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Having just watched TFA for the fifth time, read the novelisation (adult only) and gone through the Visual Dictionary, something just came to me:

With the absolutely massive losses on all sides, just who and what is left to fight any Star Wars moving forward?

  • The Visual Dictionary makes mention of the major disarmament on all sides after the defeat of the Empire
  • What there was of the Republic fleet seemed to have been concentrated around the Hosnian system and was blasted to bits, as Hux had declared and intended
  • We don't know what there is in terms of ground troops, or if those also were concentrated in the above system and are now floating through space
  • It's made clear in all of the above sources that the Resistance operates on a shoestring and they just lost at least half their fleet of starfighters above Starkiller Base
  • If they had/have any capital ships, we haven't seen one
  • The First Order, similar to < Godwin Trigger Redacted >, secretly broke the disarmament treaties with factories and shipyards in the Outer Rim
  • We've only seen one lone fancy new Star Destroyer, not even any additional ones around their precious Starkiller. Makes you wonder just how many capital ships they have overall
  • Oodles of troops and TIE fighters and ground combat vehicles were on the planet/base and are now part of the coronasphere when it all went "look, new binary star system, neat!"
  • Having yet again indulged the Dark Side/Sith obsession with super-expensive super-weapons, there may not be a lot left as all the funds went into this boondoggle
  • The Visual Dictionary states that the FO has a fraction of the resources and funds of the Empire

With all this, what's left at the level that fits the moniker Star Wars?

Scattered Republic patrol craft, the odd capital ship probably mostly used for peackeeping missions, a handful of Resistance fighters, whatever capital ships the First Order was able to afford with all the cash going into SKB.

Will the title of Episode 8 be Star Wars - The Arms Race Is ON! ? Star Wars - Drole du Guerre ?

Out of universe, all sides would now need decades to lick their wounds and rebuild their fleets for another show-down. In universe, we might be tuning in again a couple years down the road to switch to Rey and Kylo (and Finn and Poe?) having picked up more Force experience points.

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    Snoke and the Knights of Ren are still out there.
    – Rogue Jedi
    Apr 26, 2016 at 23:45
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    Space is big. Like, really big. Plenty of room for ships and people to fly them at each other. Apr 26, 2016 at 23:49
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    @PaulD.Waite But also big enough to fly past each other. ;)
    – Marakai
    Apr 27, 2016 at 0:08
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic based on our future works policy: meta.scifi.stackexchange.com/q/5187/5184
    – phantom42
    Apr 27, 2016 at 3:54
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    “Snoke looks like he'd lose a wrestling match with Stephen Hawking.” So did Yoda! “as serious as one can get when one is discussing scifi&fantasy.” Round here, that’s pretty serious. Apr 27, 2016 at 8:52

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I think that there are plenty of ships that the Resistance has, and so does The First Order. Snoke didn't seem too bothered when Starkiller Base was destroyed and Leia seemed more upset for Rey then concerned about the fleet. There are plenty of ships to go around. Also, it isn't a fledging rebellion, working against a giant empire. Its a splinter cell fighting what is a terrorist cell.

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    Do you have a source for "plenty of ships"? Because that is directly contradicted by the (canon) Visual Dictionary. In several pages there is mention about the "Resistance is so undermanned", "Resistance transports cobbled together" (page 57). There were 2 squadrons on D'Qar - and from the fear about the oncoming attack, we can assume they couldn't just cram into a transport and leave. This was it. And now they've lost the equivalent of a whole squadron.
    – Marakai
    Apr 27, 2016 at 0:16

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