can't afford animation doesn't communicate well.

[7yl4r]

Need to add text or something to better communicate "you can't afford this"

[mileswest07]

How about "not enough minerals"? :P

Or create a dummy event that gets fired if a user attempts to begin a research, but does not have the right "research points"/costs. Leave it to the developer to create a listener to handle it however he/she wants.

[7yl4r]

I like the idea of triggering an event for the developer to handle in their UI.

[mileswest07]

It's less code you have to make, and more freedom for the developer to customize as they wish.