Unsure about a lot of the mechanics here, do the turbines power multiple machines? How do I get oil production up quicker? It seems like the storage crates only provide a set amount. Does that mean I need more crates? More turbines? More Extractors? It's just so unclear what numbers are affecting what here.
Okay, I guess I'll mess around with the number of machines and figure out how to get everything working right. I can't get enough oil generation to maintain oil constantly, I'm unsure if I need multiple crates or just one crate. I am talking about the storage crates that are "required" to make extractors and drills work.
Since nothing really moves or has any "working" status I can't tell if my efforts are helping or hurting the process
That's the point, you can't. You have to continuously make more and more because you become more and more damaged. Made it so you can't have just the right amount of machines so you can't create 1 and be done with the game. By crates you mean the storage, right? You just need one crate. But if you have too many buildings crammed in the same place, the storage has a distance limit, so you need to place another.