Borg ship out of warp with few hand phasers...

[JesterFace]

Somehow this bothers me. In 'The Best of Both Worlds' part 1, after the Borg captured Picard, Shelby and her away team get the Borg cube out of warp speed just by destroying few distribution nodes (were they called that?) inside the Borg ship. Earlier Wesley said that the Borg ship could continue to function even if 78% of it was damaged. Kind of weird... I guess there's a some logic behind this? Perhaps the Borg was surprised that the away team could do so much damage with ”hand phasers that should have been adapted to” already?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

They explained the theory in dialog well enough.

CRUSHER: What if we look at this from a mosquito's point of view.
DATA: Interesting metaphor, Doctor. What is your idea?
CRUSHER: If we sting them in a tender spot, they might stop for a minute to scratch.
(Further on, at an intersection with control panels)
DATA: Distribution nodes.
SHELBY: If we take out a few of these, it just might make them scratch.​

http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/174.htm

Given that the writers took out time to explain the idea, there's no mystery what's going on.

 

[Paradise City]

I think the borg have evolved in an idiosyncratic, almost ad hoc way, so they've these blind spots and soft spots despite being monstrously powerful.

The borg aren't really well planned, they acquire technologies in dribs and drabs and therefore have to improvise leaving weak points aplenty.

 

[JesterFace]

They explained the theory in dialog well enough.

CRUSHER: What if we look at this from a mosquito's point of view.
DATA: Interesting metaphor, Doctor. What is your idea?
CRUSHER: If we sting them in a tender spot, they might stop for a minute to scratch.
(Further on, at an intersection with control panels)
DATA: Distribution nodes.
SHELBY: If we take out a few of these, it just might make them scratch.​

http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/174.htm

Given that the writers took out time to explain the idea, there's no mystery what's going on.

Yea, I just watched the episode and remember that scene, still kind of odd that the Borg couldn't fix the situation at warp speed. Well, I guess it was a new situation for them and... makes sense in some way.

 

[Dilandu]

Yea, I just watched the episode and remember that scene, still kind of odd that the Borg couldn't fix the situation at warp speed. Well, I guess it was a new situation for them and... makes sense in some way.

Even if they may, they probably just don't want to risk it. Considering the energy used, it clearly wouldn't be a wise thing, trying to repair a working warp drive. Considering that Cube wasn't actually in any particular haste...

 

[DonIago]

The harsh reality is that the Borg are in no rush and have (almost) nothing to worry about, so why should they be concerned with dropping out of warp to deal with a nuisance if it reduces the risk of said nuisance becoming an actual problem later on?

Or, to continue the analogy brought up in the episode itself, why shouldn't I stop to scratch an itch for 30 seconds if the worst result is that I'll be 30 seconds late, and the worst alternative is that I might trip or such while walking and scratching the itch and thus injure myself more significantly?

 

[Amasov]

Well, the plot required them to get the ship to drop out of warp.

And even though the Borg ship could continue to function if 78% of it were inoperable, that doesn't necessarily mean every single system is -- including warp/transwarp.

 

[Timo]

The Borg are also suicidal for tactical gain - they deliberately let the enemy score damage in order to study the enemy. Or that's how it looks like on all fronts: individual Drones succumb to pitiful hand phasers at the start of every fight and then adaptation kicks in, ships first get hurt and then become invincible, virtual elements of the Collective are bent out of form and then adapt. If a mosquito stings in order to cause an itch (real mosquitoes don't, but let's go by the analogy our heroes misuse), the Borg very well might bemusedly scratch solely to see what the mosquito does next.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Dilandu]

The Borg are also suicidal for tactical gain - they deliberately let the enemy score damage in order to study the enemy. Or that's how it looks like on all fronts: individual Drones succumb to pitiful hand phasers at the start of every fight and then adaptation kicks in, ships first get hurt and then become invincible, virtual elements of the Collective are bent out of form and then adapt. If a mosquito stings in order to cause an itch (real mosquitoes don't, but let's go by the analogy our heroes misuse), the Borg very well might bemusedly scratch solely to see what the mosquito does next.

Well, even the Borg Cube have limits: during the battle in sector 001 (in Star Trek: First Contact) the Federation fleet was able to inflict major damage to the Cube simply by slugging it with superior firepower. And this Cube carried Borg Queen, so, presumably, was better protected than standard unit. So it seems that it is possible to overcome the Cube by simply applying enough firepower.

 

[DonIago]

Well, no, the Feds were able to inflict major damage because Picard had a link to the collective informing him of an area of the cube that was (temporarily, doubtless) damaged enough to lead to a catastrophic failure if poked hard enough.

There's no real indication of how badly damaged (from an operational standpoint) the cube actually was prior to Picard's inside knowledge coming into play.

 

[JesterFace]

Well, no, the Feds were able to inflict major damage because Picard had a link to the collective informing him of an area of the cube that was (temporarily, doubtless) damaged enough to lead to a catastrophic failure if poked hard enough.

There's no real indication of how badly damaged (from an operational standpoint) the cube actually was prior to Picard's inside knowledge coming into play.

Sorry if I'm misinterpreting your post but at the time of the things I mentioned in my original post, Locutus was still on the Borg cube, there was no information about the Borg from Picard at that point.

 

[Qonundrum]

Somehow this bothers me. In 'The Best of Both Worlds' part 1, after the Borg captured Picard, Shelby and her away team get the Borg cube out of warp speed just by destroying few distribution nodes (were they called that?) inside the Borg ship. Earlier Wesley said that the Borg ship could continue to function even if 78% of it was damaged. Kind of weird... I guess there's a some logic behind this? Perhaps the Borg was surprised that the away team could do so much damage with ”hand phasers that should have been adapted to” already?

Depends on which 78%?

Between Q Who and BOBW, and the information that Seven's parents had sent back, the Federation learned of more possible ways to incapacitate.

What has always bugged me was the repeated setup of "Maybe one or two phaser blasts, then they adapt". Half a dozen phaser blasts later... and the line is cut'n'pasted into every new TNG Borg encounter... even the movies. The Borg, who should have adapted by second 2 cubes for the second offensive, still sent one.

And for being told not to go to Earth in the shiny new flagship with the quantum torpedoes nobody else had, because nobody could trust his judgment anymore, Picard violates orders and goes to the battle, opens a fleet channel, tells everyone what to do, and everyone immediately claps to his dance without even consulting the higher-ups... Naturally, a big explosion happens - so much for the distribution of repetitive components to prevent downtime, far more than any episode preceding the movie. It was ridiculous. Then came the time travel bit, for which the Borg - who'd already taken more than enough Federation records in the past and clearly made or obtained technology to do it - didn't need to destroy so many perfected lives by waiting for their losing the battle to activate the (blatant) maguffin. Were the Borg really so keen on obeying Federation's notes on "Don't diddle with the timeline" until only after their second battle with the Federation failed? Didn't someone in the Collective go "Yo, this is stupid, here's why" and all the other Borg were so much stupider? (The Borg really were the inverse mirror of the Federation in some ways...)

 

[DonIago]

Sorry if I'm misinterpreting your post but at the time of the things I mentioned in my original post, Locutus was still on the Borg cube, there was no information about the Borg from Picard at that point.

I was responding to the post immediately above mine, which references FC, not BoBW.