Each player can at least post a map for the contest, so no issue.
OK, sounds good.
Note that focused designs are an issue. And the Locust is a scout when priority is currently survival. The Noble Crab as it is will give us protection from fire, chemical reactions, and poison gas to a degree. Mostly through the use of a single gas that is made to be breathable.
See, survival is good, but not really that big an issue from where I'm sitting. I see "At the end of each combat phase, all troops are wiped from the map. No units are retained at any node" in the rules. That said, being more prepared for the environment is a good thing - and I see flight as the answer to all environments. Vibrations setting off long dead machines? Keep off the ground. Toxic metals in the ground? Keep off the ground. The ground is made of plastic that's on fire? Keep off the ground.
Further, I see the Locust as not just a scout, but the basis for a more powerful flying unit.
The locust you are voting for, in no complex terms, is idiotic. And an idiot. There isn't any adaptation to the proposal that gives it the ancestor-given right to use things from the grub without difficulty, it has no brain. Nor does it possess a psionic core for an early warning system. It relies on light, and offers no protection from gases, toxins, or explosions. All things the Noble Crab means to address. Save the scouts for next turn I say.
I'll give you that the locust was proposed before the psychic revision, so doesn't mention it in the design, but according to Draignean "while the upgrades will be default going forwards, they are not retroactively added", meaning that anything evolving from a grub now will get the psionic core, but only the drozer does not. So even though the current locust design doesn't mention it, it will have psionics. That said, I will say that as written, the locust isn't perfect.
But, I don't see how the noble crab can possibly help in the shattered badlands. Plus breathable gas does not imply healthy gas - carbon dioxide is breathable and helium is breathable, but what humans need to survive is oxygen; they would asphyxiate with only helium, just as the noble crab would while trapped in a tunnel in the desert of mirrors or the misty ravine. In fact, it will speed up the asphyxiation of it's fellow organisms, even if it does put out fires. Because healthy breathing is basically consuming oxygen, which is basically slowly slowly burning to produce energy, and noble gasses prevent burning, and thus prevent healthy breathing.
I'd say I prefer the Medusa over the Noble Crab. I'd also say, I'd like to see a design that uses it's psionics to fly, that way less wingbeats, and thus less vibrations. Also serves as a much better scout, as it can "see" much further than a grub, but is also more survivable as it's psionic based flight lets it predict and dodge incoming attacks, avoid explosions, and fly above ground based threats. I'd write it up but I'm getting ready for work.