: I think it always depends on how much you're willing to hand wave. Star Wars
: has always had a flimsier sense of FTL travel than even something like
: Star Trek, and far away from hard sci-fi, so the fact that they could
: create a FTL death ray didn't bother me.

But those visuals! If the beam was FTL, then Rei and Han should have seen it originate from a point source and spread in opposite directions. Unless the light it gives off is FTL, which explains how they saw it when it probably didn't pass within a few light-minutes of Takodana.

The old EU had an even better version of Starkiller base. I should qualify what I mean by 'better', because the Galaxy Gun looked lame, had a lame title, and the story it appeared in was awful. But it did the same job that Starkiller base (Looks awesome, has an awesome name, and the story it appeared in was good) by firing particle disintegrator shells through hyperspace. It also bears mentioning that these projectiles were dial-a-yield, just as capable of obliterating a single city as they were of destroying a planet.

Starkiller base makes the Star Wars galaxy feel small. Some of this is writing, but most of it is because the laser (Like all lasers in Star Wars) looks like it's travelling considerably slower than the speed of light. It feels like Starkiller base is in the same system as the Republic planets it killed. Firing a big artillery shell through hyperspace is much more intuitive.

: What *did* was the fact that Starkiller base literally killed its star after
: what, two shots? But there's no actual indication draining off the mass of
: a star has any deleterious effects on the planet its orbiting, nor what
: the Empire's game plan is after they've destroyed that sun. Where do they
: get more fuel? You telling me they can stick that thing in hyperspace?

... Yes. According to the supplemental materials, it appears that Starkiller base is hyperspace-capable. That would be a mandatory feature even if it didn't drain a star with just a few shots. When the First Order fires that weapon, everyone can see it. Everyone knows what it does. Everyone can trace that beam back to Starkiller base. Starkiller base then has to fend off the naval might of half the galaxy.

But if Starkiller base is mobile, it can be moved within First Order territory. It can be hidden, lying in wait for the next time.