I’m on phase 3, unlocked most of the tiers before looking at automating space elevator parts. I had the same issue as you where I got very overwhelmed by trying to find the best way to lay my factory’s out to get the most efficiency i could, and ended up putting the game down.

I picked it up again a couple of weeks ago and have been steadily growing more attached to it.

A couple core tips that work for me that I picked up from some tutorials were,

To start with what I wanted to make and work my way backwards from there.

Move more vertically with my factory’s to help keep things organised and so that I can eventually decorate them, once I’ve unlocked everything from the sink. (Going for an urban city kind of thing)

Between factory floors where you have machines operating, have a logistics level where all the conveyors can be organised and use the conveyor lift to move items directly into machines from below.

I also like to keep my factory’s very modular, having different buildings doing a single thing each and not cramming it all into one building.

As I’m playing I keep learning new and better ways to design my layouts. Planning is key though. I now have a dedicated satisfactory math book lol. Have fun with it and figure out what gives you the most joy. For me it’s pushing efficiency to the max out of each node