I tried the third weapon by ditching the laser altogether and going all in on damage and it carried me through thanks to shield generator. Laser is a defensive weapon mostly, so giving a shield generator last second before a big fight while player needs to reinvest from mining to combat is definitely tricky but I don't disrespect that design decision (the cost of the shield might filter some players though).
A lot of problems come from the zoom being upgradable. It makes unupgraded weapons look like peashooters or at worst the projectiles aren't visible at all (missile launcher). This also throws off your sense of scale (ie. planet sized enemy appears? I don't have any point of reference to comprehend that so it's not as impressive, largest crystal so far? can't really tell).
The way it's all set up so far it feels like I can't execute much of a plan, as asteroids are really fast and chaotic so only greedy approach works, and same goes to enemies that are so ever-present that it comes down to outgunning and shielding. When those factors are combined most of the crystals you can get are pretty much given to you by rng because of how many things can go wrong outside of your control, while constantly fighting floaty physics on a timer. Weapon balance is somewhat fine but tighter controls and reliable traction beam by default could help a lot.