Is it that with a bit more upfront investment (or 'delayed gratification'), a system might be able to find shorter (or less energy-intensive) paths through the space that they are navigating to get to their targets?

I think it certainly does seem like when there is essentially some 'computational slack' ('extra line' say, slightly over-provisioned or just set-to-explore more) I'd guess there's a good chance that that could yield a better (cheaper/shorter) result than a brute-force (minimal-effort, perhaps more technically 'efficient') solution?

Unfortunately I don't really feel like I really went anywhere with what I said, but your very short comment made me wonder many things about what you meant! Appreciated!