[Puke]

possibly. a big drawback to armor skipping weapons, is that they keep firing on the same ship untill all the armor is gone, even if the ship has been disabled.

the real question though: is crystal tech as a whole unballanced. increasing the power of shard cannons increases the power of the entire tech area - which should be balanced with their other weapons and armor, and all their ground facilities for all stages of the game (early, mid, end).