It's like the Terminator's plan in the original movie: destroy your enemy while he's helpless.
Rejected/selected by the Borg
- Thread starter Laura Cynthia Chambers
- Start date
Logical in itself, but up until the time of FC humanity hadn't proved to be a particular threat to the Borg (ok, they blew up a single cube but that can't have been the first cube the Borg ever lost and it only happened as an 'inside job'), and they couldn't have gained much, technology wise, by assimilating humanity as of 2063 AD.
The First Contact plot would have made marginally more sense after Janeway crippled them, proving to the Borg the humans actually were a threat to reckon with.
Not if you want to farm them for technology.
If the borg cube is destroyed? So what? You have a trillion more drones and millions of more ships.
Meanwhile the federation develops more juicey technology you can assimilate next time. Rinse and repeat.
Either one day a cube gets through and its game over or the Borg deem the Federation a real threat and send hundreds of cubes.
They were pretty much doing that with Ichebs people. Farming them for tec.
What's amazing is that actually makes the Borg's actions overall make sense. But then the "First Contact" time travel plot does not: why go back in time and undo all their progress?
It barely makes sense as a Plan B once the cube was unexpectedly destroyed, but in the larger scheme of things, I don't understand it either.
It might have made a lot more sense if the E-E had arrived too late to stop the Borg from assimilating Earth, and then time traveled to try to prevent it with the Borg sphere pursuing them instead of the other way around.
It might have made a lot more sense if the E-E had arrived too late to stop the Borg from assimilating Earth, and then time traveled to try to prevent it with the Borg sphere pursuing them instead of the other way around.
(My apologies for reading your post wrong first time around.)
In that case, I would expect the Enterprise to go to '10 minutes earlier' and participate in the defense of Earth, not to 2063 AD?
Or 15 years earlier and present the Federation council with all Picard's tactical knowledge of them, allowing Starfleet to create a viable defense.
^ Messing with your own past more than absolutely necessary to repair hostile temporal incursions is a grey area though, morality-wise, even if it helps Earth prepare for the Borg better, and I'm sure Picard would have appreciated that, as he does in the movie, when he tells the crew to evacuate and 'stay out of history's way' when he gives the auto-destruct order. Even though I agree that perhaps the crew told Lily and Zephram more about the future than they should have.
Way I see it, all of Cochrane's crew were dead. Given that, history was already irreparably scrambled. Given Cochrane's fame, can we really believe that his comrades never affected things in any way?
During the attack the Borg might have got spooked by something they assimilated or just picard having such a impact in the battle and could forsee at that moment humans doing a jainway and fucking up the collective for good so decided to just wipe them out.
What about if you were on Jouret IV and watched as the city got beamed up by the Cube. That would suck. Anyone remember in "The Return" when someone was in another city getting beamed up by the Borg. Also there were Borg dogs.
What about if a Borg scoutship crashed and it's just a couple of Borg left versus some townsfolk with Louisville Sluggers. I'd fucking love that.
What about if a Borg scoutship crashed and it's just a couple of Borg left versus some townsfolk with Louisville Sluggers. I'd fucking love that.
It's not like the borg couldn't ever send more than just one ship to take on the entire alpha quadrant..didn't janeway say the borg had at least thousands of.cubes? Let's face it..the borg didn't assimilate earth and resorted to weird, single ship only strategies, not because earth wasn't "important" enough. But because earth was too important..it was the home world of the main cast lol. The writers would write them off or there would be no sjown
They also sent out scoutships which was also really inefficient.
On the surface, the Borg plan to attack Earth in FIRST CONTACT doesn't make sense, with time travel being the Plan B. Especially with having a Queen on board.
However, having the Queen on board shows the time travel was the Borg plan A the whole time. Think of it like this.
These Borg go back in time, with all their current knowledge intact. Stop Earth from achieving warp, and you stopped them from starting the Federation. They not only have the entire quadrant they can easily assimilate basically uncontested, but also unlimited resources because any used material (dilithium, other metals needed to build ships, etc) from the previous 300 years are still untouched. And because they would be assimilating billions more so easily, having the Queen on board becomes a necessity because she brings 'order to chaos'... and chaos would definitely ensue with that many new voices in the collective added so quickly.
I also think the Delta Quadrant is easy pickings for the Borg because there is no multi-species organization like the Federation to resist them. The Federation can adapt more quickly to the Borg than just, say, the Devore because they comprise many voices and ideas working together for a common goal... something the Borg themselves know well.
However, having the Queen on board shows the time travel was the Borg plan A the whole time. Think of it like this.
These Borg go back in time, with all their current knowledge intact. Stop Earth from achieving warp, and you stopped them from starting the Federation. They not only have the entire quadrant they can easily assimilate basically uncontested, but also unlimited resources because any used material (dilithium, other metals needed to build ships, etc) from the previous 300 years are still untouched. And because they would be assimilating billions more so easily, having the Queen on board becomes a necessity because she brings 'order to chaos'... and chaos would definitely ensue with that many new voices in the collective added so quickly.
I also think the Delta Quadrant is easy pickings for the Borg because there is no multi-species organization like the Federation to resist them. The Federation can adapt more quickly to the Borg than just, say, the Devore because they comprise many voices and ideas working together for a common goal... something the Borg themselves know well.
But the Federation has never been a threat to the Borg in the 24th century, so why assimilate it in the 21st century and not even gain access to the juicy bits of tech the Feds have developed in the intervening centuries? The Borg have never expressed any concern about raw materials. They've only shown an interest in a) technology and b) adding to their numbers, with c) the Omega molecule coming up but never really manifesting as an operational priority.
Basically the time travel involves them forsaking a civilization with somewhat decent tech (though still nothing particularly compelling for the Borg) and a lot of people for a civilization with primitive tech and presumably fewer people.
The Borg served the interest of the story the writers wanted to tell regardless of whether it was compatible with their established MO, and the writers didn't even satisfactorily explain their change in MO, not even retroactively in future installments.
Basically the time travel involves them forsaking a civilization with somewhat decent tech (though still nothing particularly compelling for the Borg) and a lot of people for a civilization with primitive tech and presumably fewer people.
The Borg served the interest of the story the writers wanted to tell regardless of whether it was compatible with their established MO, and the writers didn't even satisfactorily explain their change in MO, not even retroactively in future installments.
I might not have been clear in my idea. Apologies for the confusion. Let me see if I can clarify.
What I mean by the Borg having all their knowledge going back in time is they already have the technology from the 24th century Federation, too. They have assimilated lots of Starfleet officers and ships, so they already have the technology either in the sphere or by using the collected knowledge, which they can rebuild whatever technology they need.
Plus, given Data's population count of the altered Earth, I don't think there are fewer overall people in the past. (Though admittedly, it's more likely to be fewer than the 24th century.) Without the Federation in the way, the Borg can have the entire Alpha Quadrant, and likely a good chunk of the Beta Quadrant and possibly have started on the Gamma Quadrant (assuming they know about the Bajoran wormhole), assimilated by the time FIRST CONTACT begins. Then reconnect with the Delra Quadrant Borg. Their goal of assimilating the entire galaxy happens centuries before it was meant to.
What I mean by the Borg having all their knowledge going back in time is they already have the technology from the 24th century Federation, too. They have assimilated lots of Starfleet officers and ships, so they already have the technology either in the sphere or by using the collected knowledge, which they can rebuild whatever technology they need.
Plus, given Data's population count of the altered Earth, I don't think there are fewer overall people in the past. (Though admittedly, it's more likely to be fewer than the 24th century.) Without the Federation in the way, the Borg can have the entire Alpha Quadrant, and likely a good chunk of the Beta Quadrant and possibly have started on the Gamma Quadrant (assuming they know about the Bajoran wormhole), assimilated by the time FIRST CONTACT begins. Then reconnect with the Delra Quadrant Borg. Their goal of assimilating the entire galaxy happens centuries before it was meant to.
