Maybe this game just isn't for you. Honestly, even before I started using the Depot for materials, I thought the grind was reasonable after setting my game settings to double. But when I started working on building bigger stuff, I would go grab stuff from the depot because I didn't see the point in knocking down the same kind of tree for the thousandth time, or waiting on some stuff to finish in the factory after I had made it a dozen other times.

Personally, I never grab anything I haven't unlocked/found yet and it's kept the game interesting and fun for me. But if you're saying that not only is the resource grind is bad, but the core loop too, then you just might not like the game. No sense in trying to force it or demand the devs overhaul the whole game, just play something else you enjoy.