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Indeed, the particular combinations of rings that you have at any moment is not really preserved for a long time, nor hard to improve when sub-optimal. Piece values only have meaning in more conventional chess games because you typically will be stuck with a piece for a very long time, possibly to the end of the game, and if you have a weaker piece there is not much you can do to trade it for something more valuable. Here the actual combination is more like a positional advantage. Temporarily having the Bishop lose its moves by combining it with a Pawn is similar to blocking a good diagonal for a Bishop with a Pawn in orthodox Chess. (The Bishop might keep some of its other moves in that case, but here the 'Pawn' will temporarily acquire Knight ability, which should provide even better compensation.)

Yet you probably would not strive for combining your own Bishops with a Pawn. But remember that you can also 'turnover' an enemy Bishop by merging it with your Pawn, and that would be extremely advantageous, as now it is the opponent that loses the Bishop, and won't get it back when you split them up again. It would in fact be pretty hard for him to get it back at all. So it is really the value of the individual rings that play the role of piece values here.