The impression I always got was Borg personal shielding could only “adapt” to one weapon type or modulation at a time, and so each encounter was kind of a soft reset.
Possibly post-Wolf 359 all Federation hand weapons come stock with a rotating frequency, or a unique pseudorandom phase variance and the first few shots get through before the local Borg adapt to that phaser.
Had the Borg stayed a threat the Federation would probably have developed a phaser analog to the transphasic torpedo, but I get why the shows never did that.
The impression I always got was Borg personal shielding could only “adapt” to one weapon type or modulation at a time, and so each encounter was kind of a soft reset.
Possibly post-Wolf 359 all Federation hand weapons come stock with a rotating frequency, or a unique pseudorandom phase variance and the first few shots get through before the local Borg adapt to that phaser.
Had the Borg stayed a threat the Federation would probably have developed a phaser analog to the transphasic torpedo, but I get why the shows never did that.