>>There's also another factor in favor of the Type II that's rarely
>>brought up in the literature, for the simple reason that most
>>publicized materials focus on humanoid-crewed ships:
>>
>>The 'dustbuster' form factor is a lot friendlier to nonhumanoid
>>manipulation apparatus.
>
>Well, yeah, but nobody on Star Trek has that, so the point is a
>bit moot. :)
>

And a number of the nonhumanoid species in Starfleet really don't need a phaser. I mean, can you see a Horta using one of those things?

Ebony the Black Dragon

"Life is like an anole. Sometimes it's green. Sometimes it's brown. But it's always a small Caribbean lizard."