The new wriggle animation for the "friends" really helps with the pace of how they work in the game.
The 50% chance to duplicate after taking a flesh-nap didn't happen much for me at all, so it felt like i was holding the same amount as i had when i collected them.
One thing i would like to see in the game is a meter that shows how full you are of "friends" inside your parts, just so you have a better feel on how many you have.
I'm still thinking about how to deal with reproduction- I have the option of constant egg production with the flip of a switch, but it might be an unpleasant mess if it means hitting max 'friends' every time. I'm just erring on the side of fewer 'friends' for now, to keep cleanup easy, and avoid chasing down individual 'friends'.
I've thought of adding in a meter, too, but it'd probably come with some sort of 'limit'- it might work well with the next content update.