diff --git a/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.spec.ts b/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.spec.ts
index 26c5412..1438892 100644
--- a/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.spec.ts
+++ b/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.spec.ts
@@ -253,6 +253,65 @@ describe('HudDockComponent', () => {
     expect(tab('Readout').getAttribute('aria-selected')).toBe('true');
   });
 
+  it('will not plot from a departure that was typed but never chosen', () => {
+    setReadout();
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('routing', true);
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('currentStar', { id: 3, name: "Barnard's Star", subtitle: '1.8 pc' });
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('routeOptions', [{ id: 7, name: 'Sirius', subtitle: '2.6 pc' }]);
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('defaultTab', 'routes');
+    fixture.detectChanges();
+    const plot = () => [...host().querySelectorAll<HTMLButtonElement>('button')].find((button) => button.textContent?.includes('Plot route'))!;
+    const type = (field: string, value: string) => {
+      const input = host().querySelector<HTMLInputElement>(`#route-${field}`)!;
+      input.value = value;
+      input.dispatchEvent(new Event('input'));
+      fixture.detectChanges();
+    };
+
+    type('to', 'Sir');
+    host().querySelector<HTMLButtonElement>('#dock-panel-routes ul button')!.click();
+    fixture.detectChanges();
+    // With the departure field empty, the view's own star stands in for it.
+    expect(plot().disabled).toBe(false);
+
+    // Text that names no chosen star is not a departure: plotting from the view's star instead
+    // would name one place and leave from another.
+    type('from', 'Sol');
+    expect(plot().disabled).toBe(true);
+
+    type('from', '');
+    expect(plot().disabled).toBe(false);
+
+    // A space is not text that names a star: the field looks empty, the scene offers nothing to
+    // choose for it, and the button going dead would have nothing on screen to explain it.
+    type('from', ' ');
+    expect(plot().disabled).toBe(false);
+
+    // The offer beside a refusal is the same request by another route, so it is held to the same
+    // test: moving the range with nothing to plot leaves the panel contradicting itself.
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('routeResult', { stars: [], totalPc: 0, neededRangePc: 1.8, gaveUp: false, least: true });
+    fixture.detectChanges();
+    const offer = () => host().querySelector<HTMLButtonElement>('[data-testid="route-summary"] button')!;
+    expect(offer().disabled).toBe(false);
+
+    type('from', 'Sol');
+    expect(offer().disabled).toBe(true);
+  });
+
+  it('does not replay the acquire wipe over the Routes panel, whose entries survive the trip', () => {
+    setReadout();
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('routing', true);
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('display', DEFAULT_HUD_DISPLAY);
+    fixture.componentRef.setInput('defaultTab', 'routes');
+    fixture.detectChanges();
+
+    // The wipe clips its panel for 380 ms, which swallows clicks on entries that are already there.
+    expect(host().querySelector('#dock-panel-routes')?.classList.contains('hud-acquire')).toBe(false);
+    tab('Display').click();
+    fixture.detectChanges();
+    expect(host().querySelector('#dock-panel-display')?.classList.contains('hud-acquire')).toBe(true);
+  });
+
   it('says the search gave up rather than that there is no route, when that is what happened', () => {
     fixture.componentRef.setInput('routing', true);
     fixture.componentRef.setInput('defaultTab', 'routes');
diff --git a/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.ts b/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.ts
index ddf757e..3a0ad5d 100644
--- a/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/features/hud/hud-dock.component.ts
@@ -186,9 +186,11 @@ function isWideViewport(): boolean {
       }
       <!-- Hidden rather than unmounted: the departure, destination and range it holds would
            otherwise reset on every trip to another tab, while the scene kept drawing the graph at
-           the old range. Hiding still replays the acquire wipe when it is shown again. -->
+           the old range. No acquire wipe, unlike the panels around it: this is the one that comes
+           back with what it had, so it is not acquiring anything — and for the 380 ms the wipe
+           runs, its clip path swallows clicks on the suggestions it just brought back. -->
       @if (routing()) {
-        <section id="dock-panel-routes" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="dock-tab-routes" [hidden]="activeTab() !== 'routes'" class="hud-acquire hud-brackets hud-surface pointer-events-auto mb-2 w-full max-w-xl px-4 py-3">
+        <section id="dock-panel-routes" role="tabpanel" aria-labelledby="dock-tab-routes" [hidden]="activeTab() !== 'routes'" class="hud-brackets hud-surface pointer-events-auto mb-2 w-full max-w-xl px-4 py-3">
           <app-routes-panel
             [result]="routeResult()"
             [pending]="routePending()"
diff --git a/src/app/features/hud/routes-panel.component.ts b/src/app/features/hud/routes-panel.component.ts
index 584aadb..9d17f5f 100644
--- a/src/app/features/hud/routes-panel.component.ts
+++ b/src/app/features/hud/routes-panel.component.ts
@@ -125,8 +125,9 @@ type Field = 'from' | 'to';
               @if (plotted.neededRangePc !== null) {
                 <button
                   type="button"
+                  [disabled]="!canPlot() || pending()"
                   (click)="raiseTo(plotted.neededRangePc)"
-                  class="text-accent underline decoration-accent/40 underline-offset-2 hover:decoration-accent focus-visible:outline-1 focus-visible:outline-accent"
+                  class="text-accent underline decoration-accent/40 underline-offset-2 disabled:opacity-40 disabled:no-underline enabled:hover:decoration-accent focus-visible:outline-1 focus-visible:outline-accent"
                 >
                   {{ format(plotted.neededRangePc) }} would reach.
                 </button>
@@ -184,8 +185,14 @@ export class RoutesPanelComponent {
   private readonly chosen = signal<Record<Field, RouteStarOption | null>>({ from: null, to: null });
   private readonly typed = signal<Record<Field, string>>({ from: '', to: '' });
 
-  /** Departure falls back to wherever the view already is, so one field is usually enough. */
-  private readonly departure = computed(() => this.chosen().from ?? this.currentStar());
+  /**
+   * Departure falls back to wherever the view already is, so one field is usually enough — but only
+   * while the field is empty. Text left in it that names no chosen star used to fall back all the
+   * same, so the panel read "Sol" and the route left from whatever the view had since flown to.
+   */
+  // Trimmed, as the scene trims the same text before offering matches for it: a field holding one
+  // space looks empty, offers nothing to choose, and would otherwise count as a departure.
+  private readonly departure = computed(() => this.chosen().from ?? (this.typed().from.trim() ? null : this.currentStar()));
 
   readonly canPlot = computed(() => this.departure() !== null && this.chosen().to !== null);
   readonly rangeLabel = computed(() => formatParsecs(this.rangePc()));