Interface can certainly alleviate micromanagement, and reduce it in some cases to a manageable level, but the more the game has additional features that require tracked, the more micromanagement is a thing.
I'm a firm believer in the old quote about engineers (though it's also said of designers), perfection, and nothing being left to take away - not to say everything should be removed, but to say extra bells and whistles should always be looked askance at, in a "do we really need this" way.
Admiral Gorshkov, the man who nearly single-handedly built the Soviet Navy from a coastal force to an ocean-going, world-wide force, (in other words, an Extremely Focused man) had a sign on the wall of his office which read:
"The Best is the Enemy of Good Enough"
The Best is always a laudable goal, but it almost always comes at the expense of actually producing something that is "good enough" for the majority of sailors - or gamers.
Dog Knows, I've proposed lots of 'innovations' that pushed Good Enough to its limits and beyond, but I hope at the very least I've provided reasons behind the proposals and am always looking out for simpler ways to accomplish my personal gaming goals. This tidbit of wisdom I've learned the hard way, having played far too many ghastly complexities of games of all kinds earlier in life: board, miniatures rules, and computer monstrosities: no game genre has a monopoly on Totally Unworkable Mechanics!
But
By pushing the limits beyond what is Good Enough, we frequently find the compromise that is closer to Commercial Gaming Perfection: that which is elegant, works on most of our computers, does not send us screaming from the room in frustration, and allows us to play
almost the game we want to play - which, in turn, keeps us coming back to these Forums to suggest "just a few more tweaks" . . .
