The developers describe 55+ resources across a full research, harvest, refine, combine and transport chain. Only around twenty-one are individually named in public material, so this page covers the named tier and the structure of the chain rather than inventing the full list.
Every production line in the game runs the same four stages. Resources are harvested from nodes on the surface, then refined in a refinery or lab, then combined into higher-tier materials, then transported by conveyor, shuttle or transporter to wherever they are needed. Understanding that four-stage shape is most of the learning curve.
Give each conveyor line a single material. If you must combine them, use sorting junctions. Mixed or clogged belts are the number one cause of a production line that appears frozen - and a "frozen" line looks identical to a line that is simply waiting on an input.
When storage hits 100 percent, the connected extraction lines shut off and need a manual reset. Build storage headroom rather than exact capacity.
When a line stalls, resist the urge to add production capacity. Find the missing input further up the chain instead - a missing research, a missing refinery, or a bottleneck that upstream is simply producing too little of.
An abandoned harvester still draws power. Tearing down dead structures reclaims both the power and the materials.
Faction ships from the Vulcan Science Academy trade for credits, resources and samples. When a single missing resource is holding your whole economy, trading is far faster than building the production line yourself.