. By using it to lure the Rebels to Endor the Emperor nearly got his checkmate.
The Suncrusher is the Best Superweapon
The Suncrusher is the Empire’s greatest superweapon. For power, it’s pretty much unmatched. It’s resonance-torpedoes could cause a sun to go supernova, wiping out a whole a whole system. This put its destructive force up there with Starkiller Base. However, it also had almost no weaknesses of its own. It was small, fast, and maneuverable. If you could hit it that wouldn’t do any good. Thanks to its layered molecular armor it could fly through a Star Destroyer and shrug off Death Star laser blasts. In the end, throwing it down a black hole was the only way to get rid of the thing, and it’s not clear that even destroyed it, it just kept it out of reach.
Let us know about your favorite superweapon, down in the comments!
