I don't read all the wall of text (too wallish for me sorry) but what I can say about this:
- Total power doesn't count accessoiries bonuses. Only actual stats of the girl (including affection bonus and ampies bonus).
- For Bianca Clover and 5*, it depend if they are evolved or not. a 5* not max affection and not evolved is still weak after all.
- Total power is just ATK+DEF+HP. It doesn't count equipment slots nor abilities. So, even if a 5* seems weaker in term of total stats, she is still better if you look at her abilities.

Yes, 5* event girls (girls given by completing the even, not the girls featured in priority gacha) are (almost) weaker than other 5*. But they are still good and better than 3* and 4* (except some 4* like St Paulia who is better than more golds in term of stats).

So yes, at the end the stars matters (even if there is some exceptions).

Computed total power is basically HP + ATK + DEF + other bonuses thru affection and ampies (on helper squad power, it's just the raw HP + ATK + DEF of the girl/s; other bonuses are removed from the equation). Equipment bonus is not factored into the face value, but it should have an effect to some degree in battle. HP is the biggest factor; this is why the likes of St. Paulia break into 20k TP (which is usually 5*-tier TP) because she has the highest HP among 4*, off the top of my head, merely making TP only a crude measure of strength.

Event girls are generally much better filler units than 4/3/2* because they are of 5*/gold rarity, which grants 2 unique passives unlike that of the lower rarities. Moreover, they also have the benefit of maxed skill levels and 4 equipment slots, which makes up for relatively lower stats or skill rates (Lavender and Edelweiss come to mind) when compared to 5*s drawn from the gacha.

Stars matter because again, having 2 passives (this is where synergies come into play) make a lot of difference, but on the other hand, it's been stressed out that you do not need full 6* squads to clear a lot of the content. Even squads full of event girls should fare decently, at least.

@Steele:

Maxing affection doubles the bonus received, which is why even if your 2* is unevolved, her stats can compare to 5*s of slightly higher level. At 40-50% affection vs. Max affection, the bonus your 2* is receiving from that is essentially 3.5-4x what the 5*s receive (affection bonus is linear, so 50% is twice the bonus of 25%, so 100% would be twice 50% except the doubling makes it 4x, slightly less due to higher rarities getting bigger base bonuses.

As Maotd mentioned, if your 2* is evolved, that will result in a substantial power advantage over a similar level, but unevolved 5* (since it's essentially 40-50 extra levels). Another thing to keep in mind.

In the end, if you're a power gamer/optimal setup type guy, you're going to ditch 2/3*s and eventually 4*s for the 5/6*s due to superior passives in addition to stats. Roentgen went over the advantages 5* event girls have over 2/3/4*s and even have some ways to balance their statistical/passive inferiority to their 5* gacha counterparts. The reason you'll want full 5/6*s is Passive ability synergy. This is ultimately the deciding factor of who makes the team and who doesn't (unless you whale hard enough to get lots of 6*s who auto-kick out the 5*s and below) because synergy can drastically boost a team's effectiveness more than simple leveling (and of course you'll eventually hit the level cap on your girls).

Playing from Day 1, RNGod is finally kind with me \o/.

->Open Spoiler<-

On top of that she's one of my favorite 6*.

Well done ^^

@Steele

I hate to correct Ivan but max affection only gives you a 20% additional bonus over where you would be. Evolution then doubles that.
Still, at low levels affection bonuses are quite large compared to base stats, so it's less surprising that a low level max affection 2* out stats a 50% affection 5* at a similar level. As the levels go up, the affection bonus stays the same so the 5* will pull ahead in time.
Total power also doesn't even begin to include skills and abilities.
Because this game doesn't involve any actual player input in battles other than the occasional solar blast, glass cannons per se are less useful - your girls will take damage, since there is no control on your end on dodging/positioning or anything else. They have to be able to survive enough hits to take full advantage of their attack power until your units are so high level that they can usually one round enemies.

Thanks everyone for your input

Originally Posted by kringley

@Steele

I hate to correct Ivan but max affection only gives you a 20% additional bonus over where you would be. Evolution then doubles that.
Still, at low levels affection bonuses are quite large compared to base stats, so it's less surprising that a low level max affection 2* out stats a 50% affection 5* at a similar level. As the levels go up, the affection bonus stays the same so the 5* will pull ahead in time.
Total power also doesn't even begin to include skills and abilities.
Because this game doesn't involve any actual player input in battles other than the occasional solar blast, glass cannons per se are less useful - your girls will take damage, since there is no control on your end on dodging/positioning or anything else. They have to be able to survive enough hits to take full advantage of their attack power until your units are so high level that they can usually one round enemies.

Ah, mixed up the Evo bonus with the Max bonus. My bad.

And yeah, Glass Cannons are bad. Fortunately, no girl is an irredeemable glass cannon (as in, will die in 2 hits regardless of what buffs your team has), but Ability synergy on teams is REALLY helpful later on, as TP is a rough estimate that is skewed by HP and the fact it does not take into account Passive Abilities or skill usefulness.

Synergy means 2 Knights granting 15% party power for net 30% bonus as team setup strategy...yes?