Pre-comp / pre-render workflow?

I've just submitted a feature request at : http://www.apple.com/feedback/motion.html
I wanted to find out if anyone has a workflow that works well for this. I have one but it can be tedious when working with complex animations.
In AE we have the concept of a pre-comp, or a pre-render. Basically you can take a bunch of layers and group them, and pre-render them. You can do the same thing in motion a couple different ways. Motion doesn't have pre-comps, but rather just groups. But you can't render the group within the .motn file. You have to take this group to another motn file, export it, then re-import the ProRes4444 .mov into the larger project. THEN, if you need to make any adjustments, you have to open the smaller motn file, make adjustments independent of the main project, re-export... reNAME export (since the larger project is -using- the media), then relink the media in the overall project.
I'm not an advanced user of AE, but I do understand the workflow and I think motion would benefit from a way to break down the layers into pre-renders, but in a much more straightforward way.
I do know that you can export a selection, and then choose to re-import to media after export, but then you end up with extra layers that you have to hide, and you still have to reimport that .mov and replace the layer you exported. Not very clean.
Additionally, when creating a sub-project, it makes sense to make it the best quality, so if you have something small as part of your project, and you export selection, it will be that same small size in a larger file format. For example, you have a tiny circle spinning in your HD project and you want to "pre-render" it. You export that layer and you have a .mov that's HD size, but your circle is a tiny portion of that .mov. So if you wanted to zoom in on it it would be super pixelated. So the right thing to do is export selection and have the layer autofill into the HD boundaries.
Do the advanced users work their complex projects like this too?...

David/Andy:
Really good points guys. I certainly am not saying Motion should be like AE. I am not starting a thread that is a comparison of the two. Each has it's own workflow, and Andy I think you bring up a really good point. I rarely use clones but they are a powerful tool in the right circumstance. I am curious about more complex design workflows and how some of us push the limits.
David, I agree with your point about keeping Motion simple. Apple is proficient at keeping their software/hardware simple. Software that serves one purpose, or devices that have only a few buttons. The elegance is what we all like.
Additionally, to your point Andy, we can do things withOUT precoming in Motion. Just keeping things in layers is good enough really. Like I said, I'm not really an AE user, but I do understand the concepts. I like the idea of a pre-rendered portion of the animation. Just seems to take the processor intensive portions out of creating complex animations. Moreover I think I am just wondering if I could create more complex animations WITH some of the design workflows that AE offers (like pre-rendering).
At the end of the day I feel like I can do SO much with Motion, and have wiggle room to play around more. I'm definitely excited about a new version of Motion, and to see what sort of new features make it in. Perhaps nodal workflows, perhaps more 3D design tools... we'll see.

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