Purposefully didn't read the other posts, instead I concentrate of the things that bother me in my own game (still first sandbox game on a huge map since I bought the game although I play 1-2 h nearly every day - there you see the offect of micromanagement in action ...):

1. Starbase management: when I'm not at war I produce only constructors that have to be sent somewhere. For every constructor I search manually on the map which starbases still need upgrades. I need a function that shows starbases sorted by increasing distance from a contructor with a list of icons like the ones in the starbase build screen that show the missing modules so that I don't have to scroll around on the map, hover over every starbase to show the tooltip and try to deduce from the shown number of possible modules whether the starbase needs an upgrade.

2. Sortable list of habitable but not colonized planets with a button to send the next available colony ship there.

3. In wartime (or to counter threats in time) I have to go to the notification about foreign ships in your observed space and manually click through all of them to identify enemies that need to be destroyed. I want the option back to optionally show all ship movements (perhaps fine tuned to show only war ships or all ships or only ships of specific races) in sensor range of any ship or planet or starbase I own.

4. Ship and Fleet management: I would like to have a range indicator that shows on the fly how far a fleet/ship can still move in the cuirrent turn. Right now when I want to control movement (what happens very often) I have to estimate how far the ship/fleet can go, then click to move, then click one or two or three times more until all movement points are used up or to reduce movement so that the ship/fleet isn't moved automatically at the end of the next turn without notification. Also I need to see which ship in a fleet limits range or speed at a glance without having to click a lot. Just show a little icon to mark the slowest ship(s) and the ones with the shortest range in the fleet view in the lower left corner.

5. Add the maintenance cost to the ships in the ship list and make it sortable by all shown criteria.

And since I can't help myself something else:

- I wouldn't have needed the special resources, but they are there now, making asteroid fields as such useless. There should be the possibility to mine them as well, e. g. like in GC2 to increase production.

- I don't like useless objects (as you can see above ) so give us the possibility to do something with class 0 planets (mine them, make them habitable with a lot of work, make it possible to explore them to find treasures of all kind, whatever)

A tick box on the shipyard screen that says 'auto-upgrade repeat build to latest model'. If I have set a shipyard to produce an endless streeam of Destroyers, I clearly don't want it producing to still be producing Mark 3 destroyers when I've just put the finishing touches on the Mark 47.

Most of my 5 have been mentioned, but I figure you're looking for consensus.

1) Starbases!!!!!!  I like insane maps and eventually have hundreds of starbases.  Building them is the single most time-intensive micromanagement task I do.  I like someone else's suggestion of not requiring constructors for buildout.  Maybe an initial constructor to start it, but then build modules right at the starbase, with an automatic upgrade option.  Or, another suggestion someone made that allows the starbase to auto upgrade when it receives constructor modules (notice the plural).  Auto upgrade would have to be an optional button or checkbox because there are times when starbases require immediate specialization.

2) Customizable planetary governors.  I don't want just three options.  I want to create at least 5 custom governors I can choose from for each planet, and also in a planet list on the Govern tab.  It would also be nice if that planet list showed the current defending ships instead of just the shield symbol like on the main map UI.

3) In the turn I get ultra-terriformers I can spend 30-45 minutes setting production on 100+ worlds.  This is because I want to maximize the productive capacity of the world by placing all UTs and then adding the other tile upgrade projects strategically.  It would REALLY help if all tile upgrade options had unique tiles from the beginning (so a soil improvement would not be in the same tile as a UT, etc.)  It would also help if, when combined with the first suggestion, planets queued the UT building automatically.  That would save a lot of time.

4) I ALWAYS want to use the tech tree on the research screen.  Either make this so, or give me the option in the Options menu, please.

5) Diplomacy.  I would love to know at a glance on the diplomacy screen whom I can trade with (maybe gray out the others), and what treaties I currently have with each player (a tiny symbol or colored rings or something).  Right now, I have to scroll through every player to see if I can trade with them and whether an open borders treaty or non-aggression pact (or whatever) needs to be renewed.  Being able to tell with a quick glance on the main diplomacy screen would save a lot of time and clicks, especially with 20+ AIs.

P.S. When you post the change log, could you please indicate whether we need to start a new game.  Thank you.

Some points are taken from the comments before, but the are really important so I will add thm to my list

1. THIS IS VITAL. All lists need to be sortable in multiple ways. In addition to multiple sorting methods (i.e. size, name, class for ships, sort after free/used modules on etc.; I know this function are on the “govern” page but we need them on the list on the right…) we should be able to group up planets, shipyard, SHIPS. For example group up all “science” planet in a group that can be expanded, but otherwise remains closed to save space on the list. Or for example be able to select the fleet from the list instead of the single ships (btw ships in a fleet should be group in the list to save space e be easier to use).

2. Small EXTRA windows in the planet management that shows exactly all bonus/malus of that planet (including the bonus/malus from the colonizing event).

3. Fix/remove/improve “eject ship” system from fleet/planets. Fleets need to be able to exchange ships more freely. 

4. Ability to choose a series of tech (also from different branches) to research one after the other, so that no reseacrh points go to waste. (shift click of CIV 5 for example)

5. Improve “improvement management” (for example it bothers me everytime I choose a location for an improvement and it changes the target location or it selects a terraforming improvement)

6. Wypoints/Patrol

7. The ability to switch between shipyards, like you can with planets.

8. When switching from planet to planet PLEASE KEEP THE ORDER THE SAME! Everytime I go out and in again the order is messed up.

9. list of both habitable and ones that are able to be colonized (where size > 0 and not barren)

10. A button to remove projects from every planet - or every project of a selected type. Every time you research a new terraforming item you have to go to every single planet and shut off the project, select the tile to update and then (when it's done) go back and start constructing the building for that tile AND THEN go back and restart the project - or customize the production wheel for every single planet. I've actually quit playing the game because it is too painful to research anything.

11. Reduce clickfest that doesn't really allow you to do anything anyway. To give one common example: click on the fleet, click on a ship, click on decommission, click on YES, probably click on three other things, then repeat. And repeat. And repeat. Or move a ship onto a fleet at the end of a turn; next turn you will have to select it, move it one hex, move it back and THEN it will join. Don't try to use the 'Manage Fleets' because you can't add one ship that way.

12. Fix the sorting issue in the shipyard. I go into one planet, the oldest ships are on top. Next planet, the oldest are on bottom. Then the oldest are at the top again... rinse and repeat.

13. Give us a warning when the Birthing project hits the population cap so we can switch more easily without checking all the time. 

14. Multi-selection in the ship designer. Sometimes I want to get rid of a ton of ships to clean up the mess. Multi-selection would help immensely with that. 

I'm glad you decided this is important. I'm going to repeat my number one peeve about shipyard micromanagement and the rest will come later:

1) Allow sorting the shipyard list by Hull Size, Weapon Type, Defence Type. Then once the ships are sorted by that, you can apply secondary sorting, by cost,size etc. As an example:

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i269/achronous/Shipyard%20Sorting.png

I'm re-posting my economy solution below "A Suicidal difficulty Let's Players proposal..." I've posted it it elsewhere but I'll add some additional requests here.  I could right an essay on what needs to be improved in Gal Civ 3 but I'll just cover the top of the iceberg.

Others have mentioned similar to these but here's my 2c.

Sorting:  All the queue's in the game lack sorting options shockingly poor currently can't believe it's still not fixed.

Terraforming:  Color coded levels of ALL terrain quality visible when terraforming should solve ultra terrformer issues.

AI.  I haven't played 1.2 yet since I'm too frustrated with areas other the game that haven't been improved but people whose opinion I trust say it's not up to par so more improvement on that please.

Starbases: I assume this will be a later patch, Constructor spam micromanagement issues need to be dealt with.

Diplomacy Screen:  It sucks just like it did in GC1+2.  Tech trading is boring, micromanagement intensive and very out of date other developers have abandoned it in their games for good reason.  There are scant tootips to see all the information you need on one screen so you can know who you want to trade with and for what.  Personally I'd scrap it entirely and have a diplomacy system similar to the one their going to have in Beyond Earth:  Rising Tide it looks really innovative and fun and you could perhaps use Gal Civ's influence in a similar system.

All things that encourage lengthy micromanagement in general to be improved/streamlined, spare a thought for people who play 15+ planet empires that want some time out of the game.

There's lots of things I'm no doubt forgetting...

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 A Suicidal difficulty Let's Players proposal...

The game needs an economy system that has little micromanagement without dumbing down or sacrificing control over your empire too much.

Suicidal players tend to devote a 100% of production in one area until that job is done.  This is the best strategy, this system would enable you to do that and reduce micro.

I would use an individual planet focus system to separate production (Manufacturing*/Research/Wealth Generation) each planet has to select one but you can select two possibly three.  With one selected 100 percent two 50/50 three is 33/33/33 of production is split though why you would want to select three in a system where specializing planets is the best idea I don't know.  You can change the focus of a planet whenever you like.  I focus my planets 100% in one area almost always currently though sometimes two e.g. I want to finish a building/ship that turn and with leftover production do research (this is an area where a good player is forced into very time consuming micro to achieve the best results**).  Losing a small amount of flexibility in regards of selecting exact percentage amounts wouldn't bother me, the micromanagement currently needed per turn for lots of planets is shocking due in great part to the horrendous percentage wheel system.

**Frankly I might prefer that only one production focus be allowed per planet that would be the best way to reduce micro!!!

*Manufacturing should probably still be split between social and military and I'd like the per planet slider for this to stay, since not every planet makes ships the micro isn't so pronounced and ship production is a vital part of the game that a player should be giving attention to.  A fourth focus option could be the answer if you wanted to get rid of the slider. (Military/Social//Research/Wealth) 

I actually NEVER use the global wheel in my suicidal games I think there's more reason to scrap that than a per planet system.  Doing the opposite would dumb the game down too much even if it would reduce micro management... all management in fact... MOO3 and gaming hell comes to mind.

A focus system would have to be represented well in the UI.  On the tactical map I would use colored icons adjacent to each planet to denote production focus (e.g. red hammer/blue flask/yellow or green dollar sign) perhaps also a colored haze/fog around the planets.  The player should NOT have to enter the planet screen to set focus it should be able to be done elsewhere including the main screen right hand side planet list in addition to the planet screen.  A one focus only allowed system would stand out more in regards of UI, 2 or 3 simultaneous focuses per planet would be harder to implement satisfactorily.

Options could be added to switch all planets to one focus in place of the global wheel and perhaps governors added that in general use the focus that a planets buildings and bonuses have been specialized towards.

Overall I think this system shouldn't be too hard to to implement, be intuitive and familiar to players, it would reduce the micro considerably without dumbing down the game and might even be fun to play as well 

This thread contains more of my thoughts on this system:  https://forums.galciv3.com/469462/page/1/

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(My Gal Civ3/Stardock Review so far)

It's really time to start delivering though Stardock you say all the right things! but just haven't delivered.  With the patches so far I don't see any signs of that changing anytime soon perhaps you need to have more people working on the game, (this post is probably very critical but I'd work for you in a shot, I wouldn't bother posting if I didn't care about the game/company) progress has been painfully slow.  I loved Gal Civ 1+2 though they had their flaws they were excellent for their time Gal Civ 3 isn't yet.  It's a very average game that hasn't kept up with the times apart from a few things it's like it was made for 2009 imo.  Your competitors e.g. Paradox, Amplitude, Firaxis are making better games imo.  

I haven't written a review on steam yet but if 1.3 is disappointing I'm inclined to write a negative review I came close to spending $100 on your game I decided not to and haven't regretted buying the cheaper option.  I know a companies main priority is making a profit but releasing DLC of questionable value for money (mega events aren't probably on the radar of the communities most requested feature/improvement) when the base game is in dire need of attention also doesn't sit well with me.  These are my personal opinions others will disagree with them or think they are harsh you have a very loyal fanbase but I think you are jeopardizing that... time to deliver.

Macsen.

My take on fixing the main issue with planetary micromanagement is extremely simple.

Simply add a button next to the wheel called something like 'Maximize planetary development' that you can tick on/off. 

What it would do: Whenever the planet is producing something other than a project, set production to 100%. That way you can set the wheel to 100% research/wealth without having to go through every single planet every few turns as you research upgrades to make sure they are actually being produced.

Sorry to disagree here but please don't. Really. I want the ability to "sterilize" the galaxy by destroying a colony so that it stays dead.

Well, that's as far as colonization is concerned. If dead worlds occasionally spawned resources, either current ones or some completely new types, or offered exploration options for survey ships, that's ok, I guess.

Have an option for a shipyard to build a supply management extention which allows ready made sections of ships  and effectively support another shipyards production, so that shipyard can build ships much quicker. This should probably require another constructor, and the supply ship supplying the other shipyward with parts or whatever should be interceptable. 

1. Concur heartily with the notion of more and better sorts and filters that are sticky. I find it hard to rank-order which lists I want that help for more

Would especially like to see the bug where you end up having to click something else before you can get a filter for shipyards in the Starbases list and rally points in the Go To list (really, shouldn't the Rally Point button on the shipyard panel open directly to the Rally Point list?).

2. Make fleet names stick, and give us filter/list for them on the Ships tab.

Currently, I see inconsistent behavior when I move ships onto a fleet or move a fleet onto a single ship. Sometimes the fleet name sticks and sometimes it is replaced by a new generic numbered fleet name. On very large, late-game maps finding reserve fleets can be time-consuming. Why is there even a filter bar with that taunting All on it on the Ships tab anyway?

3. Give us a clear way to tell the ship design system that design X is an upgrade for design Y. I still haven't figured out how to get the Update Design to Latest Version button to do anything. If the functionality is there, please add info to the ToolTip to explain how to get it going.

4. Make movement info available on the panel for a selected fleet.

5. Please, please consider using context menus in all the non-map parts of the UI. Methodical application of this simple UI element could do wonders in reducing both heavy click paths and long mouse moves. Easy example: in the Colonies list, right-click a colony and click Buy to rush whatever is at the top of the queue for that colony.

I picked the filter/sort thing as my one Big List Already There second, but I also strongly support the idea of generally making more info available as it was in GC2, especially when we finally get an espionage/intelligence system to worry about.

Cheers for deciding to devote an entire update cycle to the UI. I still haven't stretched out for the kind of max-my-rig game that I enjoyed with GC2 and I'm looking forward to seeing some streamlining that will make that prospect less daunting.

p.s. I don't think it is in scope for 1.3, but it is sort of a UI thing: the game would benefit immensely from richer, more numerous ToolTips or even old-school What's This help. There are many details (e.g. what does alliance specialization do?) that are not explained in the manual or the official wiki and finding that stuff on the forums is hit or miss.

A production overlay which we can turn on and off, that adds a small set  of icons that hover over planets describing their econ, research and manufacturing output on the main map (rather than having to hover over each in turn). This would make it easier and quicker to see at-a-glance which planets in an area are the big producers.

1. "Select all ships" button for planets ("Eject all ships" would not specify in which tile they should exit to)
2. Sorting tab for planets listing all those where layer action is required (Idle)
3. Sorting tabs for ships per type (support, transport, combat, constructor, scout), size (from tiny to huge) and one for fleets only (make this sortable per hit-point, firepower and number of ships within
4. Sorting tabs for ship types in Ship Designer as well: (support, transport, combat, constructor, scout)
5. More information when managing fleets like the range of individual ships as they are selected to enable smarter ship grouping decisions
6. Fleets to act like a type of way-point (in order to send reinforcements to them)
7. A button for Space-stations to order as many constructor as modules it is possible to add to them in their current state (or a button to order 5 with one click if the first is too difficult)
8. Always display the CIV name and logo in each diplomatic communication instance (background and image does not cut it for large amount of CIVs)