Question: Why do Borg always attack earth with only one single ship? We already know from ST: Voyager that Borg have so many ships in the delta-quadrant that they sometimes attack with 10 or more ships at the same time. Why don't they just send 2 or 3 of their cubes next time? Borg knows that the Federation needed their very last resources and a lot of luck to defeat the Borg Cube last time (Battle of Wolf359). So 2 ships at least should do the job this time. Instead they again send one cube and risk defeat.
Goekhan
1st Jan 2018
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Answer: The Borg don't care that much about Earth, or losing a single cube. They are mostly testing the water before fully expanding towards the Alpha Quadrant. Their space is in the Delta Quadrant and still a long way from expanding into the Alpha Quadrant.
Not entirely true because the Borg queen was on board the cube, and they had a contingency plan to go back in time, making their efforts quite elaborate. They have attacked Earth twice now, because they know about it from the Enterprise (and Q) and plan on conquering it and expand into the Alpha Quadrant. A cube is equivalent to an entire fleet of ships and Picard accurately calls this action by the Borg an invasion (the second one).
6th May 2014
Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
Corrected entry: Other than for convenience for the script, there is absolutely no reason the Borg needed to wait until they got to Earth to use the time vortex to go into Earth's past. They could have made the journey back in time long before they decided to make their attack, then surprise Earth with no one to stop them.
Correction: There is nothing in the movie that suggests that was their plan in the first place. The Borg cube didn't launch the sphere and begin the time vortex until after their cube was about to be destroyed because of Picard's instructions on how Star Fleet should attack. The Borg would no doubt have been monitoring Star Fleet communications and would have known the Enterprise was ordered to stay out of the conflict, thus not expected the Enterprise to arrive with Picard's knowledge on how to defeat them. Thus it is reasonable to assume that when the Enterprise did arrive and Picard ordered the fleet to attack their weak spot, the Borg initiated a Plan B, and then sent their forces back in time. The Borg would have known, especially with their queen among them, that traveling to the past would be risky for their future, also due to the unpredictable chain of events that would have been caused by them changing their own history even, calling their forces out of the Delta Quadrant long before they originally were going to. Thus it is, as Spock would say, logical that their initial plan was to attack Earth with their superior Borg Cube, wipe out Star Fleet and take over Earth with Picard and the Enterprise a long way away from the battle, his ship being the only one with weapons designed to fight the Borg. But when Picard disobeyed orders and the Enterprise arrived at the battle anyways, the Borg had to change their plan.
It is indeed a plot hole. There is absolutely no reason for Borg to fight the federation again (and lose again) when they have time-jump technology in the first place. The "Enterprise Factor" which changed the outcome of the battle, absolutely doesn't matter. It is a lame explanation against an earlier timejump. To be honest it is even a second plot hole (to explain the first one). Picard did not share his Borg tactics with federation long before? What if Picard would've had a heart attack a year before? The precious Borg tactics would be lost and Earth lost to the Borg. Thus changing timeline for the Borg being Plan B cause it is even too risky for Borg, well I don't know, in the end they did it. I don't think Borg think it is too risky for their own future, cause there are other Plan B's, for example sending 10 ships next time and let the "dangerous" time-jump stuff beside.
Correction: Picard had shared information with Starfleet. The reason The Enterprise factor is in play here is Picard could hear the Borg speaking and figured out their vulnerability.
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Answer: The Borg think like machines. They have calculated that one cube is enough to conquer Earth so they send one cube. Both times they were defeated because of incalculable events. Both times they didn't have a reason to send more than one cube.
lionhead
This is wrong. Borg do have a big reason to send more than one cube the second time. They know that Locutus (Picard) is there somewhere and can log-in into the Borg hive when Borg are near him. He received visions from the Borg shortly before battle and calculated with this information "unimportant" weak-spots which destroyed the second Borg cube. If someone knows your weak spots and this someone is nearby, then Borgs should be more precautious than last time.
Goekhan
The Enterprise was not at the battle, the Borg knew that, Picard went in against orders and intervened. This time the Borg took more than just a cube anyway, they took time travel with them. They probably had it as a contingency plan.
lionhead
The contingency plan is even more brainless, explaining one plot hole with another one. There is absolutely no need to fly into the earths atmosphere to start their time machine. They could've done it even more safely before entering federation territory.
Goekhan
That doesn't make any sense. They didn't have to enter the atmosphere, I don't even think they did. The sphere escaped the exploding cube and almost immediately opened a vortex. Also, saying that they "could have done it even more safely before entering federation space" is nonsense since they needed to be in federation space for the contingency plan anyway. Nothing safer about it doing it outside of federation space, just takes more time.
lionhead