In some ways, this reminds me of some of the efforts by SPI back in the '70s, when great effort was made to develop a game of substantial complexity, only to have some crucial subsystem rely solely on a die roll. Unused build points may be accumulated between turns, but the number of units one can build at a planet, on a single turn, is limited to the amount of build points that planet generates. As one might expect, the best units can only be built by the higher tech level worlds. There is also a research option. At the cost of 25 build points, a player can roll two dice, and see what type of breakthrough they have achieved - things such as better missiles, deep space navigation, and so on.
Players can also invest in upgrading the technology level of allied and controlled planets.
As stated before, the only player pieces one finds on the board are the fleet markers. The reason for this is that the only player pieces one finds in the entire game are the fleet markers - everything else is kept on a log sheet. What you have at a planet is annotated on that planet's row on the log sheet. What you have in a fleet is annotated on that fleet's row on the log sheet. Combat in JUMP is abstract.