In "Endgame", we finally learn how the Borg's tranwarp network works: there are 6 "hubs" that create thousands of artificial wormholes called "transwarp conduits" that can be accessed from either side.
On the other hand, in "Dark Frontier" it was established that each borg vessel carries a "transwarp coil" that enables it to travel at transwarp speeds. A coil could even be installed on Voyager.
Isn't that contradictory?
Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
For routes that are travelled a lot they'll use a fixed conduit and for other destinations they'll use the ships own transwarp capability.
I see no problem with using both systems.
Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :
I was thinking about this too... It seems to me that the transwarp used in "Endgame" was similar (if not identical, ignoring the difference in special effects) to the transwarp used way back in "Descent."
Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :
And what ever happened to the Enterprise-D's trick of entering a transwarp conduit seen in "Descent"? Did the Borg adapt again?
Posted by TheF0rce (Member # 533) on :
when voyager visited icheb's home planet they had a transwarp conduit in their system.
Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
I always asumed the Borg adapted to the Dauntless method of entering Transwarp (/Slipstream)... It fits if you look at the order of the episodes.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
The Borg have at least three different kinds of transwarp drive, each one faster than the last. The first doesn't look much different than normal warp. The cube in "Scorpion" was dragging Voyager across Borg space at a transwarp velocity. (The Voth had this sort of transwarp too, it would seem. Fast, but not incredibly so.) Then you've got the one-use transwarp conduit from "Dark Frontier" and elsewhere, which is much faster than the first. And then you've got the permenent transwarp conduits from "Descent" and now "Endgame." They seem to be the fastest of all.
Posted by NightWing (Member # 4) on :
Uhm, no, the Borg were not dragging Voyager along at transwarp. When Voyager was released they could match the speed of the Cube. In fact I believe they asked to be released because they could match the Cube's speed.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
I suppose I didn't phrase that quite right. Janeway, in her conversation with the Borg, ended up with the plan that they'd get free passage to the other end of Borg space in return for developing the nanotech weapon. This was a trip that would take, what...ten years or so for Voyager to make? But the cube was stated as being capable of doing it in just a few days. Much faster than warp 9, but slower than either flavor of conduit.
Posted by BlueElectron (Member # 281) on :
Okey, this is my take on the issue:
Borg cubes have transwarp coils that make them go a lot faster then conventional warp, however, over a great distance, it still takes time for a cube to travel.
Transwarp hub on the other hand, generate a "wormhole" like passage that allow ships to travel almost instantenously over great, great distance.
Now, why didn't that send cubes through the hub to assimilate Federation?
Maybe because size the the "wormhole" generated limited the number of ships traveling through it per passage way?
Maybe because the Borg has interest elsewhere, possibly outside of our galaxy and their forces are spread too thin (like the Centuries in the old day)?
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
BE: Well, Dark Frontier implied that "transwarp coils" do indeed result in conduits rather than Vothesque warp-drive plus. But I'm with Sol in that these conduits are temporary and/or not as fast as transwarp conduits that tend to be of a more fixed nature.
Perhaps permanent transwarp conduits have to be "laid" a la undersea cables by a ship moving in a more conventional manner? The one to Earth might have been laid by the cubes from TBoBW or ST:FC.
[ May 28, 2001: Message edited by: The_Tom ]
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
This also might explain how some of the crew of the USS Roosevelt made it to the Delta Quadrant after being assimilated. They were stuffed onto a smaller ship after Wolf 359 and sent back to the rest of the Collective. Why? To ensure that some hard copies with data on the Federation and the Alpha Quadrant in general would survive should the unthinkable happen and the cube be destroyed, perhaps.
Posted by X5-453 (Member # 71) on :
Or maybe Borg transporters have a really long range... Posted by Davok (Member # 143) on :
quote:Now, why didn't that send cubes through the hub to assimilate Federation?
Maybe because size the the "wormhole" generated limited the number of ships traveling through it per passage way?
IIRC, they never sent more than one ship to assimilate Earth/the Federation. So this shouldn't have been a problem. But I never understood why both times -- in BOBW & ST:FC -- there was only one cube which in addition didn't seem to be travelling much faster than the Fed ships. Remember, the E-D didn't have big problems in chasing the cube (at least as long as their deflector worked).
Posted by Matrix (Member # 376) on :
I'm assuming for the missions that don't require alot of resources such as jumping 20,000 light years to the Federation or jumping inbetween systems then they use the transwarp coils but if they need to massively invade a race at over 40,000 light years then they have to use the transwarp hub.
Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :
Well, the Borg are all about efficiency, so I doubt they'd ever go faster or send more ships than they absolutely would have to. I mean, what was the hurry for TBoBW cube? Nothing could catch it, and even if something did it couldn't inflict much damage at all. Why not take its time and learn as much as possible about Federation tactics and technology so as to make the final assault as effective as possible?
