GalCiv3 Forums
I can only assume $100 USD to help you bug test an incomplete alpha build is a poorly though out April fool's joke.
You do not like it, then don't buy it. Is it really that hard to understand?
There is no obligation to bug test or play tha alpha. The purchase price is for the game as well as all the expansions and DLC. When the beta arrives another price will be given without the DLC or expansion offer,
Coming from a sales / business development background, this is a terrible strategy which rewards a handful of diehards and alienates the vastly larger pool of potential customers on Steam.
Difficult to build consumer support when you're charging crazy money for it. Good to see Stardock is being run as a club, not a business.
As Frogboy said on the Steam forums:
When GalCiv III is finished (next year) its list price will be $49.95.
We expect to release new DLC for it every month for the first couple months and then once a quarter there after. Each DLC will likely be priced at $4.99. I'd expect there to be around 5 DLC released per year.
We also expect to release approximately 3 or 4 major expansions over the next several years for it. This is the main reason we went with 64-bit with GalCiv III -- we can keep enhancing it and improving it for many years because the underlying tech should be expandable for a long time. Those expansions will probably be $20 each.
The lifecycle of GalCiv III should be approximately 7 years (GalCiv II was released in 2006 and its lifecycle was about 4 years, we couldn't do more with it because we ran up against the 2GB 32bit game memory limit).
So basically 7 years of expansions and DLC.
If this isn't enough for you, then feel free not to buy the Founder's Elite edition.
Potential customers have no other option than dropping $100 to try and get excited about the game, and they may not care about the other stuff
Steam isn't your die-hard audience, it's the mass market. The guys who want to pay $100 for alpha software are here, not there.
As I said, would love to see the numbers on how this strategy pays off.
People need to understand you are not "Paying 100$ for an Alpha" . You pay 100$ for pre-ordering the final game + a life subscription to GalCiv III. You get the Alpha Access as a bonus.
Does the product description say that you pay just to test? Nope? Case closed. 
And here is what Kryo had to say:
The only reason it's on steam now is because it has to. For us dl the alpha it has to be on steam. I don't know why Steam put it on there front page when we do not want the game to be mainstream yet.
What business back round do you have? Not many people would test a game if there wasn't a incentive, steam also takes a large portion of the money, and if you knew how SD treats it customers you would know how much of a value that is.
DARCA 
If you think this is a lot, the Elite Dangerous "founders" club costs over $200. It's a space Sim that looks sick, but I can't drop that much on it. I can put $100 down here because I know stardock's reputation as a good company. I've been with them since gal civ 1 was first released and I love their work! I've easily invested $500-600 in their games and other software products from windows blinds to sins of a solar empire (and of course Galciv3!).
Remember. When all you want to do is complain you do not look at the facts.
When the wise man points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger.
When potential paying customers raise an issue with your go-to-market strategy, the best course of action is to ignore new information in favour of pre-conceived ideas.
If by "potential paying customers" you mean people that have no intention to buy the game no matter what, then I agree with you.
its not a go-to market strategy, if SD could take the add off steam they would. There are allot of founders already. How is under selling a good business decision? It's worth more that a hundred dollars, steam takes money from that hundred too. 100 is more than fair, its the cost. If people cant afford it, then wait till the game is finished and pay 50. Then buy the expansion and end up paying more than a hundred. there is no other option right now.
DARCA
good call, Steam is a front for the pirate bay And not the most successful marketplace in PC gaming history.
https://forums.galciv3.com/452909/page/1/
I'm not sure what 'more you want out of this? DOnt want to pay $100, wait till the beta drops in a few months.
Are you actually interseted in having a useful discussion?
Argh... For God's sake, if it is too expensive then don't buy it! Wait till the game is finished.
i'd love to, but have been told to suck it up, that I was never going to buy the game in the first place, and that I'm A "griefer".
Comments that the game shouldn't have been released on Steam yet aren't useful, deal with what is.
What should be concerning the devs is the amount of ill-will being generated in the wider customer base. That hasn't been addresses and frankly it's going to be detrimental to the games success.
i've gifted GalCiv 2 to friends via Steam, having rebought it to get away from the Stardock installer software. I wanted to see the game succeed, but the community seems toxic.
It's been thoroughly explained what the Founder's Elite is. Other than that....
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