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The official rules use power level to build armies but I’ve heard this creates unbalanced games. Is it better to try and utilize 40K points instead?

No it isn't. Power levels can be abused in 40K due to the high customizability of units. Apoc doesn't have that. It has few choices for units and they are all made to be in line with each other.

DeathKorp_Rider wrote:
The official rules use power level to build armies but I’ve heard this creates unbalanced games. Is it better to try and utilize 40K points instead?

Apoc doesn't have all the minutia of regular 40k. Wargear is handled on a unit level instead of a model level so power works fine. In fact everything is handled on a unit level instead of a model level.

So the stat line for example is not Each SM has whatever. It's this unit of 5 SM for x power has this many attacks and shoots this many times. And a unit of 10 SM for Y power has double the attacks wounds and shots.

The issue with Power Level in 40K is that upgrades aren't represented. A bare-bones squad costs as much as one fully kitted up.

Apocalypse has far fewer options, and they all cost PL, so they're appropriately represented in the accounting.

Just use PL for Apoc. It works fine.

Points are also a waste of time at an Apoc scale game. That's why they don't come with them.

PL in Apoc is not the same as PL in 40k. In Apoc, PL is fine because units have little to no customisation or minutiae associated with them when it comes to the crunch.

In Apoc PL *is* the points scale, while you can - in theory - use the 40k matched play points, you wouldn't want to because its functionally an entirely different game and the 40k points are essentially meaningless because you're paying for stats and mechanics that don't exist in Apoc.