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When we were playing, Jeremy, it seemed to me, on first consideration, that you were over-reaching, trying to do too much at once [I know, I know - me, of all people, is saying that, hard to believe.] Cutting back on the number of moves per turn could help control the game, but it is possible that you are trying to play on too many levels at once to use everything you are trying to use. I found Chieftain Chess worked so much better than Fortress Chess because it was so much simpler and more direct. What's the minimum way to represent the levels you really want to represent? 

The feature that bothered me, of everything in the game, is the ability to form an 'infinite slider', a large piece that acts as a missile. In the games we played, that missile seemed pretty unstoppable; we hadn't found a real missile defense. I tried, by pushing individual pieces out as 'skirmishers' in front of my 'main body' of pieces, but found that tactic was not adequate in the game. Without any defense, powerful short range pieces are sitting ducks for cheap sliders.

Still, as I'm thinking about it now, I suspect that for what you want to do, you possibly haven't gone far enough. 

Consider a board where every location may contain more than space for a piece to occupy. Positions could hold powers, piece augmentations, parts of larger pieces, all of which may be assembled on the spot, or maybe at a different, special location. Players would start out with identity markers to place on the board. These markers could hold some varying numbers of parts together to make up the chess pieces. The markers would be colored glue of varied amounts/stickiness, able to hold a greater or lesser piece together, nothing more. The pieces are what move and capture. The markers are merely placed on the board, in a square, on a particular piece part, say. Then the colored piece may move to another square, where it might pick up another part. You might have 3 parts/square, with different squares having different parts. Once a part is picked up, it's gone. Just one idea from near where you're looking. Enjoy. ;-)