The Borg - What Are They Good For

[C5]

AFAIK, in the initial encounter, the Borg were much more interested in technology than people. They really were something alien, ruthless, invulnerable, opposed to almost anything the Federation stood for.
Then with BOBW, they became able to assimilate people, and they changed, becoming more reliant on people (even if they were used as drone cannon fodder) and their knowledge than technology.

I once devised an original (or crackpot, take your pick ) theory, according to which the Borg were, actually, a super organism. The Collective would be a whole individual, while a single drone would be nothing more than a cell of this individual. Assimilating would then be akin to eating or breathing to the Collective, and the Collective's mind itself would be no more aware of the interactions between the drones and other lifeforms than a humanoid is aware of the action of antibodies against virii or gastric acids on food.
A whole civilisation would appear to the Collective as a mindless animal (because devoid of a mind in the Borg sense), ready to be eaten.

Based on that, there could be different Collectives - just as there are different individuals - each with their own specificities : some are "vegetarian" Collectives (they only consume uninhabited planets), some have weaker or stronger immune systems (Cubes...), and so on.

So everything the Borg have been seen doing in the various series would only actually be akin to the digestion or immune system of a super organism, whose true mind is so alien and evolved that its motives can't be fathomed by a single individual. And this would (partly) explain why there are stupider Borgs than others.

Mmmh... maybe I wasn't feeling very right when I devised that theory

Anyway, the trouble with the Borg is one encountered by any writer who wants to face the heroes with a truly powerful ennemy : if they make him too strong, then the heroes can't realistically beat him, but if he isn't strong enough, then he loses his "special übervillain" status.

[stule]

Hey C5,

I liked your Honor theory. That made me do a double take about the Borg.

I know that they are a plot device and if they all came that it would be the end of the series, I just hate when writers make an enemy like that then destroy their credibility.

As for Janeway, I like Kate Mulgrew (I saw their original choice, thank god they choose Kate), I even like the character. I only actually have 2 problems with her.

1) She stomps the Borg into the ground every time she meets them (cry).

2) She and Cha-Ko-Tay should have gotten together. They had a few episodes when it was happening, then she got a Holographic Boyfriend (ok i get that), then he got Seven of Nine (Great for him but I didn't understand that story.). I always disliked Seven becasue she seemed like a Sex object for the series and at the time, I didn't think they needed that. She was a hell of alot better than Kes (who I wanted to be hit by a space bus) but I never really thought Seven fit into the crew. She fit real well into her costume (drool) just not on the series.

Just my 2 credits.

[Phoenix]

One theory I had come across surfing the web (a long time ago) is the Borg aren't so interested in assimilating the Federation as they are learning from them.

First off the Federation is a long way from Borg held areas. Second, the Federation is one of the best adaptation species in the universe. Send one Cube, adapt to the latest tactics and technology, transmit the findings back home.

Think of the Federation as a sort of proving ground; unwittingly assisting in the Borg's Delta Quadrant conquests.

Voyager, bad writing. The authors just didn't really understand the Borg or you could extend the above theory to "Oh look now we don't need to send a ship out, we have a local experiment now. But don't let them know we're using them."

[Brite Dip Man]

I think the reason they kept the Voyager alive and didn't assimilate it outright is very simple:

They were using the Voyager to study Human/Federation response to Borg tactics, and were trying to instill a sense of "OMG the BORG SUCK we can take them next time" into the Federation.

Give them credit, they had a Transwarp conduit mere lightyears from Earth they were planning somthing nasty... What with the assimilation virus the Queen wanted to develop and studying the Voyager close up for years on end... They were not expecting Janeway to come back in time with ubertechnology and kick thier asses.

No amount of machine logic could see that comming.

Really I don't think the Borg are defeated, I think they'll make a comeback and when they do it'll suck for the Federation.



Oh, and for a multicube invasion of the Federation, look up the old Trek Novel "Vendetta" by Peter David. One of his best, before he got all stupid with his NF stuff.

[Spectre]

Now, that I'm being serious, I have a theory. If the Borg try to add a species knowledge and wisdom to their own, said information is going to contradict other information, perhaps from another species, or even from the original. For example, imagine them actually managing to assimilate earth and trying to make sense on "what is the meaning of truth?": people following different philosophies and religions would give them different input. Potentially, they might just throw all the data on the subject that contradicts itself out, finding it to be corrupt. This would explain how the Borg, who should have endless amounts of wisdom and knowledge, actually have very little information to rely on when they need it.

I HATE KATHERYN JANEWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree. The majority of my group and myself despise her. The way she's written, changing so drastically in personality from episode to episode, we joke she's MPD.

[Tricky]

There are alot of things I liked about the Borg.

Voyager added to some of the mythology, and they kinda killed it too. I think one of the things that killed it was how, much like alot of the later Trek stuff, it became more tech centered. So, instead of adapting to fight humans (by capturing an officer, using him as a psychological weapon as well as source of tactical data) they just threw a bunch of tech at us. (And then we would use an 'iverted tachyon matrix' to undo the Borg-tech)

It was kinda spooky that the borg only wanted your tech. It got a little spookier when they wanted you to. (at one point, it seemed they could care less about your tech, which was just silly).

The borg-queen: the ultimate network admin! Is she "Species 001"? (somewhere i think I heard an idea that Queens are constructed on any Borg installation where the Collective needs to make a decision)

Two things that make me laugh are that the Borg didn't want the Kazon because they were inferior and offered nothing to the Collective (what, you don't need more Fodder-Borg?) and that they couldn't adapt to Species 8472 because they didn't assimilate them? (what, you took over hundreds of SF science officers and none of them knew how to use sensors to figure out what an EMH did?)

[tonyg]

I wonder if the Borg are afraid of the Federation-easpecially humanity? THe UFP seems to be better at adaptation and assilimation than the Borg. Also, when the Borg went back in time during First Contact and tried to assimilate Earth at an earlier point, they apparently were willing to sacrifice 24th Century Earth technology in the process.

[Tricky]

Hey, all this Borg talk reminds me of another "Great mystery of the Trek-verse":

The Borg attack on the El-Aurians; it's usually stated that the Borg attacked them, and destroyed El-Auria, not assimilated them/it.

Why? I think a species with an extremely long life span and the ability to sense temporal distortions would be a great choice for a drone. But it's stated that the Borg went Medival on them, and sent them packing. What made them do this?

Maybe the reason might explain why the Borg haven't sent an armada of cubes to wipe the FED out.

Maybe this is a Borg strategy: Push a race just a little; watch them adapt and get stronger. Then hit them again and again, until they develop whatever tech you need (like how to have Nanites attack Species 8472), then take them en-mass.

[tonyg]

THey did hint that Guinan had some sort of special abilties. Perhaps the El Aurans cannot be assimilated? Maybe the Borg can't control them? THat would make them useless to the Borg.

Is it possible that TNG used "destroyed" in a figurative manner ? If the Borg had successful assimilated Earth, I could understand the survivors commenting that the Borg "destroyed thier homeworld."

[wolfe]

Wasn't her temporal sensing ability only due to the nexus from Generations?

would explain why she never did feel anything out of the ordinary when the Temporal displacements happened back in San Francisco in the late 1800s (Times arrow)

[stule]

I'm thinking of doing a Borg dominated game where they came in with 4 cubes and took over the earth. Turn Starfleet into a rebellion of sorts. Have Romulan, Klingon, everyone fall. Starfleet disintegrates, Captains control their own ships. Everyone is at war with everyone....ahhhhhhh.

Make it like an apocolyptic sort of game.

[Tobian]

I don't know - while some of what was presented on Voyager weakened the Borg in terms of being a threat, they still were every bit as much of a threat, just a different kind of threat. There's no reason why the Borg can't be rational and intelligent, and I think that the Borg Queen was simply an outgrowth of Locutus - an avatar so they could deal with the types of problems which need one... If the Borg see a need, they fill it

One wonders, with the Borg, if, after the events on BOBW and or First Contact if they have simply come up with a new or modified agenda, or simply added it to their current list: that of only fully assimilating static cultures. The Federation, as we know it, is in a diverse, rapidly changing area of space, which is churning out massively quick technological change. While they are simple in their agenda's maybe they have simply decided to push at these civilisations, to get the most they can get from them. The BOBW cube, whilst being destroyed still yielded vast amounts of new information, and taught them yet more holes in their defences. Humanity is pushing them in directions they haven't been before, and it is yielding FAR more useful information by leaving them relatively undisturbed, than it would be to destroy the Federation in one fell swoop. That isn't to say the Drones are only pretending to invade, but the have no intrinsic value, other than the information they can retrieve, before being sacrificed! The Borg are basically pushing a stick into the anthill, then harvesting the ants which come to repair it

It makes me wonder with Assimilation if the attempt in and of it's self is specifically designed to succeed more that they are pushing their prey, testing them, because, for them, either way it's win win. People capable of fighting the Borg are the best and brightest, and if it assimilates several of them along the way it already has 'won'. With Locutus it had more than enough knowledge to assimilate Earth.. but they still failed, so that was intriguing. And they would have known Starfleet would mount anti-Borg weapons, and all sorts of other defences, so they gave them time to make some, then try again. I tend to think they only would send an armada because they are harvesting a static culture, for it's resources. They may have probed it, found it unresistant and took it, but it's in it's best interest to probe 'lightly' into the species which give it the most challenge.. plus they don't want to wipe themselves out!

This also makes me wonder if that's why the Borg had a queen on the ship for FC - exactly because a) it was a new tactic, and b) they isolated that subset of the collective, just in case they managed to repeat that 'sleep' trick on the WHOLE collective! Hence disconected from the WHOLE collective it had more of a personality too. If they were disconnected of course, it's still irrelevant that they may not be able to recover that data, since by winning, the Federation improved, and thus would be a tastier morsel for the next time

In a game sense this makes them a useful tool, not just because they are uber-badass vilains to fight with - but you can plot what their agenda is, which they single mindedly pursue! In my game I have used the Borg out in the remote sector the players inhabit because they are following the threads of some unique technology artifacts. The crew's beaten up ship in and of it's self represents no real interest to them except when they cross the path of these threads, then they get entangled and the Borg want to know what they know and go after them.

[Tricky]

Hey, didn't I say that earlier? jk

[Tobian]

Yes, I just expanded and added my own thoughts. No offence intended And I may have said some of this before hehe