You don't have to spend 5,000 crystals. I did 30 50 energy refreshes to get the red crate. It is all about mapping your progress. The first conquest of cycle of three should give you the roadmap for the next two. Figuring out multiple feat teams is also important. I find that knocking out the win 20 battles with x & y as early as possible to be a great benefit. I used a team of Wat lead, JML, JKLS, and 000 and B-T for two feats at once. Ran four battles a day for the first five days. Easy nodes were vs NS. They have good speed, but are very predictable. Usually could wipe out Daka before they get a turn.
I agree the fracture, torture, MT, etc. feats are tedious, but like was previously stated, the fracture one could be done in two battles. MT can be done with a NS team. You can get around 10 per battle depending on how things go. I skipped torture.
For the next conquest, just make a spreadsheet. I generally assume I will 3 star all battles and get all feats from bosses and minibosses. From there it is just a matter of figuring out what feats are possible. It can seem daunting at first until you get into it. Also checkout the swgoh4life website. BitDynasty has a lot of great videos for each conquest.