If it is impractical, you could just link multiple factories together to create an automated factory. You'd just need to calculate the amount of resources that need to go in every factory.
Which is really annoying btw. Which is why I'm hoping that there will be better ways to automate factories.
...Okay, that's
sort of practical, but still unnecessarily complicated. You should be able to process pure metal ores into corresponding hull; Perhaps 10 hull for one capsule. Not the current recipe, which I can't even remember... Remember that not every StarMade player is going to be one of us extremely dedicated alpha tester types who are willing to go through hundreds of files, thousands of videos, and millions of forum posts to find out what we need. Some people will look at crafting, look at all the strange trees and items, go "Um, what..." and just leave the factory interface. Furthermore, even if you're willing, why waste that effort when you can just use shops, stations, and pirates to get everything? Crafting is supposed to either:
- be as easy as or easier than getting things by other means, or
- Offer unique results that cannot be obtained otherwise.
If it doesn't fulfill at least one of these two requirements, people just won't use it 95% of the time. Just look at, say, Minecraft. Sure, you could go hunt down dungeons, NPC villages, and temples and slowly work your way up to a massive fortress and a full diamond set, but it's a lot easier to craft your "hull" equivalents (Stone block, brick, wooden planks, or whatever else you decide to use) and your weaponry and defense (Equivalent to shield equipment, weaponry, and tertiary modules here) than obtain those things any other way.
Then look at your average fantasy MMO. Often, you COULD craft things, but you have to spend huge amounts of time gathering crap and repeatedly making things you don't need to train up your crafting skills to a point where you can make useful gear. The result is that people usually just buy stuff off of the auction house or vendors (Equivalent buying from shops) or, later in the game, kill tough enemies in instances and get fancy boss-drop gear (Which is similar to killing large pirates in this game and getting ludicrous amounts of loot.
Killing enemies for, or buying, an Epic-tier
[Sword of the Ancient Hunters (+10) <+300Str><+240Stm><+10%HP>] in my hypothetical average fantasy MMO, and a
massive pile of 3240 Cannon Barrels, RadarJammers, and Overdrive Effect Modules here in Starmade, are going to be a lot more attractive to most people than spending days on end gathering tons of stuff from all over the game world to get roughly equivalent stuff.