The way I look at it, Starfleet is made up out of species that never evolved on the same planet, a dish could be perfectly fine for a human but poison for an Vulcan or an Andorian.Deledrius wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 12:33 amSure, we know there are food replicators, industrial replicators, and probably a lot more variation based at least on size if nothing else.Fianna wrote: ↑Sun Mar 06, 2022 11:15 pm It makes a certain amount of sense that there'd be different models of replicators, with some better equipped for certain tasks. Like, an early 2000's dial-up modem and a modern wifi router can theoretically do the same stuff, but that doesn't mean you can swap one for the other and not notice the difference.
Lower Decks suggests that the food menu gives certain people better food than others, which only makes sense for a joke.That is, without making some very troubling assumptions I'd prefer to not do.
(Side note: no, a dial-up modem and a WiFi Router are pretty different and don't really do the same thing at all, even a modem from as late as the early 2000s. I'm sure you could find a very unusual model that had crossover, but such a machine would have been quite unique. I'm positive that both could be converted into a deflector dish in a tight spot, however.)
Thus you can't just standardize the menus you have 10 options for a main course, you could if you were only serving humans but you're not.
Your 10 options will grow exponentially so each individual crew member will have what seems to them as not enough options, the worst options etc because they won't care that said replicator can also service Buddy the Vulcan or Jen the Andorian he only cares that he has an limited menu.
As an aside we don't know how large the pattern for each dish is.
But the problem can be solved, put in more memory in the replicator, but then the replicator "costs" more due to the hardware.
We know hardware/logistics/ship parts aren't magic DS9 with O'Brien and Nog confirmed this so it makes sense you'd have replicators with a lesser range (but easier to manufacture and higher numbers) and replicators with a bigger range and "better" (but in a more limited number)
And yeah Starfleet is a military higher officers get the best stuff, we've seen this with quarters and etc.
Potentially if Brad was a Bolian even when Mariner shared the key to the bridge officer replicator, he potentially could not have found the Bolian food he "needed" (read was craving) because guess what the bridge officer replicator can be further tuned to the needs of a small nr of users i.e. only human, bajoran and catian food on it.
