Riveting read and I adore how the map visuals are coming together, beautiful work.
"One could argue that two more button presses don’t sound that bad. [...] "
This reminded me of what's called 'menu diving' in music gear like grooveboxes and synthesizers. A problem created by a plethora of things to do but too few controls to do them with. The considered design approach you use in your game isn't always done by music hardware makers which can result in lengthy submenus-in-submenus. Whereas in games this is problematic because tension in the game makes you frustrated with slowdowns (plus also, fatigue), in music it's problematic because inspiration doesn't hang around forever, and speed keeps you in the flow (plus also, fatigue).