I know Dark Empire is not everybody’s favorite story, but it does have some neato stuff.
World Devastators are one of those things that I think are really appealing. The idea of giant ships leeching resources from a planet is cool, evil, and does make sense as a tool for a shattered but resurgent Empire (a Dark Empire, if you will).
Devastators also pump out Droid TIE fighters, which are aesthetically my second favorite version of TIE after Interceptors.
Devastators are very similar in concept to Star Forges, though rather than being ancient Sith weapons, they are cutting edge Imperial technology, drawing parallels to the connection with WW2 Nazi Wunderwaffe ideas, a perfect fit for the Empire.
The blocky look and the AT-AT inspired landing legs scream how heavy and implacable they are.
A great addition to the history of Star Wars ships.
First tike I heard the name I thought it sounded so goofy, like wooow they couldn’t go for even more of a lame sounding name like the Universe Exploder or the Death Sta… and that’s where that thought ended.
The name tells you a lot about what it is supposed to do, and how the person deploying it sees themselves.
If it were built to collect resources at the cost of devastating a planet, then it would be called a Collector or Harvester, because that’s its primary function. A World Devastator has the primary function of devastating worlds. It’s an offensive tactic that uses the resources collected to build war machines as a byproduct.