Borg power source???

posted on June 11th, 2010, 9:39 pm

   The shields could be molded to the ship's shape. Strange how it seems that you guys only know about spherical shields. 

If you're talking about the Structural Integrity Field, people often overlook it because it's not visible. All you see on-screen is weapons hitting a hull, so it's understandable they'd not notice it.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 2:50 pm

That means there was no reason for Voyager's cargobay to be converted with those Borg alcoves.

Remember in "Scorpion", 7 of 9 beams herself some other drones, Janeway and Tuvok, and a number of alcoves into the cargo bay just before her ship is destroyed. The implication is that she somehow was able to hook them in to Voyager's power grid when they were transported or perhaps immediately after. So it's not like the Voyager crew made the decision to put them in. And even after 7 of 9 was de-Borged it was more efficient and familiar to keep using the alcoves.

*sigh* Ever since Starfleet Command III, I've been hearing this 'borg don't have shields' stuff over and over and over.  The show (TNG, DS9, and Voyager) expressly says otherwise.  Though once they were called 'energy fields' by Geordi.

They just don't turn them on unless they are needed.  That way there's not an unneeded constant drain of power, instead just a drain when useful.  Plus, getting hit by the weapon makes it easy to analyze exactly what it does, so that the next shot meets a perfectly adapted shield and accomplishes absolutely nothing.

I'd have to agree with this. The Borg probably do have shields for their ships but feel that most of the time they will not need them or feel the power is better spent on regenerating their ship.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 4:43 pm

my very limited knowledge is:
borg use adaptive shields, which u cant see but u will note em as they minimize the power of the weapons when they hit the hull. That way u see big explosions on the hull but only very low damage done. And im quite sure borg use forcefields inside the ship to protect important systems ... they would be damn stupid to not do it. They adapt and im quite sure some races tried to take down the important systems and so they adaptet to it and protect this systems

*end of my not existing knowledge*

[Dave Denton]

posted on June 12th, 2010, 4:56 pm

Last edited by Dave Denton on June 12th, 2010, 5:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

  Close enough.
But as the drones have shields that mold to the drone's shape, the same type of shields could be used to mold to the ship's shape.
Try telling this to these guys, as they will continue with their ideas like "Borg don't use shields all the time".
Electric bill must be really expensive these days.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 5:02 pm

  Close enough.
But as the drones have shields that mold to the drone's shape, the same type of shields could be used to mold to the ship's shape.
Try telling this to these guys, as they will continue with their ideas like "Borg don't use shield all the time".
Electric bill must be really expensive these days.

You can see those shields, though. That's why an enhanced SIF is the most likely way they shield themselves.

I think the idea of 'standard shield are the only type around' might be too deeply ingrained, most can't concieve another way to use them.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 6:15 pm

I believe Dave is right about the shields being right against the hull, and people that say the borg don't have shields need to pay more attention to the episodes and not the games. In the voyager episode Dark Frontier part 2 Seven said that a race the borg were attacking "Have weapons that can penetrate our shields", and the queen also states "our shields are failing".

[Tyler]

posted on June 12th, 2010, 6:21 pm

Last edited by Tyler on June 12th, 2010, 6:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Them being 'right against the hull' would still cause a visible flare when hit, exactly the same as the Enterprise's did.

Whatever shield they use isn't projected away from the Hull like that, which is exactly what the drone shield does.

Think back to what the NX-01 does for defence and imagine that about 1,000 years more advanced, and (maybe) active constantly.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 6:41 pm

It's entirely possible that no flare shows because the shield was designed not to emit any flare at all. Borg tech is something we have very little understanding of, so it's quite possible they do have shields outside the hull.

Maybe the shield is just inside the outer hull? That is what Star Wars shields are mostly like (exceptions such as open areas like hangars and exhaust ports that really should have more than just Ray Shields.) Again, we have little understanding, so we can't be sure.

I doubt the Borg would use the same method as NX-01, but a mega structural integrity field or something might work. It would operate like a normal shield, but without any visible effects of impact. I agree that a SIF would be the most likely way they shield themselves . Regardless of which of these three methods is used, the issue is with the way the shields/hull are treated in games.

The way most games are treating it, it's as if it's just a really strong hull. It should seem like an invincible hull, until the shield is overwhelmed and stuff blows up just like other ships hit while unshielded (like in BoBW with the certain phaser frequency, and in Q Who before it adapted to Fed weaponry.) Currently in FO every damage dealt to a Borg ship seems to chip away at the hull, and then the hull has to be regenerated to full health. It should be that no damage is done after a certain time and number of shots (adaption kicking in), then a lot of damage needs to be dealt in quick succession in order to bring down the field so that damage can be done to the hull.

Btw: We've been off-topic most of the thread  .

posted on June 12th, 2010, 6:54 pm

I only suggested an advanced version of what NX-01 does because whenever I suggest an enhanced Structural Integrity, I usually seem to get ignored (or drowned out by people claiming Borg have Sovereign-like shields).

Yeah, defences in games are only classed as 'shields' if they're like the standard ones Starfleet uses.

It's entirely possible that no flare shows because the shield was designed not to emit any flare at all. Borg tech is something we have very little understanding of, so it's quite possible they do have shields outside the hull.

True, but that wouldn't explain why every hit explodes on the hull and those shields don't stop any weapons (unless they're not designed for weapons).

[Nebula_Class_Ftw]

posted on June 12th, 2010, 6:58 pm

Last edited by Nebula_Class_Ftw on June 12th, 2010, 7:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Torps explode on impact, maybe the shields don't stop the impact, or resulting explosion. If the explosion's energy that hit the Borg shields was absorbed by them, as well as the torpedo's inerta, then no damage will be done. The part of the explosion that goes away from the site of impact would be unaffected by the shields, and thus you would see a pretty explosion and no damage. Basically, the explosion is the torpedo blowing itself to pieces, not the surface of the Borg ship being blown to pieces.

EDIT: Information rewritten/added to aid readability and get the point across easier.

[Tyler]

posted on June 12th, 2010, 7:04 pm

Last edited by Tyler on June 12th, 2010, 7:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Wouldn't that be pretty much the SIF at work?

The only thing the real Borg's external field was confirmed to effect was Transporters, it doesn't even do that in Voyager.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 7:09 pm

Torpedoes yes (assuming they could neutralize a matter/antimatter warhead without preventing it from exploding at all), but what about Phasers and Pulses? If those were absorbed, they wouldn't even reach the ship. They never seem to have any trouble.

The only thing the real Borg's external field was confirmed to effect was Transporters, it doesn't even do that in Voyager.

You still don't understand, the torpedo does explode, but the energy from the explosion is absorbed. Just because something blows up doesn't mean any damage is done.

As far as pulses/phasers, it would still appear to hit if the shield was really, really close to the surface of the Borg vessel, maybe less than a centimeter. Unless your eyes can see that 1 cm gap or something I don't know how you can tell if it reached the ship or not. Visual aspects of impact can't show if it actually hit the hull either, that could just be the result of hitting the shield.

It's quite possible they have more than one external field, one of which blocks transporters, one of which doesn't.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 7:14 pm

I doubt they'd need multiple shields for different roles, considering every other empire (all far inferior) only need one to do all roles.

I'm still behind the SIF concept.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 7:20 pm

1 word : Holo-cloak


What IF the borg outer hull is some sort of a hologram thingy seen in voyager episode/enterprise episode?) from what i understand of holo-cloak is that it is it's own shield. So basically, you see borg hull, but that hull is actually the shield, while the REAL hull is deeper.

posted on June 12th, 2010, 7:20 pm

I doubt they'd need multiple shields for different roles, considering every other empire (all far inferior) only need one to do all roles.

I'm still behind the SIF concept.

They're the Borg, they have assimilated many technologies, they probably choose which ones to use at any given time based on the particular advantages and disadvantages of the technology. Other empires do not operate like the Borg.

I agreed that it is the most likely explanation; however, we cannot be entirely sure as we do not have a Star Trek series devoted to the Starship 945954 on its 500 year mission to seek out previously undetected lifeforms for assimilation. We don't know their power source, their method of regenerating their ships, we barely even know what their warp capabilities are. We just don't find out very much in Star Trek about the Borg.