I read a novel once -- I honestly don't remember which one, it was so long ago -- in which some starbase personnel were commenting on the relative primitiveness of the Enterprise's components, and Lt. Uhura shot back that it was easy to look down when you're a major station to which supplies and parts are routinely delivered and which resides in almost complete safety. But on a starship, you have to be able to make repairs on the fly, during active combat, sometimes without the right tools or any proper tools at all. It's hard to solder circuitry that is laid out in nanometers with a phaser, a metal pick, and some duct tape.
Perhaps sometime between the launches of the NX and Constitution classes, a few ships learned this lesson the hard way, and Starfleet began to deliberately build ships to be simpler in form and function.
Perhaps sometime between the launches of the NX and Constitution classes, a few ships learned this lesson the hard way, and Starfleet began to deliberately build ships to be simpler in form and function.
