
Dont sleep on trucks! You can record a route you drive, and set it to repeat. They do need coal as fuel, but you can set up a truck station as a fueling station and have your trucks stop by on their route.
I usually recommends belts for short range, trucks for medium to long, and then trains are for crossing the map to other regions. Trains take some planning though. Its best to have two tracks running parallel with each going one direction only, or else you run into problems when you have more than one train.
All that said, you can finish the game with just belts. The first time I finished thr game I only went from the southern grass fields, east to the oil lake, and slightly north to the autumn looking area with aluminum.
I think thats a game where previous expectations play a big role. I was okay with it being a simple platformed with an interesting story.