Well, I suppose a ship that is called a Generational ship, is gonna be humungous. It could be the size of a Borg cube or Babylon 5 for all I know. Just don't know if it counts since we have no official stats on it, and we never saw anything other than a blurry pics, nor next to any other ship for a frame of reference.
Given that that timeline was basically erased, the Enterprise-J may not even exist, or may be a different design entirely.
I've said the exact same thing in other discussions about the Enterprise-J. I've always viewed this design along the lines of the three-nacelle Enterprise-D from TNG's finale.
Oh right... we wouldn't want to inconvenience the people who join Starfleet for the greater good by asking them to accept some limitations so we can build three smaller vessels with the same mission capabilities and cost of resources as one space hotel.
You're trying to be sarcastic, but yeah, actually. Making living conditions so crappy that no one wants to join would be a bad move.
I do think that living in cramped conditions aboard a deep-space starship is detrimental both to its crew and to its mission. A navy ship may be deployed for months, but a starship could be away from home for years.
I always thought the purpose of the Galaxy class was so that it could perform every type of mission, with a sizeable crew covering all expertises. The ship included more comfort and space to accommodate families of personnel so it could undertake longer missions. I mean if your Stafleet's best tachyon emission guy are you going to stay in a rent free pad overlooking the golden gate bridge with your family, or suck bad air on a starship for months on end sharing a bunk bed, waiting for your go on the holodeck.
I agree. And I think one of biggest underrated technological achievements in Trek is that onboard space isn't considered a premium aboard a starship and that Starfleet can afford to have very comfortable living conditions for its crews.
True, very true. Depending on what scale of the ship you adhere to--it ranges somewhere between 120-170 meters in length--it seems that the Defiant has the same basic systems as a larger starship, but crammed into a smaller package. The thing that was sacrificed the most was the size of personal living quarters & the sickbay, and a lack of some other crew amenities. But an argument perhaps could be made that Defiant-class ships were always geared for short-term missions, so their crews were never meant to be on deployment for long.
And generally speaking, that's exactly how the ship was used. Even the exploratory missions to the Gamma Quadrant rarely lasted longer than a week or two. There simply wasn't enough space with which to store supplies and equipment, though Defiant's smaller crew compliment usually made stocking up on a huge number of supplies unnecessary. I do wonder how the Valiant managed to last eight months behind enemy lines given that it's the same type of ship. Replicators or no, they'd still need the same basic supplies that naval ships of today would have (packaged food, water, medicines, clothing, etc.). --Sran
In addition to perhaps some rationing, they'd probably would have to quietly stop by a M-class world or moon to stock up on bulk matter for the replicator, IMO.
Break out the emergency rations, then replace them once you fix it. Heck, as hard as O'brien was on field rations you know he had a storage room or two full of them alone.