Quality vs Quantity

Deepcrush · Post by **Deepcrush** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:40 pm

True, it could have been a bluff, or just wanting to kill a queen, or getting the fleet to work together, or shooting at the big door in the side of the cube or he just felt he had to do something and that was better then nothing. Who cares, in the end it worked.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 3:40 pm

Isn't that just what they did?
The cubes shields had failed (or were in the process of failing) and the ships were firing randomly all over the hull. Picard comes in and tells them to concentrate their fire. I guess that concept has also been lost in the future...

Post by **Mikey** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 5:00 pm

I guess that concept has also been lost in the future...

Along with any logical design ethic... but that;s for other threads.

I think it was clear that the implication in the film was that Picard had some knowledge of a particular reason to choose those particular coordinates for the combined attack. In addition to the way the dialogue played out, the Enterprise's skipper HAS to be the one to save the day, ne pas?

Post by **Teaos** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 1:43 am

It's been awhile but I'm sure I remember him seaking out a certain spot to hit.

Fact is The cube was not more than 20 minutes away from having Earth. After it got foot hold somewhere it would have been right near impossible to stop them.

Post by **Mikey** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:23 am

Exactmundo!

Without the opposition having a former (high-ranking?) and de-assimilated drone in a command position - and how likely was that scenario - the Borg would have patently NOT needed a second cube to conduct their primary operation without resorting to time-screwing.

Monroe · Post by **Monroe** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:17 am

Yeah with millions of ships you'd think they would just send 9,001 Borg Cubes at Earth.

ITS OVER NINE THOUSAND!

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 4:53 pm

Fact is The cube was not more than 20 minutes away from having Earth. After it got foot hold somewhere it would have been right near impossible to stop them.

Er, you do realise that the entire cube was being shredded? I doubt it would have lasted another five minutes, let alone twenty.
Picard may or may not have struck a particular target, but if he did then it dosen't particularly matter. The fleet had already blasted a hole a couple hundred meters wide in the side. A few photon torpedos into that would have finished it off nicely, regardless of where it hit.

Sending two cubes would have lowered the risk by a massive amount, while barely being a noticeable drain on resources.

Post by **Mikey** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:03 pm

I am not debating the fact that sending another cube seems to make more sense. However, even with the extensive damage done to it, that cube seemed pretty damn operational at the time the E-E arrived.

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 6:11 pm

Cubes have excelent redundancy. It seems to be a borg trait. Just because its still able to knock ships out of the sky dosen't mean it wasn't on its last legs.
In fact that may be why Picard chose to concentrate his fire at that paricular location, perhaps it was the generator for the weapons or something else that would make the ship unable to fight back.

Post by **Teaos** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:03 am

Isn't the stat something like "Borg cubes can remain operational after 60% damage" It was still destroying ships and still moving foward with the majority of it intact. It would have won.

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 12:11 pm

Teaos wrote:Isn't the stat something like "Borg cubes can remain operational after 60% damage" It was still destroying ships and still moving foward with the majority of it intact. It would have won.

It's 70 something % I think. But still, did you not see that huge hole in the side?Before Picard told everyone to fire therE?

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 4:49 pm

...and even with that whole, it was still functional and on-mission!

In fact that may be why Picard chose to concentrate his fire at that paricular location...

Bullseye! Would anyone but the one-in-a-kazillion person whos was assimilated, then recaptured and de-assimilated, know to strike at that point - which point, according to Data, appeared unimportant to other observers?

Sionnach Glic · Post by **Sionnach Glic** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:46 pm

It would apear unimportant only to people who don't know the importance of concentrated fire.
If the fleet poured their firepower onto one spot the power of such an attack would have torn a hole through the cube and the torpedos would have blown it apart from the inside. Simple.
Unless you want to claim a cube could withstand thirty-odd torps going off inside it...

Post by **Mikey** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:53 pm

The implication of the film was that the spot Picard selected was of more import than just being a spot on which to concentrate fire. In fact, if the idea was JUST to concentrate fire, why would the acting commander of the fleet bother to choose coordinates himself? Or again, why tell Data to "trust me" when questioned about the coordinates?

Thorin · Post by **Thorin** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 6:17 pm

Perhaps because it was insider knowledge that taking out a chunk of the cube would destroy it? The 70% offline-but-still-working thing may only apply to if the 70% is evenly spread out. If it's 100% in a specific area it could destroy - in this case it clearly did. Perhaps he chose those co-ordinates as he had already seen there was a great big gaping hole in the side of the cube? Maybe he could "hear" the borg saying theres a great big gaping hole in the side which is why Data couldn't see it?