>>10526742storylines? what do you mean?
the main thing is just division of labor. particularly with working on automation you'd get interrupted by having to go do other shit and it'd slow you down a ton. now my buddy can work on machines 24/7 while i run around the map gathering shit, unlocking blueprints, etc. he never has to have his train of thought working on autism stuff interrupted to go deposit items or find rare resources and i get to do whatever without having to worry about how i'm gonna get 100 electric dildos to unlock rocket ships
sometimes you only need a few pixels to say a lot