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This is some text I wrote for my upcoming "Borg technology briefing" page. I welcome any critiques.
The most common vessel in use by the Borg is the cube. Its unwieldy appearance belies the threat this ship represents. It has heralded the end of thousands of cultures across the galaxy. The Borg cube is a model of efficiency, a driving motive behind the actions of the Collective. Its design is almost completely decentralized, with no traditional sections such as engineering or life support. Such tasks are carried out throughout the entire vessel. Such a design means that the ship can have up to seventy-eight percent of its structure destroyed before becoming nonoperational.
The cube is capable of accelerations at sublight speeds that should, according to Starfleet simulations, tear the ship apart. How the Borg are able to overcome such inertial difficulties is unknown, though it is presumed they use something similar to the IDF/SIF systems aboard a starship, only vastly more powerful. It is also unknown how Borg vessels move at all at sublight speeds, as there are no impulse engines, and no detectable indications of alternate means of propulsion.
For warp speeds, Borg vessels use a variety of different methods. The cube, like other Borg vessels, has no warp nacelles. Its warp field is generated from deep within the ship, forming a powerful field that is very easy to manipulate. Borg ships usually travel at speeds in the upper transwarp domain; warp 9.99+. They also have access to at least two other forms of transwarp drive. The first is not a drive at all, but an artificial wormhole called a transwarp conduit. Any vessel can travel through one, assuming it can decode the "lock" placed on the endpoints. The endpoints are sealed off spatially, and are opened by a tachyon beam at the appropriate frequency. It is presumed that the Borg create these conduits at certain strategic points throughout space. However, the actual construction process has never been witnessed. The other form of transwarp is similar, but it requires a special warp coil, or transwarp coil. The conduit is then created on the spot. It is unknown whether this creates true wormhole phenomena, or whether the wormhole-like effects (sensors register a tunnel through space-time) are a product of accessing such deep subspace domains.
------------------ "Don't call me at work again. Oh no, the boss still hates me. I'm just tired and I don't love you anymore, and there's a restaurant we should check out where the other nightmare people like to go...I mean nice people, baby wait, I didn't mean to say nightmare." -- They Might Be Giants
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See this thread for details into my transwarp interpretation.
------------------ "Don't call me at work again. Oh no, the boss still hates me. I'm just tired and I don't love you anymore, and there's a restaurant we should check out where the other nightmare people like to go...I mean nice people, baby wait, I didn't mean to say nightmare." -- They Might Be Giants
Jim Phelps
watches Voyager AFTER 51030
Member # 102
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BTW, it has been pointed out to me that in "Dark Frontier", somebody says that the cube is roughly 28 cubic kilometers in volume, which means a little over 3km on a side.
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Cargile, is your warp stuff online somewhere? Your explanations are more detailed than mine. I'd like to link to them once I get this put together.
------------------ "Don't call me at work again. Oh no, the boss still hates me. I'm just tired and I don't love you anymore, and there's a restaurant we should check out where the other nightmare people like to go...I mean nice people, baby wait, I didn't mean to say nightmare." -- They Might Be Giants
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*Mutters* You people are nuts....almonds to be exact.
------------------ there's a bird in the chimney,and a stone in my bed when the road's washed out,they pass the bottle around and wait in the arms,of the cold cold ground
------------------ Garak: "I do apologize. You must be incensed. In fact, if I were in your shoes, I'd... grab a bottle of champagne and shoot me." (DS9: "Our Man Bashir")