Crystal shortage and massive excess of metal as expeditioner/miner
I've largely been focusing on expeditions and mining, and I've found that crystal has been constantly low since the beginning of the game. What do I do to get more crystal?
I think I literally have 10 times more metal than crystal now since so many important research items (astro, IRN) require large amounts of crystal, and LCs also require an equal ratio of metal to crystal. Even most combat ships require a lot of crystal from what I can see.
I've gone so far as to ignore my metal mines and focus on building up crystal more, but the amortisation rate for crystal is terrible and I'd only see returns on my crystal maybe months from now.
Given that everyone in my server is colonizing around pos 6-8, with some in 13-15, I would think that everyone is experiencing the same crystal shortage? I'm not sure if I'm supposed to trade off my massive metal excess to someone for crystal - am I supposed to find an alliance to trade with?