this post was submitted on 23 May 2026
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I think star trek is one of those things where the actual shape of a spacecraft is generally least important to its function.
Granted, it does take some handwaiving technobable to get there.
DS9's shape is actually not bad for a battle station though. It offers quite the advantagious locations for weapons emplacements while offering only a low target profile in relation to possible firing angles, has redundant but easily defendable access and docking ports (instead of the usual central hangar) and compared to most other sci fi designs a relatively little exposed command center.
That pylon design is not that bad.
I can see the argument for it having a good offensive shape. But the thin whispy features all over the place would mean tons of weak points.
Compare that to a borg cube or the BSG, it makes for terrible defenses.
But that's where they bring up things like shields and structural integrity fields.
Well first, yes, shields and stuff.
But second, borg cubes are horrible shapes for defence. They are hard to destroy because of redundancy and size. Their important systems are spread out over the whole giant ass ship and are numerous. But a cube is easy to hit and eats everything you throw at it. DS9 has some redundancy as well (afaik, the six pylons are almost identical) and a far smaller area to hit.
BSG's got a similar approach, trying to present the most compact profile while having a relatively large inside room, but combines that with a sloped surface that virtually thickens the hull against most angles of attack.
The technobabble handwaving: Big Station = Big Guns