Ok, so I have a problem with Planet-Cracker weapons in Scifi in general and in Star Wars in particular. It is this: a habitable planet is literally one of the most valuable things in the universe. 1/6
-
Show this thread
-
One with a functioning ecosystem, a mature economy, and a large population of potential subjects? Even more so. 2/6
1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread -
A planet-cracker's the sort of thing an Empire motivated by profit and domination will only build in response to an existential threat, i.e. Mutually Assured Destruction against an otherwise overwhelming adversary, or one who has a similar weapon.3/6
1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread -
That's not to say that some types of empire wouldn't develop or use these weapons (e.g. a crusader empire, or one dedicated to the destruction of all outgroup life), but even then these would only be used on outgroup worlds, and only ones without exploitable resources. 4/6
1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread -
The original Star Wars gets a _little_ bit of a pass because if you happened to build something like that, you should have one of them, and you might use it exactly once, as a demonstration as force. 5/6
1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread -
But even that's a stretch - a test against a lightly populated world would do just fine as a threat.6/6
1 reply 0 retweets 1 likeShow this thread
Ok - so, someone in a really big hurry to conquer all known space might use something like this more than once - but that sort of thing is also usually motivated by an existential threat, and Palpatine? He's been chilling out for decades. Clearly wasn't in a hurry till just now.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.