4200 Damage out to range 8!

[Alneyan]

How many Crystalline Armours do they use? If it is only a couple of them, you will be fine; if it is ten of them or more, you will need specific designs. I do not believe the AI designs Crystalline vessels with a lot of Crystalline Armours though.

You definitively need Combat Sensors and ECM, as otherwise your weapons are as good as useless (if you are too far behind). Training is also good, but the AI doesn't do it on purpose, so it should not be a factor here.

Shields vs armour is another debate: armour is much cheaper to research and to deploy, but shields have the best protection per kt ratio, and protect against Ionic Dispersers. Shields can be negated by Shield Depleters however: if attacked by these weapons, shields aren't really better than armour. But in your specific case, Shard Canons skip armour, so any shot from these weapons go straight to damage your components (weapons are the most likely components to be damaged). If you use shields, Shard Canons will not skip them, so your ship will have a much better protection.