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Soldermask is seldom applied by silkscreen in industrial applications. The two most common masks are LPI (liquid photoimagable) and dry film - both are photoetched in a manner similar to the copper layers, but using different chemical processes.
Look for references describing "SMOBC" (solder mask over bare copper), "LPI", and "dry film" using a search engine. There is a lot of information on the web.
Your question about "assembly layer" is a mystery. There is no such layer in standard PCB layup terminology. Do you mean "overlay", "silkscreen", or "legend"? These are the top and bottom information layers that print the component ID and/or description on top of the mask layer. If that is what you are asking about - no, there is no practical substitute for silkscreen when it comes to printing the component information on the board.
If you are trying to find a way to do the mask and silkscreen at home, there is no easy way to do-it-yourself.
You do not need the silkscreen layer for your assembly drawing, but you will need some layer with component outlines and reference designations. If you make your part with an oversized outline on the silkscreen layer, you may not want it on the assembly drawing. In this case, you would also define the actual part outline on an assembly layer and select this layer as the basis for your assembly drawing. The same holds true with the reference designators. You may need to remove some off the silkscreen layer due to interference with vias, but want all the ref des present on the assembly drawing. Depending on your cad system, you can either define a second ref des entry on the assembly layer when you make the part, or do it at the board level by block selecting all the parts and creating a new ref des label on the assembly layer. Your assembly drawing is then made from the assembly layer and not the silkscreen layer.
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