User:McGig/Sandbox/Borg Collective Ships

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

—The Borg

"You can't outrun them; you can't destroy them. If you damage them, the essence of what they are remains; they regenerate and keep coming. Eventually you will weaken, your reserves will be gone… They are relentless."

—Q

Borg Collective starships are some of the most imposing, feared vessels in the Milky Way galaxy. Borg ships are designed for functionality over style and are often stylized in basic geometric shapes. As part of their functionality, Borg vessels are largely decentralized. They have no distinct bridge or engineering section, and do not require living quarters; instead, the corridors of each Borg vessel are lined with Borg alcoves so that drones may effectively regenerate in sections where they work.

Each Borg vessel is controlled directly by the Hive Mind, allowing for quick response time and adaptation in combat. Additionally, Borg vessels have a high rate of regeneration which can make them effective in combat with over half of the vessel inoperable. In the end, each Borg vessel is designed for one purpose: the effective, swift, and overwhelming assimilation of other species to add to the perfection of the Borg Collective.

Borg Probe

The Borg Probe is one of the smallest vessels in the Borg fleet, primarily tasked as a long-range scouting vessel. The Probe is often assigned to scouting and intelligence gathering on low-resistance targets for potential assimilation and relaying that information back to the Collective. Due to the nature of their assignments, these vessels are also often the first ones encountered by unassimilated species. While a Probe is more than capable of engaging in the assimilation of any given pre-warp civilization, they will typically avoid confrontation with warp-capable civilizations while attempting to learn as much as they can before engaging in attacks on soft targets for final intelligence gathering before a Cube is tasked with assimilation.

In Play

First-order engagement
Expendable lesson-learner
Enough time, enough numbers, gonna be a problem.

Borg Sphere

Borg Spheres are used by the Borg as a combined long-range tactical and scout vessel, able to defend itself without reinforcement from nearby Cubes and operating far from replenishment by themselves. They may also be used by some Cubes as a form of auxiliary vessel.

The exact role and niche these craft fill in the Borg fleet is oft debated and likely will never be completely resolved. They are clearly the next rung up from Probes on the ladder of escalation, followed immediately by Cubes.

Engagement with a Sphere is not to be taken lightly. In 2378 a Federation task force of 27 ships engaged a single Sphere to little effect, victory only coming at the hands of the USS Voyager (NCC-74656) from within the vessel.

In Play

That's no moon!
It's not a Death Star either
Still pretty scary

Borg Cube

"At twenty-two hundred hours and twelve minutes, a distress signal was received at Starbase 157. The Lalo reported contact with an alien vessel described as "cube-shaped". The distress signal ended abruptly. She has not been heard from since."

—Vice Admiral J.P. Hanson, 2366

When most sentient lifeforms think of the Borg, the infamous Borg Cube will be one of, if not the first, things that come to mind. These terrifying engines of destruction are the Borg Collective's primary platform for force projection and assimilation. The top warp speed for a Borg Cube is still yet to be discovered as in every engagement the Borg have demonstrated an ability to always keep up if not outright outrun, their prey.

The combat capabilities of a Borg Cube are formidable enough that the Federation is lucky to have survived two single Cube assaults to date. After the disaster of the Battle of Wolf 359 the Federation began crash R&D and construction programs just to rebuild the loss of 39 starships and then to prepare for any future engagements. These preparations came to light in the Battle of Sector 001 wherein a second Cube engaged a Dominion War-era battlefleet and was still able to breach all of the Sol System defences before being destroyed in Earth orbit.

These vessels are equipped with a myriad of offensive and defensive technologies from numerous species that the Borg have assimilated. They are quick to adapt to weapon systems deployed by those resisting them and equally quick to adapt their weapons to bypass the best defences presented to them. Starfleet's own rotating modulation systems for phasers and shields are directly inspired by the Borg, but still fall short in a prolonged engagement.

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of a Borg Cube however is it's sheer ability to absorb damage even when its defensive systems fail while maintaining peak combat efficiency. The second Cube to assault Earth was suffering from heavy damage with a faltering power grid while still handily destroying Starfleet vessels. This is due in part to their effective and adaptable defensive systems but also to their own regeneration capabilities that allow a ship to repair itself. While not as effective in combat, outside of combat this would allow a Cube in short order to return to full combat effectiveness quicker than any resistant force likely could. If a Borg Cube is retreating, it is merely to regenerate before returning promptly to finish the job.

If a Borg Cube is spotted, do not engage. Maintain distance as best as possible and report to Starfleet or the nearest allied power immediately. Do not pose a threat to the Collective and monitor the situation until such time as Starfleet Command comes up with a plan of action. If in doubt, break contact and retreat as best as possible. Utilise any and all evasive techniques to break sensor contact and vacate the area.

In Play

It's faster than you. Better armed than you. It won't stop. It took whole battlefleets just to slow one of these down the second time around and it still didn't work.
Honk-honk! Coming through!
It's the size of DS9 without the empty space and it will chase you! Are you afraid yet?

Borg Tactical Cube

"If the Continuum has told you once, they have told you a thousand times: DON'T PROVOKE THE BORG!!!"

—Q, to Q Junior

Take one Borg Cube, slap on some armour plates, and a few more weapon points. And you're done. Now, if you need me, I'm moving to a different galaxy.

In Play

The Borg took the standard Cube and made it scarier. How? Who told them they needed to make a Cube scarier?
You better have a fancy plan just to run away from one of these things. Fighting one just isn't an option.
No, seriously, don't fight it. You'll just teach them all our good fighting moves we rely on for kicking the smaller ships around.

Borg Diamond

The Borg Diamond, also know as the octahedron, is a purpose-constructed vessel for the Collective, outside of their normal operating modalities. The vessel operates as a command and control vessel during campaigns against powerful or resilient enemies requiring a more focused resolution pathway and minimised subspace latency for adaptation and engagement approach dynamism. It is suspected that the vessel acts as some form of long-range, high-bandwidtch communication platform to the nearest Unicomplex, then repeats to nearby vessels which lack such inbuilt capabilities themselves.

If a Borg Diamond is operating in the area, it is a clear sign the sector is of importance to the Collective and other forces are nearby. Do not engage. Do not conduct further scans. Disengage and report all findings to Starfleet or the nearest allied power immediately.

In Play

Has all the wifi
Seriously, one Queen thought she was too good to just use a Cube, had to make a custom car
Boudicca approves, what with all the spiky bits