Any good races...

[Master Belisarius]

Currently, I don't consider the Cristallurgy so weak (although is very expensive to research).
More considering that I have "discovered" doing the Tessellate, that a Base Ship with many Cristalline Armors is very powerful and cheap to build.

[Taera]

MB your partly right, and then again i see Crystallurgy as this little late-game advantage that can bring you victory. Cheap armour, both one-of-the-best long-range weapons in the game and the one-of-kind armor-skipping weapon. Plus the facilities. Realize Crystallurgy has too many unique abilities in it it does not however replace the other technologies as organic or others do, it simply enriches your tactical arsenal. And with DNM's crystalline torpedoes.... :big evil grin:

[Taera]

and its in no ay a technology for cutthroat games, but then again crystalline armor is quite the interesting piece of technology...