system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars Trilogy] The Empire ruled for almost two decades, why did it suddenly feel the need to keep building Death Stars when there was no need prior?
gpt
Death Stars don't get built overnight, basically they had been in progress since the beginning of the Empire.  We see the basic outline being designed, at least rough blueprints, during the prequel era.  Testing and planning take time, and more so if you need it to be in secret.  It basically took those 20 years to get the first Death Star going, they'd wanted it since the beginning.