Why do Borg vessels lack shields?

[MetalHead]

I cannot think of one episode where a Borg space vessel has shielding. Their drones carry adaptive shielding, how does it work for the Borg vessels?

Normally, I would assume that the structural integrity field (??) is adapted but in Q Who? and First Contact, and almost any episode involving Borg ships recieving weapons fire, impacts hit directly on the hull (and usually with gorgeous looking explosions).

So why would Borg starships not require shielding? I know they can regenerate damage, but does it not make sense for the collective to PREVENT such damage in the name of efficency>

[Bryan Moore]

I have no answer. It may have something to do with the fact that there is natural shielding built into the workings of the ship?

[MetalHead]

We also know the borg can easily create whatever they need for their vessels, hence the unique quality of every ship in armament and defensive systems, but i find it impossible to believe that the collective would use personal shielding and forcefields but not combat shielding for their ships. We know they can regenerate damage from Q Who.

That episode (best moment is the phasers ripping the cube open) shows how when encontering a new weapon, they are likely to suffer heavy damage. If the Enterprise-D's phaser vollies were anything to go by, she could have easily destroyed the cube in that initial encounter. So WTF WERE THEY DOING!? I guess that they took the damage, and developed a defense (though they adapted to photons before they were even fired).

So can they regenerate AND perform other functions?

[Teaos]

I'm go with high SIF and conforming shield but then we have the problem on how they were so easily damaged at first.

Maybe they have decided not to waste power on them.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I do recall several blasts being fired at the Borg ship in BOBW part I and seeming to hit a shield... or just striking the ship and doing no damage at all.

[Monroe]

They probably have some sort of super polarized armor like ENT's enterprise had. Maybe they found a species with a great version of it and havent' found a better shield technology yet.

[Tiberius]

In BoBW, Data and Worf have to penetrate the Borg's magnetic shield in order to beam onto the Cube to kidnap locutus.

[Monroe]

Think if its anything like the magnetic shield in Star Wars that just keeps space in space since a cube isn't that sealed up. But I could be wrong.

[Teaos]

Our shields seem to be more effective than the ones they have most of the time.

Maybe there is an exponential growth in the power needed for our types of shields. But then how do the Galaxy class ships have such good shields.

[Tiberius]

The shields may need to adapt, just as the shields on the drones. The enterprise only fired a few shots in Q Who, so the Cube may not have been able to adapt.

In BoBW, again, the Enterprise fired only a few shots before they disabled the tractor beam abd escaped. The Defelctor dish weapon was useless because the Borg were able to adapt before the weapon was fired (they had picard's knowledge. At Wolf 359, the Borg would have had plenty of time to adapt (and they had already started to adapt during the Enterprise encounters).

Given that we've never seen an extended battle with a Borg vessel that has resulted in a heavily damaged vessel, it seems safe to say that the Borg have shields for their vessels.

[Teaos]

But shields work no matter what the frequency. They just work better once modified.

[Captain Seafort]

There are plenty of examples of Borg shields

Q Who: The Enterprise's initial phaser strikes were useless, it was only when Worf ramped the power up a lot that they were able to punch through and disable the tractor beam. Later in the episode photon torpedoes had no effect.

BoBW: With the exception of a single phaser shot when Selby first ordered Data to rapidly alter the characteristics of the beam every single shot - phasers, torpedoes and deflector, dissipated harmlessly against a visible shield.

Emissary: Again, phaser fire produced a shield flash and nothing more.

First Contact: Lots of explosions, but before Picard's fire mission, no observeable damage - proably detonating on the shield as in Q Who.

Scorpion: No shield effects observed, but only 8472 and planetary debris hits were seen, so its possible they overwhelmed the shield before they were observed.

Dark Froniter/Unimatrix Zero: Diologue references to shields in both, and phaser hits observed producing a shield effect when attacking the Tactical Cube.

Endgame: Most attacks involved transphasic torpedoes, which produced no shield effect, but the reason for their effectiveness is unknown - they may bypass shields entirely in some way. Phaser hits on the sphere produced shield effects.

[MetalHead]

There are plenty of examples of Borg shields

Q Who: The Enterprise's initial phaser strikes were useless, it was only when Worf ramped the power up a lot that they were able to punch

through and disable the tractor beam. Later in the episode photon torpedoes had no effect.

BoBW: With the exception of a single phaser shot when Selby first ordered Data to rapidly alter the characteristics of the beam every single shot - phasers, torpedoes and deflector, dissipated harmlessly against a visible shield.

Emissary: Again, phaser fire produced a shield flash and nothing more.

First Contact: Lots of explosions, but before Picard's fire mission, no observeable damage - proably detonating on the shield as in Q Who.

Scorpion: No shield effects observed, but only 8472 and planetary debris hits were seen, so its possible they overwhelmed the shield before they were observed.

Dark Froniter/Unimatrix Zero: Diologue references to shields in both, and phaser hits observed producing a shield effect when attacking the Tactical Cube.

Endgame: Most attacks involved transphasic torpedoes, which produced no shield effect, but the reason for their effectiveness is unknown - they may bypass shields entirely in some way. Phaser hits on the sphere produced shield effects.

im not so sure about some of those. BoBW I think was more the phaser impacting on the surface of the cube. First Contact shows the Defiant laying down some pulse cannon fire and causing alot of explosive damage.

On some I agree but others not.
Either way...why the discontinuity then?

And about the 'magnetic shield' in BoBW. Why would they bother, as First Contact showed to us that Drones can survive in a Vaccum easily.

[Sionnach Glic]

Perhaps the shields are hull-hugging rather than the bubble types used by other races? That would explain why weapons seem to hit the hull.

And borg may be able to survive vacuum, but the freezing cold cant be good for them or the ship.[/quote]

[Captain Seafort]

From Best of Both Worlds

That looks to be like a conformal shield, given the lack of explosions.

First Contact - my apologies, going through TrekCore does seem to indicate a lack of shields in most cases, with the possible exception of this phaser shot

Regarding the drone ability to survive in space, we have no idea how they survive - all depictions of Cube interiors have demonstrated atmosphere, and we even get a description of optimum Borg living conditions in First Contact (2 kPa above normal (1.02 atm), 98% humidity IIRC). This demonstrates that either only some drones have EVA capability or that the capability is limited in some way, by battery capacity maybe, since we know that drones need to regenerate periodically.