Bigger, badder, and just like all of Kylo Ren’s and General Hux’s ideas, completely over the top.

I can imagine their brainstorming session:
KR:  The Death Star was really cool.  Darth Vader was a genius.
GH:  Hrmph, he failed!  He was not thinking BIG enough.
KR:  WOAH! You mean A BIGGER Death Star?
GH:  Yes.  The problem with the first 2 Death Stars was that they were not big enough to conquer the universe.  The New Order is more powerful than the Empire ever was, and as such we need something that will cause the appropriate fear and destruction throughout the galaxy.  We need a (Hux almost whispers)… Starkiller Base… made from a real planet.
KR:    #$&*#(@ BADASS!

(Official Star Wars people: if you want to hire me for writing dialog on Episode VIII, you know how to find me)

   

Hux puzzled me.  At the beginning of the first viewing of The Force Awakens, I could not decide if General Hux’s character was terribly written or just terribly over-acted.  The answer is – neither.  About halfway through the movie, I realized what Hux and his relationship to Kylo Ren were all about, and I started truly enjoy when the General came on screen.