I had mixed feelings when I first learned of the Starkiller Base. I don’t know if this has been posted, but does anyone else think it was all a set-up by Snoke? Unless the New Order is completely stupid, it makes sense that this would be the thing to lure Luke out of hiding. In other words, Snoke isn’t above wasting resources, manpower, and Resistance systems and planets to track down one man. It seems like a Sith thing to do.
The way I interpreted it, Snoke achieved what he wanted within that time frame. “We will crush the Resistance.” His Starkiller base does just that, it destroys a significant amount of any mega power resistance against the First Order when it fired on all those Republic planets. Destroying the Republic helps make the path to Luke easier since Luke will have little aid from outside forces if such outside forces, like the Republic, decided defend Luke from the First Order. Of course, we still have the small branch of the Resistance around, but to Snoke, they’re small beans. It would be easier to deal with them than a whole Republic armada.