Why is the Runabout so hated?

[Mayhem]

Just a quick note on registration numbers...

Every boat larger than a dinghy, and EVERY powered aircraft bigger than a friggin' utralight has one. (the little training planes I learned on are can't even break 125 knots and they all certainly do)

Runabouts have them, but so does every single shuttlecraft out there, it doesn't make them cap ships.

[Alyeska]

Just a quick note on registration numbers...

Every boat larger than a dinghy, and EVERY powered aircraft bigger than a friggin' utralight has one. (the little training planes I learned on are can't even break 125 knots and they all certainly do)

Runabouts have them, but so does every single shuttlecraft out there, it doesn't make them cap ships.

Actually shuttlecraft only cary designations from their home base. That means they have something like 1701-D Shuttle 12. Or another was SC-4 meaning Starfleet Command shuttle 4.

[Enlightenment]

But the rear section is important for its food replicator and as room for the crew to sleep if they are moving a long distance. You could even have a crew of 8 with them rotating shifts.

Is it just me or is that another of Trek's silly design 'features?' With the cockpit/bridge forward and the living quaters far aft, the Danube class would require a long and relatively useless corridor along its midsection and between the mission modules. This corridor would eat into internal volume that could have been given to larger mission modules, more fuel, or a more powerful powerplant. A better arrangement would have been to put the living quarters directly behind the cockpit/bridge and the mission modules aft.

[BenRG]

Another Runabout application: I read this in a licenced DS9 novel, so it is pretty low down on the 'canon' list, but I think it was an interesting thought. The rear mission modules were replaced with a carrying frame (with redundant containment fields) for up to four antimatter canisters. The design was intended as a tanker, but could also be used for the in-flight resupply of starships. Once again, shades of the 'Eagles' in "Space: 1999".

Oh, Alyeska, in 'The Die is Cast', the runabout's food replicator is in a cubbyhole built into one of the vertical cable trunks around the transporter platform in the aft of the cockpit. We also see in the episode of TNG where the crew use one of the Enterprise-D's runabouts that the sleeping berths are in the first module aft of the cockpit/operations area.

[Mayhem]

Actually shuttlecraft only cary designations from their home base. That means they have something like 1701-D Shuttle 12. Or another was SC-4 meaning Starfleet Command shuttle 4.

And they probably still have registration numbers. They may not be identified by them while they're attached to a larger entity such as a starship or organization, but they more than likely have them. Military aircraft are a great example of this, whiel in flight they are typcally refered to by a callsign indicating their squadron and postion in that squadron... but they still have a tail number, which is their reg number.

[Alyeska]

Oh, Alyeska, in 'The Die is Cast', the runabout's food replicator is in a cubbyhole built into one of the vertical cable trunks around the transporter platform in the aft of the cockpit. We also see in the episode of TNG where the crew use one of the Enterprise-D's runabouts that the sleeping berths are in the first module aft of the cockpit/operations area.

Ah, so that means you can remove the mission modules as well as the rear conference type room on the Runabout without a major problem. The crew can just roll out a mat on the floor to sleep.

[Alyeska]

But the rear section is important for its food replicator and as room for the crew to sleep if they are moving a long distance. You could even have a crew of 8 with them rotating shifts.

Is it just me or is that another of Trek's silly design 'features?' With the cockpit/bridge forward and the living quaters far aft, the Danube class would require a long and relatively useless corridor along its midsection and between the mission modules. This corridor would eat into internal volume that could have been given to larger mission modules, more fuel, or a more powerful powerplant. A better arrangement would have been to put the living quarters directly behind the cockpit/bridge and the mission modules aft.

According to the DS9 TM everything behind the transporter is modular. The rear conference room is standard, but can be removed. So theoretically you can isolate them just in the cockpit because the 4 mission modules and the conference room and hall way are removed. I suppose you could replace the coference room and two mission modules while leaving the two closest modules as a much smaller room for the crew.

The Runabout seems relatively well designed, but we just never saw those features on the show itself.

[BenRG]

Ah, so that means you can remove the mission modules as well as the rear conference type room on the Runabout without a major problem. The crew can just roll out a mat on the floor to sleep.

Yeah, or you can just recline the seats all the way and stretch out there. Hey, it works for a coach-class passenger on an airliner, so why not someone on a runabout?

[Alyeska]

Ah, so that means you can remove the mission modules as well as the rear conference type room on the Runabout without a major problem. The crew can just roll out a mat on the floor to sleep.

Yeah, or you can just recline the seats all the way and stretch out there. Hey, it works for a coach-class passenger on an airliner, so why not someone on a runabout?

As I said, I like the Runabout design. Its not the best transport, scout, or combat vehicle. But it can do all of them reasonably well and for a frontier station its perfect because of its multi mission features.

Remove the 4 modules, the hall way, and the conference room. Replace each module with a rack of 3 torpedoes (12 total) and replace the conference room with a rack of 12 torpedoes. The hall way could probably hold another 4. Thats 28 torpedoes. Nice little gunship version of the Runabout for a frontier station to have. A group of 3 of these could be a serious threat for anything destroyer sized or smaller (Jem'Hadar Attackship, Miranda, Bird of Prey, etc..).

[Uraniun235]

Though IIRC they are considered extremely light starships by Starfleet; they're given registry numbers.

Another sign of how pitiful Starfleet is, considering long range shuttles as full starships.

1) I said "extremely light", which implies that they're at the very bottom end of starships.

2) Why not starships? They're fully capable of interstellar travel and are configurable for different missions.

3) It would make for a very boring genre if every space force was a gigantic military organization with millions of starships.