^^^Saying the Borg could adapt to anything is a bit of a stretch. In boarding party actions, since the Borg have a tendency to allow people to transport onto their ships, an antimatter bomb detonated inside a cube should have a wonderful effect.
Phaser blast to my heart, I fall, I die. Of course you're right. When I said, "You could always get the Borg with the first couple of volleys of anything. Then they'd adapt," what I was trying to get at was that we can't tell anything by just two Borg getting killed by bullets.
Perhaps the Borg sacrifice the first few drones in order to gauge the strength of their potential newest assimilatees. It is obvious that they have no concept of the individual, so sacrificing a few drones to test the waters doesn't seem that big of a deal to them. Also, it seems as if they do possess some sort of superior strength. Just about every hand to hand encounter we see, they go tossing someone aside or bitch slapping someone unconscious. The only one to really seem to fair well against them, physically, was Data. AS to the bullet and sword thing, don't have a clue. I suppose if something was fired at them with enough kinetic energy, it would have some sort of effect even if the shields did stop it.
Right, most of the time. But I think I remember that in "Regeneration," Archer just yanked a few wires loose on one of the Borg, and the drone fell to the deck emitting sparks.
That's how I think of it. The borg shields have no problem stopping energy weapons, and I'd imagine that the shields absorb whatever kinetic energy the beams/pulses have, probably because there's little or no kinetic energy being exchanged. A bullet, on the other hand...I think that even if the shield did stop it, the kinetic energy from the bullet could easily damage the borg's internals. Kinda like how a "bullet proof" (bullet resistant, actually) vest stops the projectile, but unless the wearer is equipped with trauma plates underneath it, the force of the impact can still break bones. The borg could adapt, theoretically to projectiles, by increasing the the armor protection that the drones have, but since they don't face enemies with projectile weapons very often...why bother?
What about biological weapons? I'm sure they could adapt to a point, but is an adaption to mustard or chlorine gases?
Obviously nobody on the Enterprise ever watched "Alien". Flame- throwers baby! None of the away teams ever heard of hand grenades,claymore mines,any of that shit. When it comes to the Borg,there has been an unending supply of bad,lazy thinking about just how the crew will actually engage their deadliest,most lethal foe.It seems the writers cannot allow Starfleet to look anything like a competent fighting force. As for shooting at an individual drones shield,shoot at the floor in front of it,the ceiling above,all that exposed machinery...
thanks for the responses, some good thoughtful replies here. Seems melee or traditional firearms might pose a problem for one or two drones but overall its something the Borg hivemind can easily deal with. If they start losing numbers then the Borg might consider setting up a force field otherwise its a waste of energy to have their shields up all the time.
It begs the question as to why would tommy type gun bullets (even with safeties off) even penetrate Borg drones body armor to begin with? I mean seriously.
Star Trek transporters have the wonderful tendency to be easily jammed or disrupted. If civilizations barely more advanced than 21st century Earth can manage it, it'd be a no-sweat for the Borg.
What Starfleet is lacking is a crowd of cute, fuzzy Ewoks, using sticks and rope and homemade gliding machines as the ultimate weapon against the Borg.
Yes they do, but the Borg seem to allow folks to come aboard with alarming frequency. Starfleet ground and boarding party combat doesn't seem to be much more effective really.
The Borg don't bother to be permanently adapted against phasers. Why would they bother to permanently carry armor? All the protective measures are probably only implemented when needed - so the clumsy flak jacket is only manufactured if somebody decides to throw hundreds of medium-velocity lumps of lead 0.45 inches across at the drones. Timo Saloniemi
How does the transportation work? Perhaps the same system which filters out know biological hazards prevents the beaming of antimatter or any other WMD without automatic systems activating. Bording parties are let aboard because frankly their assimilation is inevitable as resistance is futile.
^^^^Have they specifically stated that Borg ships will block someone else's transport beam if there is something specific being transported. I have never heard this. For that matter, phaser weapons on overload could cause massive damage inside a borg ship or installation. If they did block other transport beams because of destructive materials being transported, they wouldn't allow phasers or other overload capable power sources on board either. But boarding parties do get on board with such destructive weapons. Given what's been shown on Trek over the years, the Borg would not survive as a space-faring civilization for very long....there's too many life forms who would die for the cause and blow em' up.
Only thing is the phaser on overload seems no more dangerous then a hand grenade, The beam in WMD trick only worked a few times on Atlantis and the Wraith assimilated and adapted. For the Borg after many lifetimes of assimilation they may be willing to trade a drone or two but not a cube to gain information