Would these species be desirable as drones for the Borg?

[TheOrbitalDrone]

We've seen Borg uses Bolians, Klingons, Romulans, Bajorians, Cardassians, Ktarians and other races that has similar features to humans.

But would the Borg assimilate species like Nausicaans, Jem'Hadar or Ferengis?

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

They would've ignored the Nausicans and probably the Ferengi. They might have used the Jem'Hadar if they found a worthwhile way to overcome the addiction to the white.

 

[Delta Geminorum]

It depends on how biologically and technologically perfect they are.

 

[at Quark's]

Well, the Ferengi have particular skill in hearing. Remember Nog who could distinguish Kira's voice in a transmission distorted to be unrecognisable. That might be something the Borg want. The Nausicaans might be brutally strong. Jem' Hadar are bred and designed for combat. These might be small 'advantages' but when you are trying to achieve "perfection", every little last advantage may help. In that view, a species would only not be assimilated if they have absolutely nothing to contribute (such as, apparently, the Kazon), at least nothing that the Borg already don't have.

I also wondered what the phrase "we will add your biological distinctiveness to our own" means, exactly. Does it mean that when the Borg assimilate a species that is particularly good at <x>, all drones gain that advantage, even if they were originally from another species ?

 

[F. King Daniel]

The first boss in Star Trek: Elite Force II is a Nausican tactical drone. It's pretty awesome.

 

[The Wormhole]

The Borg have assimilated Ferengi. When Seven of Nine was channelling personalities of various people who were assimilated by the Borg in Infinite Regress, one of them was a Ferengi, DaiMon Torrot.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The Borg have assimilated Ferengi. When Seven of Nine was channelling personalities of various people who were assimilated by the Borg in Infinite Regress, one of them was a Ferengi, DaiMon Torrot.

A Ferengi was assimilated into the next Locutus-style speaker figure in the novel Vendetta.

 

[Tim Thomason]

The Borg would assimilate all three, at least once, to decide if they were worth it.

The Ferengi are interesting, because they have a very low designation (Species 180), which implies an early meeting between Ferengi and Borg centuries ago. Their is probably a tale of interest there.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Ferengi have better hearing than other races, so that would add to Borg perfection.

 

[Timo]

Also, they are kindred spirits, lurking in the background until it becomes impossible for them to hide their existence, then becoming quite a nuisance to their victims, sinking their greedy tendrils deep into their victims' dearest parts.

Perhaps the Ferengi were met early on because they were such daring and opportunistic pirates, venturing into the depths of space where the Borg were hiding tens of thousands of years ago already. Nothing much came out of it when the Collective discovered the Ferengi weren't even flying on warships of their own, but on stolen or purchased vessels...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tim Thomason]

Interesting reminder that the Ferengi is an ancient civilization, over ten thousand years old. There aren't any human historical figures from the reputed era of Gint, and while older civilizations exist in Trek (Bajorans, Orions, Borg), there's nothing to confirm or deny when the Ferengi purchased warp drive (Quark's odd remark in Little Green Men being disproven on almost all other fronts).

Perhaps the early Borg and the early Ferengi traded with one another, before the Borg began assimilating mass cultures as its primary method of expansion.

 

[TrekkieBorg1701Z]

What about Hortas? Would the Borg be able to assimilate one? Being able to essentially move though solid rock would make a great advantage.

 

[darrenjl]

Not convinced Borg species designations are sequential considering if they had been around for 'thousands of years' only 8472 had been designated by 2373. More than likely the number comes from some kind of processing or scoring system, where a higher number constitutes a bigger influence in the Collective in its goal for perfection, for various reasons whether it be physical, mental or even technological advancements.

 

[matthunter]

Not convinced Borg species designations are sequential considering if they had been around for 'thousands of years' only 8472 had been designated by 2373. More than likely the number comes from some kind of processing or scoring system, where a higher number constitutes a bigger influence in the Collective in its goal for perfection, for various reasons whether it be physical, mental or even technological advancements.

Also, the Queen is not Species 1. So either the Borg didn't start out with a Queen or they did and periodically decide a newly-assimilated species might be a better "host" for the Queen persona... but this is still very limited. They're obviously cloning the organics, so they COULD simply cherry-pick the best genetics and engineer the Queen's body, rather than sticking to cloning a particular individual from a particular species.

 

[Mysterion]

Ferengi have better hearing than other races, so that would add to Borg perfection.

Still bummed that Art Asylum never produced their planned Ferengi Borg Drone action figure: http://www.oafe.net/yo/art/borgak6.jpg

 

[arch101]

I also thought the assimilated Ferengi in the book Vendetta was pretty cool.

 

[Timo]

Not convinced Borg species designations are sequential considering if they had been around for 'thousands of years' only 8472 had been designated by 2373. More than likely the number comes from some kind of processing or scoring system, where a higher number constitutes a bigger influence in the Collective in its goal for perfection, for various reasons whether it be physical, mental or even technological advancements.

Or then the Borg relationship with S8472 goes way back (they lie about it a lot in "Scorpion"), and there indeed are way more than 10026 catalogued species - and numbers only up to 10026 pop up because the Borg strive to be systematic and thus do not wish to deal with S47001 quite yet. (Implicit in this would be that the Borg are already done with the lower-numbered species, this in turn meaning they have no plans of assimilating, say, the Ferengi en masse.)

A processing system of the sort you propose would make excellent sense, but OTOH would imply changes in Species number whenever the status of the victim species changes; we witness quite a few surprise status changes, but no number changes. A more byzantine system based on spatial coordinates or basic biological attributes or something else suitably hidden from the audience would be preferable. That is, if we want to ditch the chronologically assigned running numbers idea.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Low Frequency]

Does the cognitive abilities of a species really matter that much to the Borg, when tech will just be used to enhance that species anyway? It's not like the Borg Drones do a lot of thinking for themselves. I mean a gorilla doesn't have any technology but in a lot of ways is superior to homo-sapiens in many of it's physical attributes. So if the Borg needed some shock troopers a few silverbacks would probably go a long way. Maybe population size and interstellar reach also has something to do with why they choose a species to assimilate when they do? I can understand why they'd need tech from other cultures but why not just genetically engineer the perfect biological organism themselves? Maybe it's just easier to assimilate then create for them? There was that baby in 'Q Who" though... I'm thinking way too much about this.

I wonder what they got out of Guinan's species, the El-Aurians? The Borg don't seem to be very good listeners.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I wonder what they got out of Guinan's species, the El-Aurians? The Borg don't seem to be very good listeners.

Guinan's species lives over 700 years without apparent aging, and seems to have had some dealings with Q. Both these make them ripe for assimilation. They also possess some sort of high technology to enable cross-galaxy travel and are known for observing (i.e. "listening") lesser species, therefore a fount of knowledge on the galaxy.

 

[Mr. Low Frequency]

Guinan's species lives over 700 years without apparent aging, and seems to have had some dealings with Q. Both these make them ripe for assimilation. They also possess some sort of high technology to enable cross-galaxy travel and are known for observing (i.e. "listening") lesser species, therefore a fount of knowledge on the galaxy.

Thanks. I was kind of making a joke but didn't know any of that. Explains a lot. Is this from a novel?