Factorio is so much about juggling and re-juggling the trade-offs of doing things by hand versus progressively higher and higher level automation, as you research new technologies like conveyor belts, inserters, logistics and constructor robots, blueprints, etc.
Once you get blueprints, and a big enough industrial base, building vast sprawling expanses of factories like VLSI circuits is cheap, then planning reusable, modular, composable, efficient blueprints becomes the real game.
Once you get blueprints, and a big enough industrial base, building vast sprawling expanses of factories like VLSI circuits is cheap, then planning reusable, modular, composable, efficient blueprints becomes the real game.