Given the multiple defeats at the hands of the Federation, why only one Borg Cube?

Question

Given that the Federation defeats the Borg in every encounter they have, why do the Borg always only send one cube to challenge the Federation? They're pretty smart, you'd think they'd figure it out after the Best of Both Worlds arc that the Federation wasn't to be trifled with and send more than one cube in First Contact. Is there ever an explanation given for why they don't do this?

Answer 1

This gives me a pretty good idea, especially the first sentence.

In terms of offense and defense, a Borg cube is a fleet in and of itself. Common capabilities of cubes include high warp (transwarp) capabilities, self-regeneration and multiple redundant systems, rapid adaptability to almost any assault (though not complete immunity, in Star Trek: First Contact it's shown that sufficient firepower from Federation ships could still destroy a Borg Cube after it adapted to their weapons), and various beam (tractor beams and cutting beams) and missile weapons. A single Borg cube has, on multiple occasions, taken on entire Federation fleets and held its own. Cubes have been commonly known to carry sphere ships in cavities covered by large slide-away hatches in the outermost layers.

I think it's hard to argue with that and that's a pretty rational explanation. Remember, the Borg won at Wolf 359 (admittedly, with Locutus/Picard's help).

Answer 2

I'm sorry? In what way were the Borg not successful? They sent one cube, it broke through all of the Federation's defenses, reached earth, dropped its payload and converted the entire planet into a Borg hive many years in the past.

It was only via a fluke that the Enterprise was able to follow them and stop them. And they only just barely managed that.

They even took their queen with them in order to temporally duplicate her. Sounds like a pretty sound plan to me.

The only problem I see is that they waited to the last minute to travel back in time, if they had done so before reaching Federation space, they would have defeated them before they existed. But that would have made a pretty crap movie.

Answer 3

The Borg aren't as concerned about immediate results as humans. The Collective marches on toward assimilation of all life forms, but it has no desire to do so at any particular pace.

There is no individual ego pushing to get it done in one person's lifetime. There is no one to get impatient or anxious. The Borg continue to do what they do, confident that their assimilation of the Federation will succeed. Maybe not this time, but they will succeed. And of course, losing ships and lives along the way is of no consequence to the Collective.

Answer 4

I could only speculate, but their mathematical predictions probably tell them they only need one cube to defeat anything Starfleet could throw at them, and can't take into account the human factor/hero factor

Answer 5

I believe that not a single episode or movie explains this (excuse for poor) strategy, but the corpus around the Borg, up to Voyager, provides some clues to that.

I believe distance is mostly to blame. Before Voyager came out, very little was established of transwarp conduits, and so the general plotlines followed along the idea that Borg cubes came out of the depths of the Delta Quadrant, and thus took a generally long time to get reach the Earth.

Plus, plot-wise, defeating a single Borg cube was hard enough, sending in dozens on the second round only to have our heroes beat them (for the sole purpose of them having to win in the end :P) would seem far fetched.

Other works of sci-fi have used similar devices where a first conquest task force is sent ahead of a larger colonization one.

SUPPLEMENTAL:

There's also another factor: The Borg collective is a wide ranging "empire" of sorts. Borg space spans thousands of light years. They're potentially stretching their resources to the limit. Hence, perhaps they can only afford to send one ship at a time.

Answer 6

Sometimes they send two-in-one ... the cube and the sphere.

Answer 7

So you're looking for a "in-Universe" answer, not a "because it fits the story" answer. In Voyager at various points groups of cubes are observed, a large number against Species 8472 and a larger number guarding their hubs. Even in the "home space" area of the Borg multiple cubes are rare, so it seems reasonable that it takes a lot of resources to construct & man a new Cube. Considering the defeats the Borg have suffered at the hands of the Federation(really at the hands of just 2 particular starships) perhaps the Borg have decided that they are too powerful to engage with at the moment, and have devoted their resources to consolidating their power-base and figuring out how to beat those pesky Enterprise/Voyager captains. That is the strong implication of the finale of Voyager, where the Borg Queen is obsessed with just getting Janeway.

Answer 8

The Borg are obsessed with efficiency and in "Endgame" it is revealed that the trans-warp network the Borg have contains only exit apertures in the Alpha quadrant. Assembling an armada to shatter the Federation would be stupid because it would not be practical to get needed drones/ships/general supplies back to the collective heartland in the Delta quadrant using ship-borne trans-warp drives; the trip would take months/years and the Borg would likely take losses along the way back. The Borg are also aware that the Alpha quadrant is not likely to have technologies that the Borg can assimilate to help them achieve a more desirable level of logistical organization. Furthermore, if a large Borg presence near earth became known to the major powers of the Alpha quadrant, the isolated Borg fleet would almost certainly be surrounded and obliterated by a large combined force of ships from the Klingon, Romulan, Cardassian, and other nations. The Alpha quadrant powers would also probably assemble massive a fleet to guard the trans-warp aperture from future attacks. This whole scheme would be a disaster for the Borg. That's why they never sent more ships. The likelihood is the Borg will keep conquering in an outward style from their home in the Delta Quadrant until the Borg "border" the Federation. Then it would be much easier for them to conquer the Federation and the Alpha quadrant.

The one cube was most likely sent in an effort to destabilize the Federation. No doubt the Borg probably do that to other peoples around the galaxy before they reach them with a more sustainable, larger force, just as I explained up there. They would probably keep sending ships to destabilize the Alpha quadrant, little by little, before they assaulted them.

Sabotage via trans-warp network. Not overthrow.

Answer 9

Also, why did they attacks the other races in the Alpha quadrant, Klingons, Romalans, etc.. to see if that would be easier.