General Empire vs Borg musings

[Solauren]

I've often wondered if the 'modern' Queen of the Borg is the problem.

It's heavily implied she's either one of several Queens that are currently active, or just the current Queen.

I mean, the Borg have wiped out space empires before, in some cases with superior technical capabilities to the Federation. So why not the Federation?

My thinking it's just the current Queen. She can't bring herself to take the Federation apart, because a former boyfriend (Locutus of Borg) likes them. So instead, she just dicks around with them. Kinda of like someone dating an old boyfriends friends to have a connection to them still.

Eventually, she'll either pull her head out of her robotic ass and finally 'end things' with her ex (by going all out against the Federation and it's allies and assimilating them all), decide not to bother with them anymore and leave them alone for a while, or the Borg Hivemind will decide she's no longer effective and replace her.

If that happens, the Borg could end up under Queen that wants to see the Federation eliminated, and they could face a full invasion by hundreds of cubes.

[Solauren]

... was editing when I got cut off....

By the same token, for all we know, faced with the Empire, the Borg MIGHT change tactics.

They could decide that their best approach to figuring out Star Wars/Imperial tech is to enter a backwater system under Cloak (possibly a Phase Cloak), fly over a space port, and then steal ships to assimilate/reverse engineer while they are still in their landing bay.

Imagine if the Borg transwarped over Tattooine or a similiar backwater while the Imperial warships were not around, and beamed up a bunch of landed and empty (and armed) smuggler and pirate ships. Some of those things are heavily armed, and generally have pretty good hyperdrives (i.e the Millenium Falcon, Slave I). If they are really lucky, and hit a bunch of backwaters, they might even be able to locate and capture a small warship this way.

They pick those ships up and take off with them, and now they can study and assimilate the tech at their leisure.

And if they find an old supply depot or 'Clone Wars suplus depot' or Confederacy ship graveyard.....

Eventually, they could reverse engineer they tech, upgrade all their ships, and then blitzkrieg through the Empire. (The Borg are supposed to have thousands of cubes, possibly more. You upgrade them all with Star wars level firepower, and suddenly, they are on even military terms with the Empire)

And all the warning the Empire would have is smuggler ships were apparently stolen. And that's if the smugglers reported their ships stolen, instead of going to shot up a rival for stealing their ship.

Of course, that would be a change of tactics....

[Thanas]

(Sorry for multi-posting)
>ou say 'magically' when the 'how' and the requirements are described repeatedly. I don't think you're arguing in good faith, and are basing it more on preconceived notions of which one you think is on a higher 'level' than thinking about how machine tools work, which doesn't even imply a no-limits fallacy. Repeating the same assumptions and metaphor in response to explanation isn't a solid argument.

Neither is you constantly repeating yourself. SW tech is on a completely different level than Borg tech, one they cannot just understand at all.

A not remotely comparable situation. Replicators are precision industrial tools that can make designer items on the microscopic levels, and similarly Borg nanites construct large scale gear on the fly using nano construction.

And yet there is no evidence that they can produce higher-quality material simply because we do not see them using it. In fact, Borg materials seem to be the high-end they can produce.

A precision 3d printer capable of working in an array of materials could be used to replicate the tools to make any modern industrial machine.

Not if the materials are above the level of the industrial power in question in quality. That is why I keep harping on the Roman example because that is pretty much the tech disparity we are using here. Now you can give a Roman blacksmith all the modern books in the world and you can even give him a modern 3d printer - he is still not going to turn out modern battle tanks.

That is also why your factory example is badly borne. Yes, maybe, if you give him a year he can turn out a modern assembly line. Maybe. That still is not going to help you at all considering your production is still lagging behind that of any modern nation and you have limited supplies.

I would also dispute that the Borg have all the necessary metals to build SW-grade ships. After all, there are some substances only found on some specific planets, planets which the Borg would not have easy access too.

[Shroom Man 777]

Thanas... "one they cannot just understand at all" is a very blanket assumption. Why wouldn't they understand it if they assimilate working pieces of tech? Anyway, this is why the Borg are doing a fishing expedition, they'll assimilate low-key targets until they get what they'll need to understand what they need to understand...

We've seen Borg do time travel and universe-hopping so I think they're not total dunces. FFS.

Of course, how fast they'll pick things up and actualize it, how fast they can reverse-engineer the SW fabrication tech they can find and translate it to indigenous-built designs is up to the question and not a fiat accompli as others purport...

[FaxModem1]

Thanas, what happens when they assimilate a bunch of smugglers, jawas, mechanics, Hutts, and/or engineers when they scoop up Mos Eisley? Or scoop up a mining colony full of miners and mechanics? Or a minor farming colony on some backwater full of droid mechanics and human colonists? The knowledge in their head will become part of the collective. The 'Roman level' knowledge will no longer be Roman level, but now 20th century. They will also have access to whatever machinery is on one of those colonies.

If they encounter a pirate fleet or a squadron of Star Destroyers their first time out, yeah, they're boned, but they will have a lot of opportunities to learn things via the same way they did in "The Neutral Zone", scoop up a colony, take everything of value from the planet, and move on.

So, using your analogy, if the "Romans" received full courses in modern mechanics and engineering, as well as industrial facilities, could they then build a tank and the infrastructure to build that tank?

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, scooping up some backwater crime-infested dirt hole will help, but it probably won't bring them up to Imperial-grade technical knowledge, and once cities start disappearing, then pretty soon word is going to get back to the local sector Moff or admiral, and unless they are seriously incompetent, they're going to send naval forces to investigate.

[FaxModem1]

Well, scooping up some backwater crime-infested dirt hole will help, but it probably won't bring them up to Imperial-grade technical knowledge, and once cities start disappearing, then pretty soon word is going to get back to the local sector Moff or admiral, and unless they are seriously incompetent, they're going to send naval forces to investigate.

Haven't you watched Rebels? Incompetence and Imperial forces go hand in hand.

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, I suppose that's somewhat plausible for an authoritarian regime that faces no existential threat or major foe initially, and likely tends to promote people more based on nepotism, ass-kissing ability, or ideological loyalty than merit.

With a few competent units kept around (like Death Squadron/the 501st.) to deal with the occasional problem beyond bullying some local civilians or arresting some petty criminals.

[Q99]

EU at least, we know A-Wings were constructed in a variety of facilities all over the galaxy, and were noted as being 'hand assembled' at underground facilities (Bacta War novel), as well as being part of why they had maintenance problems (less standardization).

They also built all the X-wings because they're the only ones with the design. I'm not sure when they first built their own capships (well, not counting Mon Calamari which had it's own full sized shipyards as good as anybody's, and the Borg aren't assimilating Dac right off!), but making small craft was definitely well within rebel capabilities even a few years before Yavin (every X-wing there being rebellion built after all).

Jakku, total junk place but they were able to scavenge parts together into useful stuff. Tatooine, you could buy a high-end hyperdrive and have it installed or have a kid hand-build build a druid from the ground up.

Well, scooping up some backwater crime-infested dirt hole will help, but it probably won't bring them up to Imperial-grade technical knowledge, and once cities start disappearing, then pretty soon word is going to get back to the local sector Moff or admiral, and unless they are seriously incompetent, they're going to send naval forces to investigate.

It's not like they need to be up to top-of-the-line before the main conflict starts. If they're up to a level of, say, 80 year old SW tech (or better yet, Clone Wars tech), before they need to take on their first Star Destroyer, then they're well within fighting range and close enough that they can upgrade the rest and close the gap when they have better samples.

Also, yea, some of 'em are kinda incompetent ^^ Especially in the frontier regions we're talking about hitting, Death Squadron won't be the ones called in.

Neither is you constantly repeating yourself. SW tech is on a completely different level than Borg tech, one they cannot just understand at all.

That is an assertion right there, not evidence or argument. Yes, I've repeated points, but because you've not been responded to my replies with arguments til now, you're just brushing them off and repeating your base statement without elaboration or specifics, and even now you seem to be missing the 'they assimilate SWs engineers' part.

They would be assimilating living people with technology knowledge. If Star Wars people understand the Star Wars tech, and they actually have the live SW people, how do they not understand it despite literally having people who understand SW tech as well as SW people because they are SW people with a subspace radio installed in their head?

In the Roman analogy, it's like a roman forge with modern engineers of a variety of specialties. With some modern pieces of equipment and tools to assist as well. And probably some small modern production facilities and people who can build some devices on their own with less.

We went from Roman Forges to modern day tech in real life. That is how progress happened, through the variety of steps in between. If the people who worked on the Roman forges were actually incapable of learning better technology rather than simply ignorant and in need of passing through intermediate steps, we'd still be on Roman technology.

Another area where the roman forge analogy fails is this 'roman forge' has really high machine tolerances and can make the next stage in the chain in literally seconds. It's more like "What if a roman forge had the precision capability of modern industrial machinery, it just lacked the ability to reach the temperatures and high pressures some of them can? And using this forge to make superior modern forges is allowed, and there's not much of a time constraint to do so either."

And yet there is no evidence that they can produce higher-quality material simply because we do not see them using it. In fact, Borg materials seem to be the high-end they can produce.

With their current knowledge, yes. They are gaining knowledge of how to produce, changing this aspect. Your claim is that they are physically incapable of making stuff they don't currently have, or mentally incapable?

The first is an absurd assumption of limit that'd assume no-one could ever make something they didn't already have, and overlooks how machinery and technology actually works, and also overlooks that they improve their capacity during the show.

The second, assumes they cannot learn, which is also demonstrated wrong as we see them do that on-screen.

There's at least one on-screen example of the Borg gaining capabilities far beyond their normal in both material and technology- When 7's Borg nanites used 29th century technology from the Doctor's holoemitters to create a drone, One, who's capacities dwarfed their normal, made of poly-deutonic alloy (which came from the 29th century tech). If their modern stuff was a hard limit, that wouldn't be possible, but instead it managed to make a super-advanced unit out of an alloy that modern Borg don't have with technological capabilities they lack- and in the end One chose to die on the basis that if the collective got ahold of him they would gain that technology as well and they'd destroy Voyager to get him even with his aid.

In short, you're assuming a limit of current knowledge equals a hard, unbreakable absolute limit, and you've provided nothing to support this, even though advancing their technology by picking up others is literally their schtick. Even your roman analogy doesn't support this. This is not something to naturally assume is a hard limit even for a race that wasn't specifically known for stealing technology.

Not if the materials are above the level of the industrial power in question in quality. That is why I keep harping on the Roman example because that is pretty much the tech disparity we are using here. Now you can give a Roman blacksmith all the modern books in the world and you can even give him a modern 3d printer - he is still not going to turn out modern battle tanks.

I question and disagree with the level of gap you assume. Star Wars stuff has higher yields, but it's forcefields, anti-grav, intertial dampers, plasma weapons.. all stuff the Borg have familiarity with at lower levels, only the Hyperdrive itself is something that comes to mind that the Borg may not know the basic principles of straight off.

And as others and myself have mentioned, it's not a Roman blacksmith, it's modern engineers with that stuff. Because the Borg are literally assimilating people. If you assimilate people who know how to do something and what they used to do it, how can you not know how to do it? It is literally everything that SWs uses to make SW tech, plus some replicators and nanites.

[NecronLord]

When you think back to The Neutral Zone and look at the borg's first contact tactics of scooping up remote colonies and making sure no survivors remain, you get a better idea of how they could be effective.

The Star Wars galaxy is rich with pacifist planets such as Naboo, Alderaan and Mandalore - though in the Imperial era this is much reduced - from which people could be abducted.

Their ideal target is somewhere with strong academic credentials.

Consider how much Seven of Nine knows of hard science and engineering compared to when she was captured and it's clear that once they have people they transfer their knowledge into other drones.

Scoop up enough star wars engineers and you have a sound understanding of everything known to the Royal University of Naboo.

Then it's 'modern engineers with roman infrastructure,' not 'romans trying to understand modern kit,' just as described.

[NecronLord]

Well, I suppose that's somewhat plausible for an authoritarian regime that faces no existential threat or major foe initially, and likely tends to promote people more based on nepotism, ass-kissing ability, or ideological loyalty than merit.

With a few competent units kept around (like Death Squadron/the 501st.) to deal with the occasional problem beyond bullying some local civilians or arresting some petty criminals.

This is also a habit of authoritarian regimes under existential threat.

I also doubt the quality of Death Squadron. It had an incompetent commander for at least some time - either Vader keeps killing quality officers - which can't be good for its efficiency, or he keeps getting shit officers.

[NecronLord]

Well, scooping up some backwater crime-infested dirt hole will help, but it probably won't bring them up to Imperial-grade technical knowledge, and once cities start disappearing, then pretty soon word is going to get back to the local sector Moff or admiral, and unless they are seriously incompetent, they're going to send naval forces to investigate.

And remember the Federation only found out what was happening as quickly as they did via Divine Intervention. We have no way to know how comfortable the borg are with prolonged scouting. They might take decades doing that.

[Captain Seafort]

It had an incompetent commander for at least some time - either Vader keeps killing quality officers - which can't be good for its efficiency, or he keeps getting shit officers.

I'm tempted to regard it as the latter rather than the former, based on the admittedly limited evidence of the amount of argument he tolerated from a relatively junior officer in ANH, probably because said officer was talking sense, and the fact that no one got strangled for letting the Falcon escape at the end of ESB, because it wasn't a matter of incompetence on their part.

[Q99]

It is interesting how the Borg vacillate between incredibly straightforward and obvious, to remarkably subtle- able to hit a large number of planets on two sides of a monitored border without their identity being known, and the Borg Queen able to pull off a ship takeover with almost xenomorphian stealth in First Contact.

[Lord Insanity]

I question and disagree with the level of gap you assume. Star Wars stuff has higher yields, but it's forcefields, anti-grav, intertial dampers, plasma weapons.. all stuff the Borg have familiarity with at lower levels, only the Hyperdrive itself is something that comes to mind that the Borg may not know the basic principles of straight off.

And as others and myself have mentioned, it's not a Roman blacksmith, it's modern engineers with that stuff. Because the Borg are literally assimilating people. If you assimilate people who know how to do something and what they used to do it, how can you not know how to do it? It is literally everything that SWs uses to make SW tech, plus some replicators and nanites.

The basic technologies that look similar in both universes are still completely different. We are not talking a Ford versus a Chevy we are talking a horse chariot versus an automobile.

Using the Earth modern verses Rome analogy... Even if the Borg could scoop up a few towns (planets) what good would it do them? Any city (planet) worth having would easily smack them down. Okay, so they pick up some backwater hick town like Tattooine. How does having auto mechanics and gas station workers help them go from horse chariots to automobiles?

This is the part you are completely missing. The ability of an auto mechanic to build a car from off the shelf (or junk yard) components does not give them the ability or even the knowledge of how to manufacture said components. You need to build the factory, the industrial grade blast furnace to supply the steel, the coal mining to supply the blast furnace, the oil drilling, the oil refining for gasoline, rubber for the tires, glass for the windows, silicon mining, factory for the circuit boards, the satellites for the GPS, rockets to launch the satellites, and so on.

Sure if they get a medieval wagon (29th century holo-emitter) they can work out how to make a four wheeled chariot because they are still using the same fundamental technology of wood and iron.

For modern cars there is a level of complete interconnected industries the Borg would have to create from scratch. Even if they managed to learn one or two complete industries out of the many they would need, successfully assimilating a few small towns (planets) would only serve to tell them just how royally screwed they are.

[Shroom Man 777]

Not all defenseless worlds are Tattooine though... there are defenseless worlds that have people and material and fabrication facilities that *are* worthwhile for the Borg. If they get Naboo, that DOES manufacture hyperdrives for its sub-capital FTL-capable assets (Are the Nubian fighters hyper-capable? The royal spacecraft are...), then that's different.

You're assuming that it's a given that all the vulnerable worlds have nothing worthwhile to give to the Borg. That's not necessarily so.

[The Romulan Republic]

Mind you, I'm not sure either Tatooine or Naboo qualifies as "defenceless", even against the Borg.

Even under the peacetime Old Republic, Naboo (apparently a fairly peaceful world at that) was at least able to put a squadron or two of torpedo-armed, apparently hyper-capable star-fighters into action on short notice, and had fairly sizeable security force.

Tatooine, meanwhile is under Hutt control, and Jabba can hire a decent amount of mercenary firepower, including at least small armed space craft. Tatooine also had an Imperial garrison, correct? Even if they couldn't stop a cube on their own, they might be able to send a distress call to the local Sector Fleet, to the effect of "SOS, their's a multi-kilometer cube ship full of cyborgs sucking up cities", which ought to be enough to get at least an ISD squadron or so sent out.

[Solauren]

I think people are underestimating the value of assimilating a backwater (like Tattooine), and the invaluable intelligence it would give the Borg.
And remember, backwater could be an out of the way colony or spaceport, not just a crime controlled world.

Smugglers and pirates and criminals are always familiar with law enforcement proceedures and routes (and in this case, that would be the local sector fleet). They know the major ports, the minor ports, and other useful details that Borg could use.

Like illegal weapon dealers, underground medical clinics, patrol routes and times to get on and off a planet, what kind of ships patrol a given system, what are the major markets, and the like, as well as details about the victims homeworlds.

i.e
New Drone from Naboo. World is unarmed. Not on good terms with the galactic government. Several universities, fuel processing plant, droid factory, starship assembly facility. Drone's former identity has it encoded into ships navigation for 'family visits'.

Recommendation: Proceed under Cloak, avoid detection, jam communications, assimilate targets of opprotunity before withdrawl.

Given enough time and hits like that, the Borg would get what they need to withdrawl, eventually reverse engineer Star Wars tech, upgrade their entire fleet, and return enforce. If they could get lucky and find and old Confederacy factory world that was completely shut down at the end of the Clone Wars that the Imperial Navy overlooked (or that Sidious didn't even know about), and get a massive headstart, or it could take them decades of scouting and resource expenditure, and withdrawing before any serious conflict, but i could be done.

[Lord Insanity]

I wouldn't really consider Naboo a backwater (a place the Borg would go unnoticed by the galaxy at large) or unarmed. It did require a rather large Trade Federation blockade to render the local forces ineffective.

Does Naboo actually mine and/or manufacture in every single industry required for basic functional hyperdrive capable starships? I mean they must have had a trade blockade imposed on them for a reason. It is rather logical to assume that Star Wars planets are very much like modern earth towns and cities in that very few if any are truly self sufficient at modern standards of living.

While it is technically possible if the Borg behave very uncharacteristically, I find it improbable they would get anywhere near a useful amount of infrastructure knowledge before being discovered and smacked down.

[Solauren]

They don't need infrastructure per say, they need tech knowledge.

And I used Naboo as an example, only in what they could learn. Depending on the era, Naboo was actually unarmed. In the old EU, they were unarmed until right before Padme Amidaala was elected senator. They may be disarmed after the Clone Wars concluded.

And it's not uncharacteristic. They used the stealth build up routine when taking over the Enterprise-E during First Contact. And that was the second time we actually saw the Collective attack Earth.

It just seems uncharacteristic because of the stupidity of Voyager's handling of the Borg.

[FaxModem1]

For another example of uncharacteristic Borg strategy, look at the Brunali, Icheb's species. Any time the Brunali develop past a certain level, the Borg assimilate the ship for the new goodies inside. The Brunali eventually retaliated and focused solely on bio-engineered children to get assimilated, which is why Icheb is a free Borg, he was made to be a time bomb for the Borg.

But, relevant to this discussion, the Brunali are used as a sort of farm for the Borg to harvest new technologies from. So there are examples of the Borg not always using the same tactic on everyone. Another question is if this was a consequence of a re-thinking of tactics after their disastrous war with S8472.

[Q99]

Mind you, I'm not sure either Tatooine or Naboo qualifies as "defenceless", even against the Borg.

Even under the peacetime Old Republic, Naboo (apparently a fairly peaceful world at that) was at least able to put a squadron or two of torpedo-armed, apparently hyper-capable star-fighters into action on short notice, and had fairly sizeable security force.

Tatooine, meanwhile is under Hutt control, and Jabba can hire a decent amount of mercenary firepower, including at least small armed space craft. Tatooine also had an Imperial garrison, correct? Even if they couldn't stop a cube on their own, they might be able to send a distress call to the local Sector Fleet, to the effect of "SOS, their's a multi-kilometer cube ship full of cyborgs sucking up cities", which ought to be enough to get at least an ISD squadron or so sent out.

Yea, but trek ships shred fighters- remember the three somethings sent against the Cube when it passed Jupiter in BoBW? Three shots, three booms. The Ent-D has done similar. Naboo's in big trouble there, and Tatooine's small craft aren't much better off (torpedoes don't create big enough booms to blow up something that big unless used in large quantity, and the fighters aren't going to last long).

Hm, I wonder if Borg jamming can prevent a call out... because none of the dead colonies managed it and they have communications as well. Holonet often seems finicky, to boot, and the Borg seem to attack quite rapidly.

The basic technologies that look similar in both universes are still completely different. We are not talking a Ford versus a Chevy we are talking a horse chariot versus an automobile.

We really aren't.

Putting aside analogies for a second, we are talking about a technology base that makes all the same effects as normal Wars tech, but at lower level. That is to say, it's an error in overusing analogies where the lower-end one is actually lacking the capabilities because in that area the analogy is not analogous.

People are thinking in abstract 'levels' and using two situations of different levels, but the difference between Roman and Modern is not just a matter of scale, but also function. The difference here is one of scale of power, but the Borg's technology already performs the same functions, and even some that aren't really around in Wars- So no, it's not a horse drawn chariot, and the analogy falls apart when you assume limitations based on the analogy over observed capabilities. It is a car compared to a faster stronger car, but in both cases there is wheels, engines, breaks, radios, etc., unlike a chariot that is lacking the features of a car.

Additionally, we know the Borg have some technologies wars doesn't. Transporters, Replicators, nanites... this is more an example of X axis vs Y axis. Deep vs wide. Star Wars technology is more powerful but it's not a matter of one being more advanced than the other across the board, they have different technological bases that aren't simply One > Other, but rather have notable advantages in different areas. Star Wars is far ahead in power generation,

Okay, so they pick up some backwater hick town like Tattooine. How does having auto mechanics and gas station workers help them go from horse chariots to automobiles?

They would literally have people who construct automobiles, as noted small facilities are sufficient to create A-wings and such, as well as plenty of documentation on how they're made, and they themselves are tons of scientists and engineers used to reverse engineering. Do not forget that Tatooine has a good number of droids that work in technical fields and would have a lot of knowledge in them, so it's quite likely 'how to make this stuff' is simply written down on-planet in a hundred different places with natives who understand what that means. Tatooine is a big enough planet that it's not lacking in people with technical knowledge beyond assembly, and multiple planets fill in more of the gap.

They have replicators so can make machinery in a huge myriad of required configuration, barring perhaps some specific alloys that require higher-energy to make or things that include high energy power source. Again, you're thinking in terms of levels and analogy rather that comparing what the Borg actually have.

This is the part you are completely missing. The ability of an auto mechanic to build a car from off the shelf (or junk yard) components does not give them the ability or even the knowledge of how to manufacture said components. You need to build the factory, the industrial grade blast furnace to supply the steel, the coal mining to supply the blast furnace, the oil drilling, the oil refining for gasoline, rubber for the tires, glass for the windows, silicon mining, factory for the circuit boards, the satellites for the GPS, rockets to launch the satellites, and so on.

Not only am I not missing that, I've specifically addressed in posts like... oh, this one.

"It doesn't even need to be done in one step. I'm fairly confident it can be, but, 'Ah, you need a n-spanner to build that, which requires a microforge, which requires a superpressure lathe,' means the Borg replicators only need to be able to make the parts to make a superpressure lathe in order to end up with the final product in the end as long as they have the knowledge, which they will have. I don't know of any Star Wars technology which is even implied to require such high requirements, but that's the situation. "

The Borg basic industry is a highly flexible and reasonably high-energy industry base to begin with (something that gets lost in the insistence on the Roman analogy). It is extremely suited to building midway steps even for things it cannot directly produce- and in Star Wars, the knowledge of what's needed to make X or Y is stuff that is often not remotely priority knowledge.

For modern cars there is a level of complete interconnected industries the Borg would have to create from scratch. Even if they managed to learn one or two complete industries out of the many they would need, successfully assimilating a few small towns (planets) would only serve to tell them just how royally screwed they are.

Another area where drawing an analogy fails- Sure, a small planet may be the equivalent of a 'town' to the galaxy at large, but it's still an actual community with usually millions of people and the knowledge and education centers that goes with (there's no sign that, say, everyone goes off to Coruscant to get educated, most people do seem to live on their planets most of their lives and that means they get educated there), and many have some manufacturing to boot.

The Naboo fighter, for example, was designed using Naboo technology as was Padme's royal ship, so they have the capacity to design and build ships, and the Gungans have their own technological base somewhat divergent from the galactic and naboo technology. Take Naboo and not only do you have well-educated human population known for their sleek high-quality craft, but you have an entire body of SW knowledge that isn't that well know even within SW, and literally the entire industry and knowledge base behind it.

"X is size-wise to Y as A is to B," does not mean that X and A have the same limitations when it comes to knowledge base. You could say a neighborhood is to a city as a country is to the world, but does that mean a city has the same limitations as a country? Of course not.

[Lord Revan]

Trek ships shred trek fighters, that doesn't translate into certainly being able to shred SW fighters. That would be like saying WWII era AA was effective versus fighters (of that era) therefore it must be just as effective against modern fighters.

Just because the Y-wing and the Federation Attack Fighter are both fighter/bombers, it doesn't mean they share anything but a role in the battlefield. This is very important, just because 2 things are of similar size it doesn't mean they're of equilevant power levels.

[The Romulan Republic]

Mind you, I'm not sure either Tatooine or Naboo qualifies as "defenceless", even against the Borg.

Even under the peacetime Old Republic, Naboo (apparently a fairly peaceful world at that) was at least able to put a squadron or two of torpedo-armed, apparently hyper-capable star-fighters into action on short notice, and had fairly sizeable security force.

Tatooine, meanwhile is under Hutt control, and Jabba can hire a decent amount of mercenary firepower, including at least small armed space craft. Tatooine also had an Imperial garrison, correct? Even if they couldn't stop a cube on their own, they might be able to send a distress call to the local Sector Fleet, to the effect of "SOS, their's a multi-kilometer cube ship full of cyborgs sucking up cities", which ought to be enough to get at least an ISD squadron or so sent out.

Yea, but trek ships shred fighters- remember the three somethings sent against the Cube when it passed Jupiter in BoBW? Three shots, three booms. The Ent-D has done similar. Naboo's in big trouble there, and Tatooine's small craft aren't much better off (torpedoes don't create big enough booms to blow up something that big unless used in large quantity, and the fighters aren't going to last long).

Hm, I wonder if Borg jamming can prevent a call out... because none of the dead colonies managed it and they have communications as well. Holonet often seems finicky, to boot, and the Borg seem to attack quite rapidly.

Keep in mind that a) those things in BoBW were not identified, but were considerably larger than Star Wars fighters, to my recollection. Nor were they particularly maneuverable.

Also, the Naboo garrison I described is the peacetime Old Republic garrison. I dare say the Imperial garrison would likely be stronger, particularly in Naboo's case given its large alien population and status as Palpatine's home world.

[Solauren]

That's why the Borg would have to avoid garrisoned worlds.

But remember the line from Empire Strikes back Ozzel used to try to convince Vader Hoth wasn't important.

"My lord, there are thousands of uncharted settlements. It could be smugglers, it could be...." (cut off by Vader)

They just have to keep a low profile, and scoop up places that couldn't define well against them, or send out a distress call on the Holonet (easy to achieve if you take out the local Holonet node first, or better yet, steal it to learn how to assimilate it, and therefore access the galactic wide holonet...)

Small colonies hoping to avoid notice, loan unarmed freighters, ships sending distress calls, private yatchts out for a cruise, derelitcs, crashed ships, etc.

Grab it up, and take it out of the area to study at their leisure, without worrying about the Empire finding them and turning them into debris.

Slowly, patiently, and carefully, and the Borg could, eventually (and I am the first to say, it would take years, if not decades) become a threat to the Empire/GFFA.