44 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

Are you suggesting the whole station was built minus the super laser for most of the time between RotS and R1?

I'm pretty sure that's directly stated in Catalyst. Not, like, 100% done, but basically done minus the Super laser and the hyperdrive.

Like others have pointed out, the canon sources point to the Genosians creating the original design, but were unable to figure out how to make the superlaser work. Krennic became the director for the project to oversee it's construction and Galen Erso was the mind behind solving the mystery on how to have a working superlaser (though he didn't know what he was really researching at the time.)

8 hours ago, xanderf said:

The most interesting implication - that I've only ever seen implied in places, but seems legit and so is totally head-canon for me - is that since the Geonosians were Separatists this explains the second Death Star nicely.

IE., they developed the design for the structure of it, which is ultimately what got turned over to Palpatine by Dooku and got constructed (later even by Geonosian slave labor) as the Death Star 1...but since the Separatists HAD the plans, what is to say they didn't start their own construction on the blueprint, trying to one-up the Republic superweapon? Of course, they didn't have Krennic and Galen Erso to get the superlaser weapon or reactors of the scale needed working, so they obviously lagged behind the first Death Star...but once the Clone Wars ended by fiat and Palpatine got access to all the weapons and resources both sides were working on...

Well, I mean, why not finish the second one, too? And when it shortly became the ONLY Death Star, suddenly focusing more effort on it...

(Thus explaining the considerable apparent difference in construction timeline of the two Death Stars, which it would turn out, wasn't that different at all)

Honestly that's probably how it did happen. Catalyst showed that the Republic was working on the Death Star in secret during the Clone Wars and, from the Republic's point of view, it was an arm's race to see which side would finish their planet-killing battle station first (much like WWII and the nuclear bomb) as they were fed information that the Separatists were working on their battle station at the same time. Though that info may have been false just try and get faster results.

Even though we only see the Republic's side of things in the book, I think you're on the money that the Separatist were building one too. They may have even used some of the designs for their other superweapons (which might explain why the firing "tube" on the Malevolence's ion cannon looks so similar to the Death Star's).

It's been a while since I read the book, but I think Poggle may have said something to Krennic about the Separatists building their own Death Star but running into the same issues as the Republic was. If that's true, that might be the confirmation on your theory.

2 hours ago, Derpzilla88 said:

Honestly that's probably how it did happen. Catalyst showed that the Republic was working on the Death Star in secret during the Clone Wars and, from the Republic's point of view, it was an arm's race to see which side would finish their planet-killing battle station first (much like WWII and the nuclear bomb) as they were fed information that the Separatists were working on their battle station at the same time. Though that info may have been false just try and get faster results.

Even though we only see the Republic's side of things in the book, I think you're on the money that the Separatist were building one too. They may have even used some of the designs for their other superweapons (which might explain why the firing "tube" on the Malevolence's ion cannon looks so similar to the Death Star's).

It's been a while since I read the book, but I think Poggle may have said something to Krennic about the Separatists building their own Death Star but running into the same issues as the Republic was. If that's true, that might be the confirmation on your theory.

It's also entirely consistent with something Dooku, acting as leader of the Separatists, would do.

After all, what's a Sith Apprentice without a plan to overthrow and replace their Master?

3 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

We see them working on it at the close of RotS. Clearly, it took a while to build it up to where it’s live in Rogue One.

The CGI Tarkin in RotS looks to be around the same age as Rogue One's CGI Tarkin. It's after Vader has settled into his armor and body, unlike the stiff moving Vader we see when he first gets up after being rescued by Palpatine. Plus, that's the bridge layout of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer in that scene. Given all of that, I always assumed that scene was time-jumped forward, basically to around what is now the Rogue One timeframe.

13 minutes ago, Freeptop said:

The CGI Tarkin in RotS looks to be around the same age as Rogue One's CGI Tarkin. It's after Vader has settled into his armor and body, unlike the stiff moving Vader we see when he first gets up after being rescued by Palpatine. Plus, that's the bridge layout of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer in that scene. Given all of that, I always assumed that scene was time-jumped forward, basically to around what is now the Rogue One timeframe.

Tarkin in RotS wasn't CGI. It was actor Wayne Pygram. Just FYI.

Jim

From what I remember to have seen and read, the Genosians had the basic idea but not a finished design, than later the Empire made a prototype for the super weapon to figure out how to combine it with the needed hyberdrive

but I am never sure what exactly is now canon and what not

The Thrawn book alluded to how the Empire was using pirates and black book mining operations to gather massive amounts of construction materials (more specifically, the metal used to build starship hulls) off-the-books. IIRC Thrawn even asked Palpatine himself about it.

Speculation: If the appropriations to build the DS had been done through official channels then there would be a good chance that the Senate might have figured out what was going on and actually done something to slow or stop it from happening. After all the Senate did have at least some power right up until it was dissolved at the beginning of ANH.

13 minutes ago, papy72 said:

The Thrawn book alluded to how the Empire was using pirates and black book mining operations to gather massive amounts of construction materials (more specifically, the metal used to build starship hulls) off-the-books. IIRC Thrawn even asked Palpatine himself about it.

Speculation: If the appropriations to build the DS had been done through official channels then there would be a good chance that the Senate might have figured out what was going on and actually done something to slow or stop it from happening. After all the Senate did have at least some power right up until it was dissolved at the beginning of ANH.

If they had gone through official channels, they'd still be bickering with the contractor to this very day as to whether they can't add some requirements to incorporate new technology, or whether the price of the contract needs to be adjusted to account for the fluctuations in the cost of durasteel.

3 hours ago, Freeptop said:

The CGI Tarkin in RotS looks to be around the same age as Rogue One's CGI Tarkin. It's after Vader has settled into his armor and body, unlike the stiff moving Vader we see when he first gets up after being rescued by Palpatine. Plus, that's the bridge layout of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer in that scene. Given all of that, I always assumed that scene was time-jumped forward, basically to around what is now the Rogue One timeframe.

And unlike the hip wiggling one from Rogue One!

The novel Tarkin also suggests that Geonosis is enough out of the way to hide the station from the Senate as it is being built.