I have one question that has always bug me whenever I watched Star Trek with Borg? Borg Drone has adjustive shielding, witch means that can adapt itself on any kind of attacks. Now: 1.Only attacks on their shielding was energy based (phasers, phaser rifle...), but what about non-energy base weapons? Like today's riffles (M4 Carbine, AK-47, M60...) or something little more powerful? (M79, RPG-7, .50 cal sniper) 2. And what about melee attacks? In one episode of Voyager I saw them adapt to phaser fire, then Tuvok hit one of them in melee and the Borg drone fell to the ground. Does that mean that they can be cut down with swords?
Well, yes and no. Generally, a Borg Drone can kick the living crap out of a full grown man (we've seen Worf and other security detail get thrown around like rag dolls by them, and even Data was overpowered by them in First Contact, though it took multiple Drones to do so). However, they're a bit... well... lets just say they aren't very quick of wit, alright? Again, in First Contact, we've seen holographic bullets used to kill them. We also know physical impacts can damage and even kill them (hell, Data snaps a drones neck in First Contact). However, I would imagine they don't usually come up against melee and/or projectile weapons... thus they don't hold an adaptation/immunity to them. Now, all of this begs the question... why doesn't the Federation use the TR-116 rifle (which is much like a modern day rifle) against them... I can only assume one of two reasons: A) They don't feel it would be effective for some reason. B) They never thought of doing so Now, given all the interesting ways and nifty toys they've come up with to fight the Borg... I doubt they've just never "thought of using it"... so I have to assume that they figure it wouldn't be effective - either that the Borg would/could adapt to it, or some other reason. Now, it is entirely possible that the Borg's shields do NOT work on melee attacks only... which makes sense as they kind of need to be able to touch you to assimilate you, and that'd be rather difficult if every time you got near someone your shield went off and flung em across the room (think of what happened to McKay in Stargate:Atlantis when he put on the Ancient Shield... and he couldn't eat, drink, or even take a piss while it was active)
well the federation aren't the smartest scientists out their (and neither are the borg). The borgs defenses seem odd and their ability to counter react depends largly on the series to make a good show
Fed scientists are pretty dang good (just look at the Phaser itself, or the Genesis device, or even the Phase Cloak they developed, for examples... IIRC, the Federation came up with it's own transporter even, during ENT)
Just because they can make ship invisible doesn't mean they are thinking logically. Like scientist in NASA, they may build rockets to take us to the Mars, but they don't know to fry an egg. In series I saw several times that the Borg cannot adapt to physical assault. That means that Federation can issue assault rifles from 21'st century and overkill them. Or some lucky Redshirt can use Katana, for example, and cut trough them like butter. Am I right or not?
There's a difference between being smart and logical though Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
The federation simply knows to much of the borg, they even use their nanites to heal themself and I remember that that both janeway and a character named Icheb had some trick that if they get assimilated they kill every drone. So why do they even bother fighting them if they can yust infect themselfs and kill all the drones by doing so. Also no starfleet command isn't smart they don't even seem to have any planetary defences at all, all the shooting happens from ships. Name one episode where the federation uses a minefield orbital attack sattelites or even simple surface cannons.
Logicly those defenses should be spread over the surface on the planets surface Why bother arming your ships but leave your harbor unprotected. These far smaller ships have many photon torpedos and a full coverage of laser fire. It would only be fair if the planets get the same protection. Especially those who are frequently attacked or are deemend essential. and abouth the fixed defenses you have to assume they are there but even then you have they know where exactly to avoid them. Also when they are near, Borg are never subtle they never use any disguise they do not cloak and they do not make any atempts to infiltrate (I remember at least the cardassians infiltrating starfleet and I'm pretty sure abouth the romulans). It's always a head on course to earth where they are destroyed as it should be
I would think that they would just adapt a different kind of shield. The doors of the "Brig" on the Enterprise were made of a shield that repulsed physical attack. Seems to me, they could just create a similar shield for themselves.
Earth is well defended... between Starfleet HQ, McKinley Staryards, Mars, Jupiter, and Pluto defensive stations... Thing is, the Borg Cubes are capable of smashing right through, they're that heavily armored.
I haven't seen all the star trek episodes... has earth ever defended itself? I can't remember a single event. As for the strength of borg cubes I remember a that a cube could destroy a starfleet armada and that a single starschip (voyager) could cripple a borg cube without any permanent damage it's all in favor of the story cubes are strong if they have to be strong and weak if they have to be weak on the other hand it's possible that starfleet ship between picard and janeway yust got a whole lot better to the point that a single star schip could keep it's own at least for a little while against a cube
TNG: Best of Both Worlds - Jupiter and Mars defensive systems engaged the cube, but were very quickly decimated. The cube never actually made it TO Earth. In fact, to date, there's been no actual starship assault on TNG or later era Earth that I can think of... As for Voyager crippling cubes... yes, she could - after getting technology from nearly 200 years in the future (Transphasic Torpedo and Adaptive Armor)... even then, the Borg were already starting to adapt to this new armor, despite it being TWO HUNDRED years advanced. Though, a Sovereign class starship is designed to go toe-to-toe with a Borg cube and have a reasonable chance of surviving...
in season 6-7 voyager attacks a tactical cube and comes out "relativly unharmed" so does the tactical cube but the boarding party get's overrun and assimilated, yet they are still conscience then they deactivate the cubes shield and the cube get's destroyed still with the help of a borg sphere ship and that is without the 200 year advanced technology. So the borg can't thrust their assimilation, and their ships aren't that tough
In DS9 the breen attacked Earth but the damage done was only bleedthrough through the planetary shield so no TDIC levels of damage were done.
The same reason why US soldiers don't wear plate armor in the even that someone might try and stab them. Their defenses are geared around ranged projectiles and stopping it--and maybe knives. The same with the Borg. Most of the species they assimilate have evolved to using energy weapons. Therefore, their shielding is optomized against anyone who uses that sort of weaponry. And chances are, they could probably adapt to projectile weaponry--and keep in mind that even without adaption, Picard had to pour a great deal of bullets into the two drones in First Contact. I believe one was even walking forward while he was taking it. That's a wee bit more resistant than anything we have for sure. The Borg can also probably adapt to fight with projectile using aliens. We've seen that Worf can rig up a rather simple one using his com badge as a power source and American Western technology. Also keep in mind that the primitive shield emitters that blocked KE in Enterprise were the size of saucers. Even if they had to strap them to their chest, it'd still be an effective defense. Keep in mind that the Borg are also not designed to fight. Their designed for the purpose of keeping the cubes going. The Borg don't go to a planet and land ground troops. They tear entire sections of cities up and assimilate them. Possible? Yes. Probable? No. Tuvok, Worf, and Data are all much stronger than humans. Vulcans and Klingons can easily lift men up with one hand despite having almost no visible muscle. Data himself has kept an old 1900s taxi cab in one place with a single hand while he was kneeling down and working on the holodeck. And even if you do start slaughtering them with swords, there's nothing stopping them from just blasting you in the face with a disruptor and then dragging your sorry ass down the assimilation chamber. And given what we see in Regeneration, those drones probably won't even die. They'll just spend a few hours regenerating before they get up and start working again. In other words, the Collective has suffered absolutely no loss.
DS9 I can't recall the episode titles, and don't want to bother looking them up. They Mined the Wormhole exit. Also there is an episode somewhere where planetary Phasers/shields are mentioned (not sure if used though). The Maginot line did exactly what it was supposed to, unfortunately the designers didn't extend it all the way to the north, allowing it to be circumnavigated by nazi forces during the war. I find it humourous that it is called a big military failure, when it was such a success that the germans didn't bother trying to face it. It had exactly one failure, and that was not being long enough. (This was done, for a couple of reasons , not the least of which is that its not very friendly to put fortifications along an allied border.)
Although it begs the question, why didnt they just use the modified TR-116 rifle with that miniature teleporter, shoot the slug and teleport it onto the other side of the shield.
