I guess this got lost in the wall of text :) > But the problem there is deeper: it's not smart pointers vs raw pointers, but that each small object lives in it

I guess this got lost in the wall of text :) > But the problem there is deeper: it's not smart pointers vs raw pointers, but that each small object lives in its own heap allocation. Smart-pointers do encourage to create small heap allocations though (because unlike raw pointers they manage ownership).