test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

Weapons the Borg can not Adapt to? Can we get some?

2

Comments

  • mimey2mimey2 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Yup. Usually it's not. You have to build for it. And not all professions do it well enough even when built for it.

    Mmm...I would argue tacs and scis can pull it off easily enough. Tacs because of sheer damage buffs (especially uber-crits), while scis have lots of debuffs and CC. Engs, not quite as easily, but they also have kinetic damage stuff to fall back on.

    It isn't so much a person building a melee or kinetic-focused ground build as it is a TEAM building those kinds of builds. Sure one person running into the middle is gonna get himself Borgified time and time again, but a whole team running up to Mr. Big Bad Elite Tactical Drone is gonna rip it to absolute shreds.
    I remain empathetic to the concerns of my community, but do me a favor and lay off the god damn name calling and petty remarks. It will get you nowhere.
    I must admit, respect points to Trendy for laying down the law like that.
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,008 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    In Trekverse, continously remodulating weapons should be a thing right now, although the Borg should be able to adapt to that as well by developing a competely different kind of forcefield. Same with projectile weapons: If you take your cavemen guns and go at them they should adapt rather quickly. The reason for that is simply because the Borg concept doesn't see any form of weapon or technology to be a mean of overcoming them. At least before the writers decided the audience are idiots and rewrote them to be space zombies.

    In-game though, the adaptation mechanic is the last bastion of something resembling "challenge" in this game. And you want to bypass that? XD
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • bendalekbendalek Member Posts: 1,781 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I suggested that they should add a Melee Weapon to the Omega Rep for use as a Romulan Variant = Replica of the Sword of the Raptor Star ... Plus you could have a Strength Bonus on the Armor (for Melee attacks) a Plasma (or anti-borg) Resistance on the Shield and a 'Set Bonus" (armor + shield + weapon) of resistance to Assimilation.

    It wouldn't take much to alter the KHG set, as the Weapon already comes with a "Blade" on the front ... And the MACO could perhaps get a Vulcan Lirpa option or even just a plain old "Fix Bayonet's " command or option.
    Oh, hoho hohhhhh, Oh,, hoho, hohhhhh
    My%20STO%20Sig%20Clear_zps5etu86s1.png
  • phoeniciusphoenicius Member Posts: 762 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    matrix0 wrote: »
    Then you're probably sux at STF grounds. Melee is a must for STF grounds. Without melee, you wont probably finish some of the STF grounds.

    this is one of the dumbest posts i have ever seen, no you don't need melee, you CAN build for melee, but you don't need it.
  • purple2dreampurple2dream Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited June 2014
  • this1isavailablethis1isavailable Member Posts: 228 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    I dont know if it was changed or not but last time i checked they do not adapt to MACO/KHG sniper rifles.
  • stofskstofsk Member Posts: 1,744 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    angrytarg wrote: »
    In Trekverse, continously remodulating weapons should be a thing right now, although the Borg should be able to adapt to that as well by developing a competely different kind of forcefield. Same with projectile weapons: If you take your cavemen guns and go at them they should adapt rather quickly. The reason for that is simply because the Borg concept doesn't see any form of weapon or technology to be a mean of overcoming them. At least before the writers decided the audience are idiots and rewrote them to be space zombies
    There is evidence in the shows that Borg adaptation has a limit. EDIT I'd like to give credit to a lot of this information to a fellow by the name of Brian Young, who did a video you can find at the bottom of this post.

    -In their very first appearance in 'QWho', they beamed a single drone onboard an unidentified alien vessel to specifically gauge their technology and defensive systems. When the Borg make contact with the Enterprise they state that they aren't able to withstand them. This implies that the Borg can't adapt to anything without limit, because otherwise they wouldn't feel a need to send over reconnaisance drones, nor would they issue a warning phrased in the way they did.

    -In BoBW they come up with a plan to exploit a potential vulnerability they detected by using the deflector to channel a lot of power in a specific high-band frequency. Though the Borg countered it, they only did so because they had assimilated Picard and gained his knowledge of the preparations. It's interesting to note that the deflector attack was chosen because it would channel a lot of power in one shot, which is an important point I'll return to below.

    -A quick point to make from the same episode: when Shelby got Data to do his trick with remodulating the frequencies, she told him to do it as quickly as he can, which also implies that the Borg take time to adapt to something and can be fooled by rapid fire. It's a minor point but I think it's important one all the same.

    -From what snippets we see of it in 'Emissary', the Battle of Wolf 359 was very disorganised. While 39 ships were lost, what we see of the battle suggests they weren't all lost at once - we see pairs of ships engage the Borg, at least from Sisko's POV. The USS Melbourne and Saratoga were alone, then they were joined by a Nebula and Ambassador. All ships were observed to shoot at wildly different areas on the cube, rather than focusing their shots on specific areas. Where the rest of the Fleet was is a mystery. (My headcanon theory is that the Fleet was dispersed across the entire solar system and what we see of the Battle is the interdiction ships who are there to slow the cube down long enough for the rest of the Fleet to warp in; I like this theory, because it shows Hanson was an idiot - Riker had urged him to concentrate all his forces on Earth, and if he had done so then the Cube would have been hit by all 40 ships at once rather than pairs of ships here and there)

    -In the same episodes we see hand phasers get retuned to different frequencies, with the assessment being this is only good for a couple of shots before the Borg adapt. Again, I'll return to this point below.

    -Fast foward to the Battle of Sector 001, the cube gets intercepted again by another fleet (no idea of how many ships are in this fleet though). Enterprise arrives late to the party, but when they do they find the cube has been heavily damage but the fleet has lost organisation and the Admiral's ship has been destroyed. Picard then orders the entire fleet to do a time on target bombardment.

    This means that all the ships fire all their weapons at one particular part of the cube. A lot of people interpret this to mean that Picard was using Space Magic to figure out where the Borg were vulnerable, due to his previous connection to the Collective. However, Data said that the spot didn't appear to be any vital system, so I think another interpretation that's more reasonable is that it was the mass fire on one small spot overwhelmed the Borg's defences and let the fire power through. Remember what we saw of the Wolf 359 battle? Phaser blasts hitting all over the cube and doing neglible damage. This time we see phasers and torpedos hit one spot on the cube, and the cube was finished soon after. The deflector weapon would have worked on a similar principle, but because the Borg had assimilated Picard they prepared for it.

    -The final point I have is in the Enterprise episode 'Regeneration', we see Malcolm modify two phase pistols for use by him and the Captain. He does something interesting, instead of fooling around with remodulating the frequency, he attacks the problem from another angle: increasing the power per shot. What we see is a remarkable disparity in effectiveness when Reed and Archer are using those weapons on the borg ship vs other crew using unmodified weapons. While the borg eventually do adapt to it, it's after several minutes had passed and they had shot like a dozen borg each or something. Compare that to the 'good for one or two extra shots before adaptation' trick we see in BoBW, FC and Voyager.

    While the Borg are powerful and their ability to adapt is one of the reasons why, I don't think it's the unstoppable juggernaut many people think that it is. Although a lot of people already believe this as far as it relates to kinetic energy weapons like slugthrowers or melee (Although melee's a special case, because other than Worf, who's trained, and Data, who is both super strong and doesn't have a biology to be assimiilated, most people who get into melee scraps with Borg don't tend to fare very well). I'm just taking it a step further, and at the very least I think it's worth noting that the Borg might not be able to adapt to everything under the sun, and more writers should remember this if they write about the Borg.

    Incidently, if anyone would like to watch a video that goes into the above points in greater detail (and includes clips from all the various episodes) go here: http://www.scifights.net/SciFights.net/Star_Trek.html And select the Borg video.
  • angrytargangrytarg Member Posts: 11,008 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    @stofsk: Your points are viable and I won't fight them. However, the menace that are (or rather that IS the Borg) is their very nature. While a cube might be overcome at one point, let me quote Q here: "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.". The Enterprise demonstrates that indeed high powered attack can overcome their protection, however in the end it is not nearly enough as to stop them. And even if a fleet would be to destroy a cube, the next one would be better prepared. The very essence of the Borg ties in with the technosceptic image Rodenberry incorporated in his original work. That does not mean that in-universe forces wouldn't try to develop countermeassures, but in the end resistance is supposed to be futile.

    Now, the problem especially with Borg past TBOBW is that they have been completely changed. In "Q Who" we see that melee attacks against a drone will probably not end well as you pointed out yourself. The Borg move machine like, but the drone is clearly able to adapt to the ensign approaching before he even raises his hand. This is a behaviour we never see again with the sluggish Borg zombies we got later on where they, well, completely acted and moved zombie-ish and get sliced by blades - how are those even supposed to penetrate the harness of a drone, not the energy shields which are even supposed to shield them from space itself, but the physical armour such a drone is supposed to have. They contineously "forget" what they learned before and don't get me started on the "Queen" that suddenly needs to verbally adress individual drones, nullifying the very essence of the Borg and their motivations for assimilating Picard in the first place.

    This is why I usually stop collect evidence of the Borg behaviour and skill past TNG because what we see there is essentially a completely different entity, like a alternate reality in comparision. But none of your points is wrong or wavery. Even the Borg needs to be cautios at first and has momentable exploitable weaknesses. But it is a entity supposed to be the result of the assimilation of countless peoples' highly advanced technology and the amount of instances some human comes up with ways to kick their zombie butts just became more and more implausible as time went on.
    lFC4bt2.gif
    ^ Memory Alpha.org is not canon. It's a open wiki with arbitrary rules. Only what can be cited from an episode is. ^
    "No. Men do not roar. Women roar. Then they hurl heavy objects... and claw at you." -Worf, son of Mogh
    "A filthy, mangy beast, but in its bony breast beat the heart of a warrior" - "faithful" (...) "but ever-ready to follow the call of the wild." - Martok, about a Targ
    "That pig smelled horrid. A sweet-sour, extremely pungent odor. I showered and showered, and it took me a week to get rid of it!" - Robert Justman, appreciating Emmy-Lou
  • jodarkriderjodarkrider Member Posts: 2,097 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Meleeing the Borg is usually not a good strategy.
    I melee everything.... including the Borg. In fact... I can't imagine fighting the Borg (or anything else, really) with the pesky guns.. since the Borg don't adapt to my shoes (aka kicks) and palms (aka my punches). Melee is pretty damn good, with some know-how & proper gearing. :D
    [10:20] Your Lunge deals 4798 (2580) Physical Damage(Critical) to Tosk of Borg.

    Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator
    "bIghojchugh DaneH, Dumev pagh. bIghojqangbe'chugh, DuQaHlaH pagh."
    "Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek happiness." ~Day[9] 
    "Your fun isn't wrong." ~LaughingTrendy

    Find me on Twitterverse - @jodarkrider

  • policestate76policestate76 Member Posts: 1,424 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Because the only reason the Borg are the Borg is because they adapt. Get rid of it and you dont have the borg anymore. At least in ground. Imagine an enemy that slow that can be killed with no problems at all, just 1 shot and boom. Pff.

    Melee weapons are the way to go. The problem is, melee fights are really bad implemented in STO, and its not funny to use melee weapons at all. And against borg, you will waste more time trying to kill em with a melee weapon than anything else. And everybody knows that in STO, time is essential lol.

    I never liked melee fight. Its eally boring because the only thing you do is to push buttons and thats it. You have 2 or 3 really crappy combos and thats it. And most of the times you need to keep pursuing your targets because they run from you when they see you trying to kill em with a melee weapon. All the time lol. I dont think thats funny, trying to kill someone and in the meantime, eveybody firing at you and still you didnt kill your first target because hes running away from you lol.

    Melee weapons are great in 1v1, and agains bosses or enemies that will not run away most of the times. In any other situation, melee weapons are a waste. And dont even think on giving your away team melee weapons. Dont make that mistake.
  • chiyoumikuchiyoumiku Member Posts: 1,028 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Get a melee weapon. Enjoy. That's why I always keep an anti-borg weapon and bat'leth on my Klink. it also helps to activate the trait that slows remodulation down.
    Sekhmet_Banner.jpg
    Defending The Galaxy By Breaking One Starfleet Regulation After The Next.
  • daan2006daan2006 Member Posts: 5,346 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    imod FTW :)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    swimwear off risa not fixed
    system Lord Baal is dead
    macronius wrote: »
    This! Their ability to outdo their own failures is quite impressive. If only this power could be harnessed for good.
  • policestate76policestate76 Member Posts: 1,424 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    chiyoumiku wrote: »
    Get a melee weapon. Enjoy. That's why I always keep an anti-borg weapon and bat'leth on my Klink. it also helps to activate the trait that slows remodulation down.

    Most people dont enjoy with melee weapons lol.

    In fact, once they realize that (tactical toons, mostly) with a good romulan plasma pulsewave they can kill groups of borgs in 2 shots, and most of the times, the borg cant even have time to adapt, they never use a melee weapon again lol.

    And that trait is gained in the reputation system, not for accolades or something else. Unless things changed after season 9.
  • snoggymack22snoggymack22 Member Posts: 7,084 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    Melee is pretty damn good, with some know-how & proper gearing. :D

    So what you're saying is you built your toon to melee with specific skill and gear selections?

    Cool.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • jodarkriderjodarkrider Member Posts: 2,097 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    So what you're saying is you built your toon to melee with specific skill and gear selections?

    Cool.
    You can keep your sarcasm.. frankly, melee is fun & I personally would not shoot a gun if they paid to me for it - because I get too much kick from well.. kicking stuff around. (I'm not talking about melee weapons btw, they are slow and yeah, kinda dull) & ridiculously efficient too. Sure, this is only viable for Tactical officers, but still. OP asked for something the Borg don't adapt to. Well, they surely don't adapt to close combat & they die horribly quick too to my delight...
    [10:20] Your Lunge deals 4798 (2580) Physical Damage(Critical) to Tosk of Borg.

    Star Trek Online Volunteer Community Moderator
    "bIghojchugh DaneH, Dumev pagh. bIghojqangbe'chugh, DuQaHlaH pagh."
    "Learn lots. Don't judge. Laugh for no reason. Be nice. Seek happiness." ~Day[9] 
    "Your fun isn't wrong." ~LaughingTrendy

    Find me on Twitterverse - @jodarkrider

  • theraven2378theraven2378 Member Posts: 6,015 Arc User
    edited June 2014
    My standard load out for dealing with Borg is the adapted MACO set and a tetryon sniper rifle.

    The sniper is there for one job, shield stripping and knocking back the Borg, the adapted MACO pulsewave is great for if the Borg get too close and the underslung grenade launcher is a very useful as a aoe weapon
    NMXb2ph.png
      "The meaning of victory is not to merely defeat your enemy but to destroy him, to completely eradicate him from living memory, to leave no remnant of his endeavours, to crush utterly his achievement and remove from all record his every trace of existence. From that defeat no enemy can ever recover. That is the meaning of victory."
      -Lord Commander Solar Macharius
    • lystentlystent Member Posts: 1,019
      edited June 2014
      Do borg adapt after X amount of hits, or X amount of time?
    • erei1erei1 Member Posts: 4,081 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      lystent wrote: »
      Do borg adapt after X amount of hits, or X amount of time?
      Hits. Which make high ROF/slow damage weapon like minigun near useless. Even with the trait, they adapt incredibly fast.
      [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    • foundrelicfoundrelic Member Posts: 1,380 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      jellico1 wrote: »
      The borg should adapt to space weapons as well

      just saying



      Posted three posts up.

      foundrelic wrote: »
      The Borg DO adapt to Space weapons.

      Rather they would if the ships weapons weren't automatically remodulating CONSTANTLY.


      ^


      It was actually stated in one of the info blurbs on the loading screens that ship energy weapons remodulate constantly to prevent Borg adaptation.
    • guidry123guidry123 Member Posts: 4 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      It would be nice to have some weps that the borg can not adapt to. but at the same time this game has made the borg way easyier then they should be already.
    • baelogventurebaelogventure Member Posts: 1,002 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      In all seriousness, slower firing, higher damage weapons like the Pulse Wave, Sniper Rifle, or Blast Assault work best when dealing with the Borg, since they deal more damage per shot.

      Unfortunately the Romulan Flamethrower is almost useless, since like a Minigun or Full Auto Rifle, they adapt extremely quickly.

      Anything that deals Kinetic damage, such as Transphasic Bomb, Chroniton Mines, Quantum Mortar, Sonic Pulse, Photon Grenade, All Melee and Melee Weapons (aside from the Melee Plasma weapons, which don't have shield penetration and deal Plasma damage) cannot be adapted to.
    • age03age03 Member Posts: 1,664 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      Use a sword as you can get one or would like a machine gun.Engineers are your friends in ground combat vs the borg.
      [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]Age StarTrek-Gamers Administrator
      USS WARRIOR NCC 1720 Commanding Officer
      Star Trek Gamers
    • defalusdefalus Member Posts: 4 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      It's got to the stage that players have become so powerful we don't need better weapons, what we have work very well with the right spec and skills.

      There's nothing funnier to me than watching people melee one borg at a time... hack, slash, hack, slash... meanwhile a well placed mine barrier/orbital chasing beam from an engy or buffed grenades and pulsewave on a tac pretty much take out entire mobs and leave melee users looking for the next one target they can go chop up.

      But, whatever floats your boat, it's a game and the important thing is you have fun doing what you do. ;)

      Oh and if you're a sci... well... either be a healer or invest in some phasic rift doffs. :D:P

      Also I do have a melee alt, works very very well with double expose doff and melee crit doffs and the new kit combo thing letting me use overwatch, lunge, rally cry, photon nade and ambush... wowzers. But thanks to power creep, taking out mobs at a time is just so much more efficient than hack one at a time.
      __________________________________________________
    • lystentlystent Member Posts: 1,019
      edited June 2014
      erei1 wrote: »
      Hits. Which make high ROF/slow damage weapon like minigun near useless. Even with the trait, they adapt incredibly fast.

      Ok, in that case, weapons like blast assault, and pulse waves would be my choice vs borg.

      Edit: Like what baelogventure said.
    • iconiansiconians Member Posts: 6,987 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      angrytarg wrote: »
      While a cube might be overcome at one point, let me quote Q here

      Using something Q said as an example over whether something should be taken at face value is similar to taking anything Weyoun said at face value.

      Q brought the Enterprise to the Borg to scare Picard and the rest of the crew. That was it. That was the entire purpose of his action -- to invoke fear, doubt, and uncertainty.

      So, to me it makes perfect sense he said those things to invoke that emotion. Embellish, exaggerate, or outright lie? That is textbook Q right there.

      Of course he's not going to spill any beans on how Starfleet could overcome the Borg in the future, that would spoil the entire plot of first contact with the Borg to begin with.
      ExtxpTp.jpg
    • mynameisnommynameisnom Member Posts: 639 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      Still wondering how borg adapt to my ferengi whip. Electricity is a former of energy but not refined...
      [SIGPIC]http://s286.photobucket.com/user/parasite_12000/media/jub_zps9318ae82.jpg.html[/SIGPIC]
      stoutes wrote: »
      Those fish are much like their masters, filthy backstabbers... All battlecloaked fish, waiting for the right moment...
      The boss being a gigantic Winter Epohh Researcher. As you lay waste to the Epohh Horde, she can occasionally cry out things like, "Didn't you want an Epohh friend?"
    • donowickdonowick Member Posts: 269 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      Use the maco pulsewave they adapt slow to that. Sometimes I can do a STF with it and never need to remodulate it. :)
    • lystentlystent Member Posts: 1,019
      edited June 2014
      Still wondering how borg adapt to my ferengi whip. Electricity is a former of energy but not refined...

      It is part energy weapon, I think borg also adapt to nanopulse weapons too.
    • thunderfoot#5163 thunderfoot Member Posts: 4,545 Arc User
      edited June 2014
      The Borg can and do adapt to the nanopulse bladed weapons. Which are energy based after all. You can still get good shield penetration however. Which is always a good thing against the Collective. My Klink Away Team is currently fully equipped with MK XII Honor Guard gear. With five grenade launchers, I no longer have to care whether or not the Borg adapt.
      A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
    • macroniusmacronius Member Posts: 2,526
      edited June 2014
      If anything Borg vessels should adapt to our energy weapons. Give the Borg ships the ability to adapt to the highest DPS player's energy type (take that min-maxers) and make it not count toward their DPS meters either. Make it a 30 second duration with a 2 minute cooldown.

      Make the Borg assimilate 1 player ship ... think super sensor scramble where you can't tell you are shooting at your friends. "Bye bye Hathaway ..."

      Heck we have adaptive fleet shields ... and the borg have nothing that compares to player's power creep.
      "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

      - Judge Aaron Satie
    Sign In or Register to comment.