Bingowings said:
The Empire does seem to equate better with bigger (even though that doesn't necessarily make sense).
After building one Death Star they may now have the means to make a weapon as powerful but a fraction of the size and if they were in a hurry to build it would they bother with the fortress side of the station?
The first Death Star was an exercise in putting all the eggs in one basket.
It's a huge prison, a mobile Imperial base, potentially a concentration camp and it has the superweapon too, it size is an effective psychological weapon in itself but it may be more efficient to make several stripped down versions of just the superweapon.
That's why I suggested making the new fortress a lure (George like decoys and Palpatine is meant to be from Naboo too).
If the real weapon was stuck on something like another command ship that dropped out of hyperspace once everyone was there it could be shot to make it look bigger than any of the other capital ships (even The Executor) without having to make any comparisons with the Endor Moon or the metal moon which would represent the former big bad of ANH.
How about that, if the DS is just there to lure the Rebel fleet and isn't actually operational, instead of having the weapon on a new ship why not give a little twist in the tale and have what we all think is the shield generator on Endor actually be the superweapon? It certainly looks like it could easily emit the same type of laser configuration as the death star. Just add a few tower structures around the dish and they could be the actual shield emitters which would still get destroyed when the dish blows up. Just a very rough mock-up
