You have this al wrong,this shouldn't be a thread about making the Runabout cheaper.....this should be a thread on making the Runabout usefull.Let them design missions where shuttlecraft have a purpose.Let them design shuttlecraft for Klingons,so we can have FvK PvP.As it is now it's nothing more than a nice gimmick.

:p yep all that killing and chances to drop items really comes in handy for the KDF. Too bad the Federation people have to do all these pesky diplomacy missions and surveying random anomolies that we never really use anyways in the end.

Still though even if it was that price, it feels much like a T1 or T2 ship to me. Flimsy shielding, no weapons, only 5 crew. But really its a shuttle, it should be a fighter craft you can launch from your big Tier 5 ship. What are those shuttlebays for anyways right?

I completely agree. It would be a good idea to have shuttle missions. Consider this:

1) Each ship gains shuttle slots (the bigger it is, the more it gets). Klingons can have fighters (small shuttles with only fore weapons. Can equip cannons!)

2) We get shuttle missions. We select a shuttle. Ideas: races (like an episode in Voyager), dogfights with other shuttles/fighters, evade a starship in a shuttle, destroy a starship with a shuttle swarm (good idea for PvP arena: match a couple of starships with 10 shuttles/fighters. Imagine the laughs!), try to land a shuttle in hostile environment.

3) Give the option of beaming for a ground mission, or land with a shuttle. Land on a hostile planet after evading cannon fire. But you have a fallback position, or something. More variety.