Gotta say... I absolutely HATE all the bullshit I had to pull out of my ass to get it to work... but I did it! I managed to automate ONE multi-ingredient furnace recipe! I don't think I have the wherewithal to do any more, though. It's just the worst. I cannot overstate how much I did not like it, and that I only stuck with it to conclusively say that I wasn't just upset because I was unable to do it (and maybe the sunk-cost fallacy played a role, too).
If you could just set a machine to a certain recipe, everything would be fine and you could just shove the ingredients into it like in any good factorio-esque game instead of having to meticulously ensure that every ingredient comes in the EXACT right proportions with the EXACT right timing. I was met with disappointment after disappointment as I tried strategy after strategy that SHOULD have worked, but didn't.
Not meant to disparage or discourage, just honest feedback about how it feels to try to automate stuff when you are coming in from the outside. Awesome game overall and I am very excited and hopeful to see these kinks (ha ha) ironed out. I would not have stuck with it this long if I wasn't enjoying it for the most part.