Zerg vs Borg

A more fair thread than the dalek vs borg ones. And more to the point of our forum.

We use two assumptions, unless noted:
1. The borg are able to assimilate zerg bodies, including buildings. Due to their organic nature, and dependency on drones being born however, the borg cannot produce anymore zerg structures, or replicate any genetic improvements, although technology can be added to structures. Assimilated structures spread their own form of creep. Any attempt to assimilate creep will result in the small patch of assimilated creep dying. The zerg, in turn, are able to infest the borg. The zerg cannot reproduce borg technology however, so they cannot create new infested borg, just the original species the infested borg had (Vulcan, Klingon, Talaxxian, etc.). Infestation destroys all the nanobots (and thus shielding, regeneration, assimilation and repair capabilities) in a Borg's body.
2. The universe is an amalgam of an empty universe, the starcraft universe and the star trek universe. It consists of a single galaxy, which contains all of the current zerg territories in one of the spiral arms. The borg control the same worlds and species they did at the start of star trek voyager, and are located between the galactic core and the zerg territories. The make-up of astrological bodies and their frequency of appearance is the same as in real life, although minerals, vespene and terrazine occur naturally on most worlds, as well as whatever crazy star trek stuff is needed for duranium and tritanium.

 

The borg have a definite advantage in terms of space battle. Their cubes are heavily armed and armored and have enough weaponry to destroy anything powerful enough to pose a threat. Enough scourges can probably destroy a cube, but it would take a ridiculous amount due to the size of a cube. Borg ships also have a distinct mobility advantage due to their transwarp network. Borg cubes would be able to utterly annihilate behemoths, so the zerg cannot transport entire swarms at once to areas with cubes in them. The zerg do, however, have a distinct advantage over the borg in ground battles. hydralisk spines and zergling claws would pass right through any borg personal shielding, and the borg don't have any decent ground-to-ground or space-to-ground weaponry. As soon as zerg enter a spaceship, it can be concidered lost to the borg. So, I think the zerg would be able to take out significant portions of the borg fleet initially, but after that, their losses are too great to keep it up. The borg would probably lose every planet they own, but unimatrix 01 is safe. After this, the zerg would need to build up a new fleet, and the remaining borg ships would be able to go on a rampage through zerg space. Most infested planets would however be safe (due to the borg not owning anything that can blow a hole in the ground), and enough forces could be built up to take unimatrix 00. Zerg win.

 

Zerg have a 200 population cap, Borg don't?

 

.......... seriously

this makes me not want to reply until after this raid i'm in

 

400 zerglings could still defeat an entire borg planet. They really suck that much at ground combat.

 

Niether win as they are both under Tyranid rule, aka Tyranids rule zerg/borg can suck it.

 

The Borg have proven to be quite capable of producing all kinds of wave emitter devices. I think it wouldn't take them very long to create a psi disruptor and just control them that way.

 

Psi disruptor just makes em go wild (or slow, depending on which one).

I doubt the borg could create that sort of stuff without assimilating a species that already created that sorta stuff. And since they have no Terran in the galaxy...

What episodes are you referring to, btw? I don't think I ever saw borg use wave emitters.

 

Some thing they build when travelling back in time, to call the borg all the way to earth before the earth has the power to stop them. Some enterprise episode. That's a pretty powerful emitter for such a small dish. Makes me wonder what they can do with something bigger, and specifically designed to mess with zerg communications.

 

Nah, they already had the tech for the super-deflector dish. They haven't even encounted starcraft psionics.

I know the episode you speak of. Only enterprise ep with borg. Gave quite a few fans a headache due to canon issues.

 

If you have 400 zergling, the Borg space****s are going to ravange those overlords.

 

True.



But the real question is: can we please discuss this while thinking of gameplay-story segregation?

 

The borg can probably assimilate several new planets in the time it takes the zerg to wipe out one borg planet. Outcome seems simple. Eventually it's the zerg who get, uhm, zerged.

 

The Borg obviously have grater power projection capabilities but if they can't eleminate the Zerg quickly their extremely high rate of adaption (and reproduction) may turn the tide. Yes, the Borg are also known for adaption but it seems to rely heavily on the enemies use of technobabble, which is all but useless against Zerg.

Also, do the Borg have an option to nuke a planet from orbit? Because I don't see them taking a world the Zerg want to keep with their sluggish drones, let alone a primary world like Char, which negates their space superiority a bit.

Then again we haven't seen the Zerg face a real threat (other than Species Whatever, but that was cheating), maybe they'd be able to put those trillions of minds to good use under pressure.

EDIT: Oh, you already said Borg don't have anything to hit the Zerg from orbit, then I'd say it's a definite Zerg victory, the question is just how long it will take.

 

You mean the borg in the last paragraph right?

The borg, at least in first contact, don't really have any space to ground weapons more powerful than a good modern grenade. The borg main technique seems to be teleporting near important tech or helpless citizens and assimilating those. Shooting stuff would be a waste of potential resources. The zerg, however, don't have helpless citizens, and the only important piece of tech would be the infested platform over Char. The borg could potentially beam into the ventral sacs of overlords or behemoths and assimilate those in-flight.

 

Yeah, I meant borg.

If the borg can detect and scramble ships to intercept zerg transports in warp they can do whatever they want with them, I guess it's just a question of plugging the tide and not letting any get through then.

 

I don't think the borg can intercept warp. Besides, as seen in one of the sc1 cinematics, warp swarms can be utterly massive, so intercepting a transport might not be as easy as it seems (remember the hundreds of mutalisks, scourges and guardians)

 

If the borg can assimilate overlords, then the zerg are pretty much ****ed, tbh.

Also, I'm quite sure that the borg could do a proper orbital bombardment if they really wanted to. I mean, they've probably assimilated hundreds of pretty good ways to do so?

 

Than the question is; why didn't they do so in first contact?

The borg can assimilate overlords with the help of teleportation tech. Every overlord would require a separate unhindered teleportation. If the overlord is carrying any units at the time, the attempt will probably fail due to the invader being clawed apart. If the overlord is carrying his full capacity, borg drones won't be able to beam on-board.

Anyone have any clue how many zerg Kerrigan could control without the help of overlords?

 

She controlled several hives in the campaign without overlords. That, and she doesn't even require cerebrates. Pretty sure that she can't directly override overlords, though, since she couldn't take over control from the UED controlled zerg. Not without first killing the cerebrates anyway.