SE Veteran's Feedback on Backpack Building/Auto-craft

I love space engineers so much that I put 1200 hours into the first game, and have been trying out the new VS2 slice the last two days. I'm still very excited to see how SE2 will develop, but if you'll hear me out I have a couple ideas on how backpack building can be improved.

1. First, I love being able to start from nothing. HUUGGGE improvement over SE1. I was a little confused with the UI for backpack building at first. The game says that by pressing 'R' you can build with either ore OR components, as if they're two different resources, but behind the scenes you're clearly just autocrafting from ore. I think this organization is misleading. It sets up this idea that you only need ores to build, when the construction pipeline is very clearly component based. If the two screens are simplified into one UI with components as the primary focus, I think this can be fixed.

For example,

Having a UI with both in-line respectively, makes for an easier understanding of the relationship between components and there dependent ores. So that players aren't mislead into thinking they only need ores and have to relearn the actual mechanic later down the line. i.e,. put the focus on components

I'm not a UI engineer so maybe put them in a different column or something idk, but the fact that I couldn't remember what component needed which ore (and the required quantity) while making this image speaks volumes to how much this is a good idea.

It would also help teach players how inefficient backpack building is to a smelter or assembler (e.g., 150kg iron makes 18 plates in a smelter, but 6 in the backpack), so they're learning that fundamental relationship early, and are encouraged to make more complex machines as soon as possible. This would consequently make progression/flow feel more natural, because right now using a smelter feels almost detached from the gameplay loop thats been designed up until this point.

2. I also think that auto-crafting while welding is almost... too simple. I think its really important that players need to be thinking about components at the earliest possible point rather than ore.

This could be done by turning the auto-craft feature into a "convenience" toggle option, at the start screen, spawn pop-up or even as a game setting itself, and instead making players produce components by opening a "backpack production" menu within the character's inventory. I think this is a mechanic that many players are already familiar with from other popular games, like rust, minecraft, the forest, the last of us, etc, and its a layer of complexity that both veterans and newcomers would find the most engaging while maintaining the highest simplicity.

Overall, I like the new mechanics. Love being able to start from nothing, as well as see the ore total while mining/crafting. I think you're heading in the right direction with the production loop at this moment, but the things I listed could make this more clear to newcomers, and complex to veterans.

TL;DR

1. The UI for auto-crafting is backwards. The item of focus should be on components not ores, so that players are directed to understand the flow of construction, especially for when raw ores can't be used later down the line. This can be done by simplifying the two "ores/components" screen for welding, into one UI, showing components foremost and a smaller secondary feature/column for the ores.

2. Double down on the component-based pipeline by making auto-craft a convenience feature toggle-able in the settings. Players need to learn how components are made early, So it isn't a daunting new feature when they eventually need to build a smelter. Instead components can be crafted from ores inside the inventory, which is consistent with games like The Last of Us, which is both familiar and encourages players to learn whats expensive and how fabrication efficiency changes between backpack and machines.