Star Trek: Every Hero Ship Ranked Worst To Best

Star Trek: Enterprise being set in the 22nd century gave the writers a unique opportunity to explore the origins of Starfleet and the Federation, as well as their tech.

The Enterprise NX-01 was great in this regard, and we got to see earlier forms of many of the iconic devices used aboard every Starfleet ship in The Original Series and beyond. Instead of tractor beams, the NX used a physical grappling hook, instead of shields, they had polarised hull plating, and instead of photon torpedoes, the ship was equipped with spatial torpedoes (which have a much lower explosive yield and range). Additionally, the transporter was a new invention during this time period, so the crew usually only used it for transporting cargo, especially early in the series, and the ship's maximum speed was a frustratingly slow warp 5 (making it the fastest Earth vessel at the time).

All together, the NX-01 gave us some great insight into the evolution of Starfleet tech, but the design team could've done more to make the ship more different from ship's we've seen further in the future. The design would fit right in with the rest of the fleet if it appeared on The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine.