question on hull polorization

[Timo]

That'll work, too. Although I'd then prefer for properly forcefield-shielded ships to have their SIFs at much lower level than Archer had his, to account for the fact that unshielded ships blow up at the slightest love tap. It just wouldn't do to think that every single of Archer's enemies had wussy weapons.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Longinus]

That'll work, too. Although I'd then prefer for properly forcefield-shielded ships to have their SIFs at much lower level than Archer had his, to account for the fact that unshielded ships blow up at the slightest love tap. It just wouldn't do to think that every single of Archer's enemies had wussy weapons.

Timo Saloniemi

They had wussy weapons and besides, we've seen later ships survive several torpedo hits unshielded. They're pretty tough.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

It would've made more sense to have had the polarised hull plating effective against energy-based attacks but ineffective against torpedoes/missiles, to give the ship some limitations. The general aesthetics of the ship's interior were good, the looked more utilitarian and basic compared to the sleeker simpler lines of the TOS Enterprise (during that design phase of Starfleet builders), though the ship itself was lazily done (all they did was just flip an existing CGI model).

As for the OP's question about impulse engines, I'd say that if there were no hull plating over the top of them then they would be exposed and an obvious weak point. The designers may have found a work around or simply decided that the ship's armoury officer would need to work harder to keep enemies from targeting their sublight drive. Lots of ships look to have some serious design flaws when it comes to defences and weapons, just look at the E-E from First Contact, she has almost no aft firing phasers--in fact most ships have excessive focus on phasers/disruptors/etc firing forward, as though no one could ever get the drop on them and come from behind.

 

[Timo]

Lazily done? The CGI model for NX-01 rivals the physical model for NCC-1701-refit in sheer overthinking and fanatical attention to detail. Every single doodad on her was inserted with either a specific or then a modular-generic function in mind, to cater for all possible future plot needs. An all-new "look" was also introduced in textures and shapes.

That she happens to look like another starship design is hardly avoidable, as all Starfleet starships are decreed to look more or less alike for recognizability reasons...

Not sure that any hero starship would really suffer from fire coverage shortcomings. I mean, all those with the low-slung "Miranda" configuration do, more or less, as TPTB never install the extra phasers needed for truly covering the blind spots, but all with the "Enterprise" configuration ships are basically blind spot free from the saucer phasers alone. Except perhaps sometimes for small volumes within 50-100 m from the ship's hull, but if the enemy gets that close, then it's too late anyway.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[F. King Daniel]

though the ship itself was lazily done (all they did was just flip an existing CGI model).

No, they built an entirely new and significantly more detailed CG model. They were instructed to make the ship resemble the Akira, that's all.

 

[STR]

No, they built an entirely new and significantly more detailed CG model. They were instructed to make the ship resemble the Akira, that's all.

Well, TPaB originally told them to just reuse the Akira. But that edict lasted roughly 5 minutes. John Eaves then started working on a wholly original concept (Google "john eaves nx-01") but he felt it wasn't working. Which, fair point. The Eaves NX looked way too much like the 1701 with the aesthetics of the Shenzhou or 1701-E.

Eaves got assigned to something else and the NX got passed to Drexler who took inspiration from the Akira (in part due to said edict, IIRC) but otherwise delivered an entirely new, unique design.

I might have to order flipped around here (might have been Eaves>Akira>Drex) but either way the Akira was not seriously considered by the production staff because they'd worked on Trek for ~20 years and knew fans would shit themselves.

Turns out, some did anyway and some clearly do to this day. You'd think they'd have run out of pants already.

 

[galad2003]

Having the tech in Enterprise look like the 60's (or more primitive) would have been horrid. We just have to accept that newer shows will look more modern than a show filmed in the 60's. If it helps, think of the tech in TOS as a style choice. They even hinted at this on DS9. Besides, going on a 5 year deep space mission you would want your systems designed simply and easy to repair without going back to a starbase.