Unfortunately, the basic design issue is “not enough tubes”.

I agree.   I've had no problem using the small crystals in various transmitters - as long as they use a separate modern oscillator stage (i.e. a Colpitts,  Clapp, Pierce etc).    The problematic ones for crystal current are the power oscillators and regenerative crystal oscillators which were used in some early multi-band transmitters intended for portable or mobile use.   To keep the number of multiplier stages (hence, tubes) down, they drove the oscillator hard to produce strong harmonics, so the needed one could be selected with a tuned circuit and used to drive the PA grid.   The high crystal current caused heating and deformation of the quartz, resulting in  the characteristic chirp.   As a piezoelectric material, the final stage is deformation past the tensile strength limit of the quartz plate.

73, Bob W9RAN