I'm assuming we can't get three transports then unless we skimp?
Because if we have the option of not skimping I'd suggest it.
Better to arrive early in better ships than arrive late in sub-par ones.
We can if we literally only spend up to 2 crystal on non transport things. This isn't going to happen, the Itshana process is too darn vital.
With spending 2 dice on it, we would have to get 2 budget transports if we want to meet our 3 transport rush deadline. Note that Ore wise, if we go for the 2 Itshana dice, we have a 4 ore leeway... Depending on how the Windrider's project expense turns out we might have to delay that if we decide to do the transport rush... And our crossbows cost Ore... Joy.... (We really do need more ore)
(Note that if we can immediately sortie transports the same turn they're deployed, we might get another round of resources? Still not entirely sure when the fighting starts)
'Better to arrive early in better ships than arrive late in sub-par ones.'...? Is there something wrong with this? Because of course it's better to arrive earlier with better things than later with worse things... (And our situation is different: Arrive early with sup-par ships, or later with okay ones?)
...........I fell asleep in the middle of this, so it might be hilariously behind the conversation now... Below is new stuff
Ok, if we only spend one dice on the Itshana process and succeed, it'll be good for our resources... And I guess you do raise a point that prototyped Itshana Crystals are good enough for a ship or two (
Draignean, How much can we use the Itshana Process while it's still in prototyping?).
Not changing my vote to the other group of votes, as the suppressor is still a failure of a repeater at anything beyond too darn close for a non-melee weapon range. I will admit that its single fire mode is decently viable now, though. (Maybe dump a revision into it so we can keep the lever, magazine and what not and make it a 'normal' crossbow with a very fancy reload-assist system? Wouldn't be automatic fire, but should still be much faster than a normal crossbow, and the lack of full-auto means we it would be actually be accurate, even with minimal considerations being applied here..... TLDR, I would put more faith in a heavier 'semi-automatic' (but not really, as it'll still need the lever pulled back) crossbow than our current 'automatic' one...)
Either way, next turn I'll number crunch some and see how much we'll be able to spend and still get our transports