I had hoped that the this new shuttle craft would be just that a shuttle craft, that I could lunch from my ship, not a iddy-biddy starship that was just going to take up another of my ships slots. I was hoping it would be more like a playable pet that you would put in your inventory or a ship device slot and then lunch it like any other power, after that you would load in to the shuttle behind your ship and be able to fly off using it while your ship could be told to follow or stay put.
I was kind of wanting to use it do go pickup up the anomalies in a system once I had cleared it of any bad guys or for that matter to scout out where the bad guys where.
Sadly it’s just another pointless rather useless runabout.
It's also within our rights as paying customers to expect Cryptic to listen to feedback, not just blow it off. Shuttles are supposed to be carried on ships not be long range minifighters.
Agree with the OP. Don't really see it being changed as it is simply too large a change but it would have been much cooler to have shuttle slots like equipment on our starships and when activated you launch the shuttle and your starship either autopilots like a saucer seperation or just fades from view as you go on your mission.
Probablly just too many balance issues to do something like that.
Well, from what I understand that extra slot that the shuttle takes up SHOULD be added to your roster when you do the mission that gives you the shuttle. So it shouldn't take up one of your available ship slots. If it does, then either you bought the shuttle (and can then delete the "standard" shuttle when you get it) or it's a bug and isn't working right yet.
As for not being able to get into your shuttle from your starship, as others have mentioned one of the devs is planning on allowing that, but it hasn't been implemented that way yet. If you want to get in it and use it to run regular missions, or search for data samples you will have to go back to a starbase and switch. However, the mission in which you NEED a shuttlecraft are supposed to switch you to it automatically. And a shuttle really isn't going to be capable of clearing a mission meant for a starship on its own anyway. So the idea of using the starship to do the mission, and then the shuttle to gather the samples, basically using the advantages of both and avoiding the disadvantages, you're not going to be able to do that right now.
Personally in the future I can see myself running to the shuttle bay to gather samples on occasion, but honestly it will probably take so long to go through the bridge and down to the hangar bay, walk to the shuttle and go through the launch sequence, that I will just gather samples with the ship the way I normally do. The shuttle will likely be used for shuttle missions and nothing else, just like it is intended. I'll WANT one, but I won't try to use it to do ship missions.
The coolness factor of taking a turbolift to your shuttlebay, boarding and launching, and then cruising close past the hull of your starship would be huge!
I could settle for just a new type of device slot on my starship, aptly called the shuttle slot. Click it, loading screen. Presto! Your now in a shuttle. I do not like the idea that I must dry dock my starship to use a shuttle.
People make it seem so simple with their ideas.
But the reality is its a lot harder to pull off than they can even begin to imagine. :p
The Tech simply does not exist yet in STO that allows you to change ship while in it.
Theres a lot of character data that is transferred with a ship swap ranging from weapons and equipment loadout to the power bar setup.
The additional problem is, even if you could, how and with what would you dock again?
That presents its own set of problems.
All in all it is a very big can of worms that does not have any kind of simple solution.
Even better than that... I'd eventually like you to be able to go down to your Shuttle Bay - see the shuttles you own and pick which one you want to fly and hop in.
Linear Mode
