They’re not. It’s better to be disk shaped for combat because you present a minimal cross section to an enemy “in front” of you. If you are the attacker, you can chose your attack to face the side of the enemy ship and minimize your own damage / maximize theirs.
A cube is not stealthy and equally easy to hit from all sides. It’s weird that the Borg use it because they don’t think up their own ideas; they just copy. And no other species uses cube shaped ships. This is a minor plot hole.
Think of the house you live in. There have been plenty of idealists proposing various domed, turreted, or cylindrical building, but lack of straight walls would make it damn annoying to arrange the furniture. Similar to cargo ships: we used to have hull shaped but now the most important concern is rectangular shipping containers. Extrapolate to spaceship design, and a cube is most efficient for crew quarters cargo storage
Houses are generally cookie cutter because they are easier to build that way. Spaceships are custom made because they are the only thing keeping your insides from boiling in space.
I read this one story long ago where there was a war between two spacefaring civilization. One was technologically advanced but fewer in number. However their attempts to improve their technological edge, worked toward eventually every ship being custom, unique …… until they lost the war under the weight of unique parts and maintenance that made their ships too expensive to keep running.
Even space ships need a supply chain, parts p, service, repairs. If we do ever become a spacefaring civilization, we’ll need many copies of relatively few unique models, like we already do with aircraft, cars, ships, and houses
They’re not. It’s better to be disk shaped for combat because you present a minimal cross section to an enemy “in front” of you. If you are the attacker, you can chose your attack to face the side of the enemy ship and minimize your own damage / maximize theirs.
A cube is not stealthy and equally easy to hit from all sides. It’s weird that the Borg use it because they don’t think up their own ideas; they just copy. And no other species uses cube shaped ships. This is a minor plot hole.
Think of the house you live in. There have been plenty of idealists proposing various domed, turreted, or cylindrical building, but lack of straight walls would make it damn annoying to arrange the furniture. Similar to cargo ships: we used to have hull shaped but now the most important concern is rectangular shipping containers. Extrapolate to spaceship design, and a cube is most efficient for crew quarters cargo storage
Houses are generally cookie cutter because they are easier to build that way. Spaceships are custom made because they are the only thing keeping your insides from boiling in space.
I read this one story long ago where there was a war between two spacefaring civilization. One was technologically advanced but fewer in number. However their attempts to improve their technological edge, worked toward eventually every ship being custom, unique …… until they lost the war under the weight of unique parts and maintenance that made their ships too expensive to keep running.
Even space ships need a supply chain, parts p, service, repairs. If we do ever become a spacefaring civilization, we’ll need many copies of relatively few unique models, like we already do with aircraft, cars, ships, and houses
You can trust the mass produced spaceships if you want, but I think they’ll end up like Boeing.
The Borg didn’t want to be stealthy and assumed they could always adapt to a threat.