I have finally given up on place % as my main system after almost 20 years of using this stat. I have another system that is formless as you say and it has shown good results for just over a year now but not all that much action and you require nerves of steel to follow it. I developed this from trying to modify my place % method and it uses some of the ideas mentioned here by barny. I just dropped the place % angle.

I now use a modified place % method to provide 'entertainment' selections to use in the interim.