Howcome the Federation don't use conventional weapons?

[Gingerbread Demon]

I mean for situations like the Borg why don't the Federation use more conventional weapons that they may not be able to adapt to like regular guns, grenades, or RPG's?

They tend to adapt to energy based weapons but could they adapt to a nuclear missile or bomb?

 

[Farscape One]

I think conventional weapons for them ARE energy based.

I liken this to the Asgard on STARGATE SG-1. They asked help from Earth because they were fighting Replicators, and all their strategies were failing. So they decided a more low key approach would work... for them, a more primitive, technologically speaking, people would dae better. And it did work.

Starfleet, in general, may not be able to think backwards enough for solutions like that.

 

[XCV330]

Picard used a thompson on a borg to good effect but I think it was understood it would only work for so long

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Picard used a thompson on a borg to good effect but I think it was understood it would only work for so long

I don't think they could adapt to bullets, hell Worf kills one using a bat'leth you can't adapt to those in time. I doubt they would adapt to bullets or grenades

 

[Sarxus]

I mean for situations like the Borg why don't the Federation use more conventional weapons that they may not be able to adapt to like regular guns, grenades, or RPG's?

They tend to adapt to energy based weapons but could they adapt to a nuclear missile or bomb?

The question is: Do common weapons like guns that we know today etc. still exist at this point in the timeline? I guess we never saw any of it.

Picard used a thompson on a borg to good effect but I think it was understood it would only work for so long

But that Thompson only existed in the holodeck right, if I remember correctly? As I wrote above, I think that weapons like this simply don't exist anymore in the ST timeline at that point. I mean, even criminals like robbers etc. use phasers or disruptors in the series.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I don't think they could adapt to bullets, hell Worf kills one using a bat'leth you can't adapt to those in time. I doubt they would adapt to bullets or grenades

Bullets could probably be deflected by simple force fields or shielding. The Borg did not expect someone to come around shooting them up with a machine gun, but Ensign Lynch, in his dying breath, probably sent a message to the other Borg to raise shields for solid projectiles.

 

[Tosk]

The Borg could adapt very easily to projectile weapons, (a force-field for deflecting bullets is relatively easy to do, just ask Worf about his adventures in the Old West) ...and unlike a phaser, a bullet can't have it's frequency rotated so as soon as they adapt the weapon is completely useless.

Picard used a thompson on a borg to good effect but I think it was understood it would only work for so long

Although Picard does refer to them as holographic bullets, so if he's correct (and I'm not saying he is or isn't) then those Borg were still taken down by an energy weapon.

 

[Paul Weaver]

Chemical rifles were a thing in DS9

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/TR-116_rifle

 

[Infern0]

At best they would be a one and done solution, if the both can emit an energy barrier they surely can for kinetic weapons too.

8472 used biological weapons to great effect and I assume chemical weapons may have similar effects.

 

[XCV330]

They need a thing that sprays that stuff that melted the borg queen's organic tissue
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Spray_bottle

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

They need a thing that sprays that stuff that melted the borg queen's organic tissue
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Spray_bottle

Ah that was coolant from the engine room

 

[XCV330]

Ah that was coolant from the engine room

How 25th Century UFP took over the Delta Quadrant

I don't think they could adapt to bullets, hell Worf kills one using a bat'leth you can't adapt to those in time. I doubt they would adapt to bullets or grenades

makes one wonder why they dont have some kind of bullet proof vest build into them. are they so uninterested in assimilating more primative worlds they can't even be bothered to have their nanothingies weave some kevlar?
If they're weak to kinetic weapons, why hasn't starfleet just tried a Rods From God assault on their cubes

 

[C.E. Evans]

I like to think that Starfleet Security does keep some "slugthrower" weapons in its inventory for special situations when phasers are known in advance to be useless, but that they aren't standard-issue since such occasions are extremely rare in the age of the Federation (or even avoided when they are). But I also like to think that a photon or quantum torpedo is as much a projectile weapon as an energy one.

 

[Coyote Annabis]

I would think a slugthrower would be difficult for the Borg to adapt to, especiallly full auto using mechanically produced cartridges instead of replicated ones.

Each shot fired would be slightly different due to variables in bullet weight, powder load, primer depth, ignition rate, combustion efficiency, air pressure...

Sorry, nerding out..

 

[Tim Thomason]

How 25th Century UFP took over the Delta Quadrant

I think within seconds of the Borg figuring out you're spraying them with organic-melting coolant (or any high-grade corrosive material or acid), their forcefields would kick in.

Plus, outside of the Borg Queen, I don't think Borg generally respond to pain, and a super-soaker would have to get them quite a bit covered before the drone collapses, at which point it and/or its friends will be on you (as well as the large cloud of noxious material you've been spraying).

It's about as effective as a flamethrower at that point.

 

[FormerLurker]

I like to think that Starfleet Security does keep some "slugthrower" weapons in its inventory for special situations when phasers are known in advance to be useless, but that they aren't standard-issue since such occasions are extremely rare in the age of the Federation (or even avoided when they are). But I also like to think that a photon or quantum torpedo is as much a projectile weapon as an energy one.

I would think a slugthrower would be difficult for the Borg to adapt to, especiallly full auto using mechanically produced cartridges instead of replicated ones.

Each shot fired would be slightly different due to variables in bullet weight, powder load, primer depth, ignition rate, combustion efficiency, air pressure...

Sorry, nerding out..

A likely superior solution would be a railgun. The slugs can be made of whatever you want, and a magnetic launch mechanism can propel the slug at near light-speed. You can take out targets that are miles away, and they'll never know what hit them because they're silent.

What's more, railguns have few if any ballistic limitations. You can fire slugs the size of a bullet to slugs the size of a beer keg, and they're all traveling at speeds most radars can't track.

 

[Mojochi]

What would make you think this shield wouldn't be able to stop standard ballistics? I imagine that since the forcefield is shown to have a dynamic emitter that moves it, then it probably could have one that surrounds them enough to protect them from explosives like grenades too

Ultimately it's the UFP's matter/energy conversion technology that ought to be weaponized. I don't know that there's much you could do to stop a de-atomizer kind of weapon, that just pulls apart everything it hits, at the subatomic level

 

[at Quark's]

But that Thompson only existed in the holodeck right, if I remember correctly? As I wrote above, I think that weapons like this simply don't exist anymore in the ST timeline at that point. I mean, even criminals like robbers etc. use phasers or disruptors in the series.

I see no reason why they would not exist, even if they are no longer in use as standard weapons. We still fabricate bows, arrows, and spears even though their primary use is no longer on the battlefield. There's bound to be a small number of enthousiasts who love shooting with antiquated weapons much like we still have people that engage in archery for fun. Surely the knowledge to create these weapons if necessary is still there (and quickly too-- with replicator technology).​

But I think the only reason those holographic bullets worked was because the Borg didn't expect those. They could probably just as easy adapt to them as well -- easier even, I'd think.

 

[Timo]

The topic seems a bit, you know, futile.

Why discuss any type of weapon to be used against the Borg when the stated characteristic of the Borg is that they adapt (after a few losses), and it is never stated or shown that they would not? Bullets, knives or fists never work more often than rayguns or technobabble, which is the only thing that would matter.

The Borg are fine with big conventional kabooms of excessive strength, and indeed don't even need to adapt to those: photon torpedoes are impotent from the very first shot on in "Q Who?". Okay, the very first shot seen. No doubt somebody other fied big bombs at them previously. Just as somebody used every other weapon, especially and by definition all the conventional ones.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

The topic seems a bit, you know, futile.

Why discuss any type of weapon to be used against the Borg when the stated characteristic of the Borg is that they adapt (after a few losses), and it is never stated or shown that they would not? Bullets, knives or fists never work more often than rayguns or technobabble, which is the only thing that would matter.

The Borg are fine with big conventional kabooms of excessive strength, and indeed don't even need to adapt to those: photon torpedoes are impotent from the very first shot on in "Q Who?". Okay, the very first shot seen. No doubt somebody other fied big bombs at them previously. Just as somebody used every other weapon, especially and by definition all the conventional ones.

Timo Saloniemi

But do we know that for a fact?

I wish the Federation had more ancient weapons on hand for situations like The Borg which are Cyberman knock offs anyway.