The Grindery is better than the Death Star

[Shinto-Cetra]

How many planet-destroying superweapons has the Galactic Empire from Star Wars built?

-Death Star I: Blown up in a chain reaction by the rebels firing proton torpedoes into a thermal exhaust port in Episode IV. I guess it was such a 1 in a million chance that I can see it being overlooked.
-Death Star II: From Episode VI, it was not even finished. SOMEONE thought it was a good idea to lure the Rebels to an unfinished Death Star, with an *external* deflector shield, which was promptly blown up. The rebels literally flew inside and blew up the main reactor. I think Palpatine may have been going senile by that point.
-Galaxy Gun: From the Dark Empire comics. Instead of a laser, shoots a nuclear warhead across the galaxy to its intended target. Which sounds great in theory as there’s less wait time, but on at least one occasion, the warhead didn’t detonate on impact due to a faulty timer, giving the rebels time to escape. Blown up when colliding with a Super Star Destroyer.
-Starkiller Base: Basically the Death Star I, but bigger in Episode VII. Like everything ripped off by JJ Abrams, it was quickly blown up, this time by the rebels shooting *external* power oscillators.
-Every Star Destroyer with Death Star-class lasers: The Rebels blow up a whole fleet of these while docked in Episode IX. They never even got to blow up a single planet, lol.

How many Grinderies did Taben build for Ghaleon in Lunar: The Silver Star? 1! It shot Vane from the sky, it didn’t have any crippling weaknesses, and still exists in Lunar 2, even if it’s been converted to a day-care center. Vane only fires back in the remake version, so don’t *fire on* me with that. Taben’s a brilliant engineer. I rest my case, the Grindery is better than the Death Star(s) .

[Temzin]

Ghaleon's Mechanical Castle is the greatest of weapons and such a cool dungeon, especially in TSS! While Laputa-originated flying cities like Vheen/Vane became a common appearance in RPGs, I'm surprised the castle has never been imitated, even in steampunk productions like FFVI.

I do like how Vheen fights back and actually attempts to be useful in SSS, but the ease with which the Mechanical Castle rolls through in TSS matches the sense of decline (dead dragons) and menace in that game. Since Ghaleon is more overtly malevolent in TSS, the castle is also much more frightening since it really feels like it might roll over random cities like Meribia on purpose and its goal is to dominate, not awaken Magic City Althena from under the Goddess Tower.

...but steampunk, dragon-less TSS Mechanical Castle does have a Death Star-esque weakness: its need for steam and thus to refuel with water! And by the time you defeat the furnace boss, it's presumably grinded (ha) to a halt and isn't up to much, whereas SSS Ghaleon has no more use for it and simply abandons it even if it might still work.

[Kizyr]

Grindery has fairies.

Death Star also lost its luster after the same concept was reintroduced 3-4 times throughout the series. Although Rogue One was pretty enjoyable leading right up to delivering the first Death Star plans to Leia, but every subsequent one was underwhelming since it's just a "oh it's another one huh...".

[Alunissage]

I don't remember off the top of my head if there's any SSS equivalent to seeing Talon with massive tread marks across it in TSS. Alas, the sun tea.

Another aspect of the steam mechanism story element, albeit one that doesn't make a lot of logistical sense, is that in addition to Burg being emptied of people its river is totally dry. Really underlined how the place was wiped out, along with the monument being broken and all. Really, SSS was much gentler on the environment.