and 2) If the Borg can adapt to the futuristic Phasers, why doesn't the crew keep old fashioned firearms on hand to fight the Borg? Was this ever explained in the series?
Any response is appreciated. To be clear, this is something I am genuinely curious about and I am not bringing this up to "hate" on the series. Just an honest question. Thanks again.
Because there's no reason to think that they wouldn't adapt to those, too. Borg adapt to stuff by creating forcefield defences that stop beams. It typically takes them several shots to adapt and make your weapon useless. Force fields can stop bullets just as easily, so after a few drones are killed by your old fashioned projectile weapon, they'd adapt to those too - and since you can't change the frequency or modulation of a bullet, that would be that.
Hope that helps.
On
Stargate: Universe, the Destiny faced an overwhelming enemy, and one theory about shields was discussed which makes a lot of sense... And was actually hinted at during TNG's "Best of Both Worlds" at the end of Star Trek: Generations.
Starship shields operate on a rotating frequency that allows the ship to be protected from multiple types of
energy attacks at the same time.
However, because the frequency is not set at a constant setting, sometimes it is on the wrong setting at the moment a weapon is fired. When this happens, some of the energy makes it through and damages, or drains the shield. After enough hits, the shield can become inoperable...
IF, you could know the exact frequency of the weapons that are being fired at the ships, you could tune the shields to match the weapons, and it would be like they were not firing any weapons at you at all.
The problem is, if you set the shields to a set frequency, then, any other type of weapon that is fired will not be stopped, and it will be like the shields are not being used.
With most aliens, the weapon frequency is not known.
The BORG are able to analyze weapons fire, and determine the frequency that is being used, and then they calibrate their shields to match.
This is why the "Enterprise D", kept rotating their weapons frequency... So the Borg could not adapt...
As for Bullets, and Klingon Weapons... They do not have "frequencies" that the Borg can adapt to, and they always work. But they are mostly only effective in hand-to-hand combat. Because at the very least, Borg drones have primitive shields.
As for Borg Ships, Their shielding at times can be more questionable... Perhaps Borg Ships have more powerful shields or other technology to stop other types of weapons like Nuclear Weapons or "cannonballs". But, Borg ships are usually so massive, that they can take damage to much of their ship, and then quickly repair it.
But, there have been a few cases where Borg Ships were destroyed in one attack from massive weapons, like from Species 8472, and so on...
Unfortunately, Federation Starships are not quite so powerful. Even the USS Defiant & the Enterprise E can't destroy a Borg vessel all on their own.
And if the Borg assimilate any Federation Officers that have knowledge about current federation weapons and technology, that can be instantly used to adapt their defences.
Physical Object "attacks" are more difficult to explain...
Physical objects such as such as small Asteroids, and enemy shuttlecraft, usually bounce off, shields.
But, shuttlecraft & photon torpedos have shields themselves... and they have to be tuned to match the shield frequency of the ship, in order for them to get through... However, this should be extremely difficult for an enemy to do...
I think in Star Trek: Generations, the writer made an error. The Enterprise D had a fixed shield frequency instead of a rotating one. This should have allowed for most weapons to damage the ship. The Duras Sisters should have had no need to Spy on Geordi... But then using a different method to destroy the Enterprise D, probably would not have been very realistic to audiences.
I Hope THAT helps.
