JackFlash

So I'm trying to get used to the idea of building characters in Hero by working on various characters from different forms of media. One of my first stops was the old Blue Bomber, Megaman.
 
...And there I hit a dead end. His classic weapon, the Mega Buster, is an energy weapon (takes in solar energy, releases pellets of solid sunlight. Seriously.) and that's simple enough. Energy Blast, OIF, problem solved. But it's got two gimmicks to it.
 
The first gimmick is that it can be charged for two extra stages, providing two higher levels of damage. I figure bumping them up a die for each level ought to be fine, with the final one also having an AoE element I'll figure out later. But, since it doesn't run on Charges that can be Boosted, I'm not entirely certain how to create a mechanic where you hold back an attack for a Phase or two to make it more powerful. Charging it also doesn't take any extra energy to fire than a normal shot (that is, 0 END either way. It's kind of a broken weapon for tabletop.)
 
The second gimmick is what's called in-universe the Variable Weapon System/Variable Tool System. When he defeats boss robots, he gains either one of their weapons or a weapon based on the weapons they were using. These have Charges, unlike the main weapon, and most of them are gonna be barriers of some kind or repainted Energy Blasts. But I'm uncertain of what the best way to represent that would be. A Variable Power Pool with a series of blank slots, OIF, and a limitation on max number carried and another limitation saying "Must be claimed from another Robot Master" or something along those lines?

Depends on the genre they're running. In Heroic campaigns, they can just buy it, but you're supposed to pay for everything in Superheroic campaigns.

I've been mulling over a major change to the app; I want to do away with the export template and read directly from the .hdc files HERODesigner uses.  Far and away, the most common support question I get is from people trying to read from their .hdc file directly.  My rationale for using a custom XML export template was originally to provide the app insulation from upstream XML changes Dan Simon may introduce... after having seen it in action for the last year and a bit, I don't think it's worth the trouble.  This would be a breaking change once it goes live, so a major point increase makes sense
 
Below is a collection of random thoughts going through my head right now.  Please feel free to chime in with any comments and suggestions.
 
Features I want to implement:
Character portraits Opening multiple characters at once tablet support This doesn't mean writing separate UI for iPads/Tablets, this is only to scale the app properly  
Things possibly on the chopping block:
The H.E.R.O. tool (remove or upgrade to 6th edition) People get confused and think the app is only for 5th edition because of this tool The "Library" docs They bloat the app size The overall look and feel of the app Anyone interested in helping is welcome  
Stuff for nerds:
I'm contemplating open sourcing the code, any interest? The app is written using the React-Native framework (JavaScript based, non-negotiable) There's some messy corners that could need some love I am in bad need of unit tests, note to self...stop slacking Need to switch the storage system to use a proper DB in order to house all the data for images/characters Should probably look for a good image scaling lib for portraits Switching to reading a .hdc file directly would be a huge impact We would gain better granularity than we have now in terms of powers, skills, etc Would open up more possibilities for the app in the long run   
At any rate, I'm soliciting feedback, so have it.