That comb play makes only beekeeping complex. It does not bring any advantage to beekeeping.
Comb is the basic infrastructure of the hive, without it there is no place to reproduce or store food stuffs. It is so basic that the bees can be induced to build it most anytime except during winter cluster. The advantage it has is that it gives the beekeeper an easy way to gather honey and bee bread.
Main points are:
1) raise much workers for main yield.
2) Good queen gives much workers and give to it enough space laying area.
It prevents swarming. Swarming is yield enemy Nro 1
3) Put hives on good pastures. Pastures give the yield.
Agreed, and the easiest way to prevent swarming is to keep the bees building comb. It's not fool proof but bees busy building combs are less likely to swarm as they're always in the process of enlarging their home. When they stop enlarging, it gets crowded and they change to swarming to eleviate overpopulation in the hometown.
Good pastures is always the best solution to good harvest but the hardest thing to determine or maintain is good pastures. there are so many variables that an exceptionally productive sight one year can be a disaster the next. Weather extremes, crop choice, and urbanization are only 3 of the variable factors.
To play with different kind of cells doest not give more workers or honey or better pastures. It is so called MUDA like Japanese say: waste of process.
The bees naturally build 3 basic types of comb: brood, drone, and storage. True all 3 can and are used for storage but why fixate on comb size. Let the bees build what they need, when they need it.
Brian says that don't worry about yield, but he has lost the star and does not remember, where. Only under developed people hunt big honey yields.
Once again, Finsky, you've chosen to misunderstand what I've been saying. For many people maximum honey yields are very important and necessary. Picking productive pastures is only 1 of the things that accomplishes that. Other things are managing the bees for swarm prevention, large brood productio 9more bees make more honey), and less stressful management of the bees.
For larger brood production the hive should be allowed as much room as the queen needs, which is why I don't use queen excluders or advocate their use except under certain circumstances.
To ease the stress within the hive: slatted racks, SBBs, type of entrance, and directional orientation of the hive are some of the types of things that reduce bearding (which is stressful and more work), provides natural airconditioning, uses natural instincts of bees to the beekeepers advantage, and even how early/late bees work.
An old proverb (origin unknown) that I think applicable: A man proud of his intelligence does not recognize his ignorance.