Stop hiding options when they're not possible

[durbal]

Here is Geledi. I would like to ask them to join my Customs Union. I cannot. Why? I have no idea.

So I do my usual little dance and have to go from the context menu on the map to the Interactions tab on the country screen because it shows greyed out options (why should I have to do that? Dunno but I do).

Also no ability to ask them to join a Customs Union. There are tabs to show unavailable Diplomatic Plays, but alas the Invite to Customs Union button is missing.

Where did it go? It exists for Tripolitania and many other countries.

It would be great to know why I can't invite them to a Customs Union, but here I am scratching my head. If only there were a way to tell the player why something isn't possible, perhaps by being able to mouse over an Invite to Customs Union button that is always present and isn't randomly hidden.

 

[Lord Canterbury]

How do you even find that menu? I've always just used the diplomatic lens. All custom unions are listed with diplo cost, and whether they'd accept or not, or need an obligation, along with a colour coded map to suit, and a button to invite.
The lens' are so much better than clicking by country... it tells you everything you need to know.

 

[lilunxm12]

maybe they were part of another union?

 

[durbal]

maybe they were part of another union?

It's because they were Isolationist. If they were in another union you can ask them to switch.

My ultimate point is that the UI simply needs to say why I can't perform that action. Clearly something in the UI triggered that it should be hidden, so instead just make it greyed out.

And don't make the context menu have different options from the other menus...please. It's so confusing.

 

[lilunxm12]

It's because they were Isolationist. If they were in another union you can ask them to switch.

My ultimate point is that the UI simply needs to say why I can't perform that action. Clearly something in the UI triggered that it should be hidden, so instead just make it greyed out.

And don't make the context menu have different options from the other menus...please. It's so confusing.

as @Lord Canterbury said, currently the best way in game to check why you can't do something is to go check diplomatic lens, not a fan of this either.

 

[Lord Canterbury]

as @Lord Canterbury said, currently the best way in game to check why you can't do something is to go check diplomatic lens, not a fan of this either.

I think for about the first day I played, I found the lens counter-intuitive.... but now that I've got used to them I think I'd struggle going back to a game without them... it might be tough going back to the EU4 diplomacy interface now. The Political lens and Diplomatic lens in particular are the way I manage all diplomatic actions and decrees.

I just found the "right click" menu that the OP is talking about... I never knew it existed! I certainly would not want to be using that as my primary interface... it seems primarily intended as a shortcut to the country/sate screens, rather than a practical way to interact with counties.

 

[durbal]

Diplomatic lens you say? (How many menus do there need to be!!?!?)

Guess who's hiding! Geledi is nowhere to be found.

 

[CaesarVincens]

Is that the 1.2 beta version of the diplo lens action list?

In 1.1, when I open the diplo lens to diplomatic actions. I can click on customs union and any "potential" custom union members are highlighted in green or red, green if I can ask and red if I can't. "Non-potential" countries are left in "blank white". Potential countries are also listed out, but with info only in the tooltip, not in plain view like your image.

Definitely agree that many windows/UIs don't clearly present info.

 

[Lord Canterbury]

Guess who's hiding! Geledi is nowhere to be found.

Geledi will be shown on the map right next to that list. Presumably in red because you are unable to form a customs union with it. If you hover on the Geleni on the map it will tell you why.
The game uses primarily map based interfaces rather than list based interfaces. It took me a couple of days to get used to map based interfaces and start using them to their full extent. I found it much better once I did.

 

[hagerhink]

Yes, I agree, we shouldn't be hiding options like this, for exactly the reasons you mention. For 1.2 we've made a few improvements to this, and this seems to be a bug, so thank you for reporting it!

 

[Oglesby]

Diplomatic lens you say? (How many menus do there need to be!!?!?)

View attachment 951325

Guess who's hiding! Geledi is nowhere to be found.

If you hover over Geledi on the map while using the lens and you option selected, the tooltip should give you more info (which should include why the option isn't available)