I have no research to back this up, but I'd expect that the more unknown and unpredictable your problem and search space are, the bigger the benefit of an evolu

I have no research to back this up, but I'd expect that the more unknown and unpredictable your problem and search space are, the bigger the benefit of an evolutionary approach. But it's never going to be efficient; it's inherently incredibly inefficient. It only really makes sense when no other method will work.