Hey there, I don’t know any guides but if you mention a bit how and where you get stuck, i can try to help about those. Eg. Aluminium is too confusing. I don’t know how to ship oil from 2 kilometres away
It’s usually when in the process of deciding if I’m going to expand the current location and ship things in, or make an outpost for dealing with specific recipes.
I think I might need a better system for planning my factory.
Big projects usually gets me stuck too, i keep trying to do other things just to avoid the big work. I’d say plan smaller, maybe a do a smaller build locally just to get the ball rolling then you can expand later on.
When thinking about outposts, i usually just start with one product and expand if necessary later on so i don’t have to think about how long its gonna take to build a massive factory. Also, if you are into aesthetics of things, it doesn’t take much effort to just slap some manufacturers on concrete.
I still consider myself a beginner and I stopped playing completely already twice because of the grind. What helps me on the third attempt is to take it easy. No need to rush tiers or stress about some parts I can’t manufacture fast enough yet. There is plenty of other things to do while waiting, like exploring, tyding up the base, decorating etc. Switching between these and factory building has helped me. Some factories I build intuitively, some using a calculator and others from YouTube videos and forums. And from the latter I learned that there is no right way to play the game. Hope this helps looking beyond the grind.