All my layout is snap-line center rule and I use my Big Al all the time for it. I keep the fence on mine though, because for members such as floor joists and rafters I just pick the top reference face, and go off of that.
I've not tried using story poles, but I find that my lay
flat tape measures are invaluable along with the ink line and Big Al. That combination seems to be very fast and accurate for me.
I keep on dabbling with knifing my lines but I haven't gone over to it yet. Perhaps it's because I do the joinery while it is rough cut that I haven't been convinced of it's worth. It's seems hard to strike a really accurate visible line. In planed or even hewn timbers it seems like it would work great. Even if I am doing a planed frame, I do the joinery in the rough and plane it with my Makita planers right before it goes to the site. All my joinery is housed and I have the ink lines to reference to, so I can dial the timbers in pretty well with the planer.