I think having a weak bot policy has caused Splinterlands a lot of problems as time has passed. They were happy to take the spell book fee for opening massive numbers of bot accounts, but it was at the expense of the player environment and the game economy.
I like that you are thinking of ways to counter bots from the beginning, this speaks to a "bots no bueno" culture, which I like.
Rising Star have a very strict no-bot policy, I think Hive games should protect themselves from activity that aims to drain resources in only one direction. Games need players who engage and transact, economies need to have minimal leaks out of the ecosystem. We are small pools, we can be drained quickly by large leaks.
Everything looks to be going in the right direction with HoloZing, good luck and happy hunting !
I agree complete with your SL take.