Yes there are many steps in the process, some for stepped rifle cases may actually go through a neck annealing process separate from the initial softening...when the brass is worked over and over it can get brittle...
I have found Starline Brass to be on the softer side and it is because they have the handloader in mind, where they will rework their brass between loadings. As seen with the various differences in chamber dimensions for our 10mm guns, some chambers are loose, lack support in some areas, thus we need full range of sizing to insure more reliability...This is why I use the "pass-through" method first to iron out any swelling that is very low and reachable by the standard sizing dies. The shell plate or shell holder along with the radius of the carbide ring in the sizer just doesn't quite get it all on some brass cases. So we see more work hardening of the 10mm brass in a shorter period of use.
With Bolt action and fixed action Rifles, they usually only size the case necks for proper bullet tension. This is because the brass fits the chamber of the gun they are using it in and it keeps the work hardening to a minimum...
The electro or electroless nickel plating process is a whole nother step in that process... 8)
Pretty neat stuff there!