I mean realistically it's because if they did there wouldn't be a show but let's be real here. The borg are super powerful, they can adapt to almost any weaponry (the only exception being species 8472) they assimilate species in the thousands, they have trans-warp drive, and presumably they've been around for at least a century. By all accounts, they should have assimilated a good portion of the galaxy by now if not the whole thing. I think their problem is they aren't all too efficient in the way they do things. They just go to whatever planet they feel like with no tactical strategy in mind. They attacked with Alpha quadrant despite the fact that there are planets in the delta quadrant all around borg space that haven't been assimilated. Wouldn't it make more sense to just assimilate everyone next to you, acquiring all of it and creating a vast borg empire?
Why haven't The Borg taken over the galaxy yet?
- Thread starter spooken
- Start date
The Galaxy is still a big place, with billions upon billions of star systems that have yet to be even visited yet. And not every species they encounter they deem worthy of assimilation (or even worthy of their notice sometimes).
Also, the Borg aren't invulnerable. Some races are strong enough to injure them.
That may be so but they've been around for 9 centuries you would think they'd hold a lot more space than just their small corner of the delta quadrant
It's pretty much this. Humans may have a need to hurry up and do things quickly, but other races like the Vulcans (and likely the Borg) move at their own pace.
The galaxy is huge. And transwarp doesn't help that much. To make a comparison: I may be able to get to any point on the planet within 24 hours or so (with planning), but that still doesn't mean I can visit all of them in a reasonable time frame. Even if the borg would have as many as one million cubes (still seems to be their primary mode of transport), that would still be 200.000 star systems for each cube (not that it necessarily needs to visit every last one of them of course, if they can remotely scan them as being uninteresting to them).
That "small corner" of the Delta Quadrant is actually a pretty decent portion of the quadrant. But anyway, perhaps they just haven't seen much of a need to expand beyond their territory in the Delta Quadrant? After all, the only reason they developed an interest in the Alpha Quadrant in the 24th century is because they were at first investigating the signal sent out by the drones in Enterprise's Borg episode. Then there was their encounter with the Enterprise D at System J-25, in particular there was the fact that from their perspective, the moment the ship was at their mercy, it seemingly instantly returned to its home light-years away flagging the Federation as a priority target. The rest of the time, without SOSs from time-displaced drones to investigate, the Borg likely just chill in their space where they for the most part are content to lounge. In fact, I'd guess the Borg become aware of a majority of races when an alien ship stumbles into Borg space, get noticed by a cube who are all like "oh hey, that's cool, let's take the ship, learn its homeworld, and assimilate it."
It's stated in the novels that if they conquered the federation they'd have completely conquered the Milky Way by 2600 or something like that.
And they do control a substantial portion of the Delta Quadrant.
They have time, nearly infinite resources and manpower and a single cause.
Though I imagine there are species strong enough to resist them-Voth, Species 8472, The Dominion(debateable). Not to mention God beings like the Q or organians.
I'm sure in the vast universe there are other powers that could challenge them, so they are held back somewhat.
And they do control a substantial portion of the Delta Quadrant.
They have time, nearly infinite resources and manpower and a single cause.
Though I imagine there are species strong enough to resist them-Voth, Species 8472, The Dominion(debateable). Not to mention God beings like the Q or organians.
I'm sure in the vast universe there are other powers that could challenge them, so they are held back somewhat.
There's the "Hive" comics. The Borg assimilate the entire galaxy in those.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_Hive
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_Hive
Software updates, I think. By the time one update has filtered across the entire Collective, there's another already in the works.
The Borg are both powerful and vulnerable. They capture your key people and unpack your hitech stuff and you are in for a BIG hiding. Equally though they can be busted with a 'puter virus if you can suss out their hive circuitry.
The Feds after a slow start are usually able to tackle them. And there's PLENTY of species more powerful than the Feds. The Voth for example. But there must also be alot of TOS-esque super-aliens out there keeping them in check.
The Feds after a slow start are usually able to tackle them. And there's PLENTY of species more powerful than the Feds. The Voth for example. But there must also be alot of TOS-esque super-aliens out there keeping them in check.
That may indeed have happened numerous times, unbeknownst to those living in the alpha quadrant.
It is possible that some of those aliens that the Borg have encountered had inflicted massive destruction on the Borg. So the Borg may not always be growing and expanding. At times, because of serious losses they may have been reduced and diminished.
It seems that the civilizations near "Borg Space" are supergeniuses with superdupercrazy technology. The Borg just can't handle them.
The Voth-I'm sure the Voth take the Borg seriously, but doubt the Borg could assimilate them
The Krenim-Who knows what they're capable of...on a good day at least.
Species 116- They had a large civilization with many worlds. Really smart. really advanced. Managed to keep their entire territory "hidden" from their Borg neighbors(until they didn't)
Bomar-I dunno. They all wear retainers with head harnesses though. There must be a dental epidemic in their military
That "Sleeping" Race. How come they haven't been assimilated? I suppose they might not have the tech to be targeted...Then again, maybe they were.
In my mind the Borg are dead. ALL of them post Endgame. They're finished, kaput.
The Voth-I'm sure the Voth take the Borg seriously, but doubt the Borg could assimilate them
The Krenim-Who knows what they're capable of...on a good day at least.
Species 116- They had a large civilization with many worlds. Really smart. really advanced. Managed to keep their entire territory "hidden" from their Borg neighbors(until they didn't)
Bomar-I dunno. They all wear retainers with head harnesses though. There must be a dental epidemic in their military
That "Sleeping" Race. How come they haven't been assimilated? I suppose they might not have the tech to be targeted...Then again, maybe they were.
In my mind the Borg are dead. ALL of them post Endgame. They're finished, kaput.
That's a little more than Endgame is worth. The Destiny novels really did do this is a fitting manner
I've never picked up a Trek book, and none of the relaunch novels are on Audible. I might be interested in those...At least for Voy and Ent.
Casting that aside, to me, Janeway destroyed the bastards once and for all. That Virus quickly spread to the few other trans hubs, then to the rest.
The way I figure it, The different Borg centers of activity are all connected all the time. We saw that in Unimatrix zero. Also, Picard's "virus" was supposed to infect the entire Borg.
Casting that aside, to me, Janeway destroyed the bastards once and for all. That Virus quickly spread to the few other trans hubs, then to the rest.
The way I figure it, The different Borg centers of activity are all connected all the time. We saw that in Unimatrix zero. Also, Picard's "virus" was supposed to infect the entire Borg.
The most intriguing fan theory I've heard is that the Borg are merely pushing the Federation along. With each Borg attack, the Federation develops new and more advanced technology.
Perhaps one day, instead small skirmishes, the Borg will truly bring their full power to bear?
Or not, because then there'd be no more ST.
Perhaps one day, instead small skirmishes, the Borg will truly bring their full power to bear?
Or not, because then there'd be no more ST.
Quite possibly if they did there wouldn't be Borg.
After all, the Borg survive through assimilation. With nobody left to assimilate, survival ends.
1) We have yet to see much sign of Borg creativity. If "free" species cease to be a source of inventions, the Borg stagnate and soon become unable to cope with mundane problems of sustenance.
2) Worse still, we have yet to see much sign of Borg procreation. In "Q Who?", Riker claims to be witnessing some sort of in vitro growth of new Borg when he finds babies in desk drawers. But later episodes establish that the Borg do not give birth to babies by any means - this through witness statements from actual Borg or ex-Borg, who may be lying but who nevertheless would know more than Riker.
They could. Should does not necessarily follow. Although for all we know, they have indeed assimilated everybody a couple of times already - but in order to survive, they have then let the galaxy go fallow again, giving rise to new victims. Nobody knows how old the Borg are, although Guinan's minimum estimate of "thousands of centuries" from "Q Who?" is not contradicted by Q, the one character who could know.
According to TAS "The Slaver Weapon", it's an accepted in-universe fact that all sapient life in the galaxy died out at least once already - a billion years ago in a big war where the eponymous Slavers were gotten rid of - and had to develop anew. And according to TNG "The Chase", it's no wonder sapience bobbed back up again ASAP, as the very chemistry of life has been rigged by ancient intellect to forcibly create sapient bipeds capable of cross-breeding.
More probably we are too stupid to comprehend their strategy. VOY "Child's Play" explicitly shows what TheSublimeGoose mentions above: the Borg attack a planet with relatively weak forces, deliberately allowing it to survive and develop better means of resisting the Borg. The Borg then attack again, harvest the new means, and again let the planet survive, waiting for it to develop yet more and better means they could harvest the next time around.
This could well be what's happening with Earth or the Federation as well. The Borg lose little or nothing by letting the Feds slaughter one Cube or Sphere or whatnot, but gain a lot.
Heck, for all we know, it indeed is "or nothing". From Seven of Nine's experiences with a malfunctioning feature of the Collective in "Infinite Regress", we learn that anybody ever assimilated is immortal. No matter whether his, her or its assimilated body gets phasered to oblivion by cheering Feds, the personality keeps on living inside the Collective, and can even be uploaded to a new body if necessary (or at least this can happen through malfunction, which is suggestive enough).
The only indication that the Borg might be interested in conquest comes from ST:First Contact where Picard claims the Borg have been "advancing" and the Federation "falling back". The good captain seems to be describing Borg existence in classic, conventional military terms there (and never mind that what he describes has never been seen on screen). But whether the Borg would hold on to turf "conquered" is unknown. Most of them appear to live in free space, in those vast Unicomplexes of theirs. For all we know, conquest of planets or territory is just part of their strategy of goading primitives into becoming a bit less primitive, so that they would be worthier of assimilation.
The Borg "spreading" is an illusion anyway. They are already everywhere; it's just that, as per VOY "Dark Frontier", they prefer to remain invisible, and succeed in that easily enough. They have clearly been to places, though, and have e.g. assigned relatively low Species numbers to cultures in the vicinity of Earth, supposedly long before they "first" visited the Federation in the first season of TNG (a "first" this VOY episode explicitly proves false, without in any way suggesting that the slightly earlier "first" in that episode would be any less false).
Timo Saloniemi
Last edited:
Repeating a bad day until it becomes a good one.
Somebody call Kevin Uxbridge. I think he might have a thing or two in store for the Borg. Pacifist or otherwise.
Better yet. Let's box up some Pakleds and send them to the Borg. "Resistance is.....uhm.....uh...I forgot."
Better yet. Let's box up some Pakleds and send them to the Borg. "Resistance is.....uhm.....uh...I forgot."
Similar threads
