Attune as a Setup Action
A random thread on the topic of too-pervasive application of attune in Duskvol had this "oh-yeah!" moment for me that I feel is worth mentioning:
It's legit to make a set-up action "center myself in the force (attune)" on yourself to give your scrap (or whatever) roll better footing.
Set up doesn't strictly require a roll; that's dependent on context. The PC is trading time, risk or both to get potency or improve position, so I don't feel that this has the unbalancing nature of having Attune being what you roll to apply the Force.