My vote goes for the Death Star, first OR second. If assaulting the firing dish area of the DS was a viable option, the Rebellion would have done that, as it sounds far easier. The DS only needs one shot to take out the Star Forge, and its range isn't as limited as 500,000 km. You can't shoot through a planet. If the first DS had just blown Yavin out of the way, who knows how big the effects of the explosion might have been. Yavin was a gas giant. Imagine shooting Jupiter with a superlaser; we might have a binary star system afterwards!
But the Star Forge could take out the first DS with a well placed shot from a fighter it produces, you might say.
No. Remember: "The target area is two meters wide." "No computer can hit that!"
The Star Forge can only produce computer targeting systems, and not Force-enhanced organic ones.
Not even a fleet of ships could stop the DS, so by the time the DS gets to the SF, yes the SF would have produced a fleet, but the DS could destroy it. Or, unless the fleet is so densely packed that the SF cannot be seen, just take out the SF with the first shot.
Long story short: Death Star owns Star Forge.
Erm...the Death Star is going to win this.
a)
There is nothing in space that will stop the beam of the Death Star so technically it's range is quite unlimited unless you have another planet or a black hole in the way.
b)
The reason they didn't blow Yavin out of the way (not mentioning the possible result of that action and the fact that they might not be able to do that) is that the Death Star would have needed another day of time recharging before being able to destroy Yavin IV in that case and thereby the would have needed more time to destroy Yavin IV then flying around Yavin took them.
c)
The Ebon Hawk (as far as I remember) was flying around for some time around the Star Forge before crashing on the planet. So I guess even if the shield around the SF is reaaaaally large and the Death Star is within that shield range they might still be able to shoot once before crashing - so in the worst case the SF and the DS are both gonna be destroyed.
Thinking about the fact that the DS has nearly unlimited range it will most likely be able to blow the SF away without being affected by the shield. So the DS wins here.
Originally posted by Nai Fohlc)
The Ebon Hawk (as far as I remember) was flying around for some time around the Star Forge before crashing on the planet. So I guess even if the shield around the SF is reaaaaally large and the Death Star is within that shield range they might still be able to shoot once before crashing - so in the worst case the SF and the DS are both gonna be destroyed.
On this, the Ebon Hawk was going down... Carth just managed to use a steer to pilot it to the unkown world... He didn't have control of his ship anymore, kinda like driving a car thats goes 200 miles where nothing but the steer works... I doubt the Death Star would still be able fo fly without its board computers and I very much doubt its ability to shoot.