Quick sketch of my idea. Yay for MS Paint!

I feel a bit mindblown by this.

Wouldn't just dragging the items individually into each pool be easier?

What kind of device are you building this for? I was assuming you are building for desktop (keyboard and mouse).

Currently so, but it would be possible to port to an environment where you drag (mobile).

What is the range of the variables? 10s, 100s or 1000s of units to manipulate?

From 0 to approx 1000.

You select the variables (x) you would like to manipulate and then spin the "wheel" below.

I agree it adds some "fun" in manipulating it.

? It's the simpliest system possible... Old Settlers used it: http://imageshack.us/f/337/settlers.jpg/

Totally misunderstood your original statement :)

I understand the use now. Indeed, consistency of ratios is something cleverly achieved by this system.

It isn't critical for my system though, and the added complexity would probably turn the players off. You see, with my system, this is an operation the players will need to tackle repeatedly for several different populations, therefore I want to keep a clean design. The reasoning behind leaving the sliders behind was to replace it with something simpler. A hierarchy, while in theory (and from a computer's perspective) simpler in design, is actually more complex to grasp with a single sweep, and I'm looking for a more simple graphic depiction of the system.

Perhaps I'm trying to achieve something that can't be conceived of in 2d :)

Personally I'm starting to think that maybe just going with some kind of system that is visually similar to a table with a pile of coins and cash may be your best bet for something more simple than the traditional slider system. Most people are fairly familiar with counting physical money. Have buttons to quickly 'combine' stacks in to nice, easy to see blocks of higher values, or drag them to a spot to split them up into piles of smaller coins.

Clever.

Not sure what to replace coins with though, unless I divide a system much similar to the roman army:

Legion = > Cohort => Centuria => Legionnaire.

Merging some legionnaires would return a centuria, and so on and so forth (with different numbers obviously). I feel though that it could be taxing on the numbers I can tackle. I can't quite make a centuria and a half unless I allow it?

Perhaps sliders is the way to go afterall...

I can easily envision how you'd break the units into smaller pieces, but the reverse process might be tedious (regroup 50 individuals in groups of 10 or 5 might require a lot of manipulations).