Well.. a shadow forge and a demiplane of metal(or just pushing the two planes together until they overlap a little and throwing some metallic thoughts their way) would probably collaborate rather than compete, so that is not really conflicting with my idea. I am not sure how it would play out, probably more akin to diverting some effort to maintaining a population of labourers and providing materials, but getting a broad array of low-quality(compared to "Weapons of the Gods!") equipment at a good price. I expect that we would get better initial results from just researching cheaper items, but there is a lot of upgrade potential there, especially considering that we have the planes of raw materials and the working there of right next to us.
I also really like the flying insect transport.
So, umm, I guess half a vote for each. We get three actions too... We really need to think about a front-liner. Mobility might get us a reprieve but... Then again, we are getting six actions before any actual combat starts, right? If so then getting logistics and distribution up would be a good start.
I think that the votebox will need some doing... I am thinking that, if, say, six people really want both A and B equally, and four people want c a lot, d clearly second, and e clearly third, then you might get a 3/3/4 split on every step and never get A or B even though they are the preferred options.
Mybe weveryone gets to vote on up to three things, and we maintain the vote boxes between the three phases with the winning item struck through? Maybe even put a lock on winning votes if we want to get really crazy and wild?