I believe, unlike you, that having a nonspecific or low fitness function is good for novel problem solving. It will allow for the problem solving agents to traverse across the low valleys in order to reach isolated and possibly more optimal peaks. Also, in my paper I chose to apply the shifting balance theory of Sewall. His theory is related to the idea that small interbreeding groups that get isolated from the main population will be more like to explore novel areas of the problem space. The reason for this is that a single mutation will have much more sway in a population of 5 than in a population of 100.
Large populations tend to get pulled toward the nearest fitness peak and stay there.
I must make the distinction that I consider an agent to have a collection of ideas that are interbreeding in their mind. Using this as context it may make my conclusions more understandable. This surprised me. I would have applied the fitness function more to the individual nodes than the links. Or so my introspection leads me to believe.