When in doubt... steal ideas. Maybe not the classiest way to go about it, but you'd be wrong if you think "other games that shall not be named" went ahead without assimilating good content from others. Everyone is inspired by someone else. See what works well for those games and try to find a way to include it in yours. I can tell you there are a lot of things I like about "said other game", but there is also a lot that irritates me too. Try to find the middle ground.

As for other things;

Make the AI less aggressive; a big problem I have with GalCiv3 is it's less about diplomacy and, more or less, becomes a game about conquering others. Everyone is out to get you if they think they have the upper hand, even if it goes against their ideology. Try to include more diplomatic options and actually make this a diplomacy simulator, rather than another cookie cutter domination game.

Less micro; GalCiv2 was a far superior game in this respect. You added a lot of cool extra content for 3, but most of the time I'm trying to micro the best possible way to build on my planets. Too many different types of buildings is adding too much complexity to it.

More council events; it should be required to be on the council, and the council should have a lot more options to try and pass. It seems like there are too few. Most of the time I'm trying to decide which option sucks the least. Maybe even make certain options specific to the chair... Yor shouldn't be posing the same changes as a biological race would (such as morale bonuses).

Less dirty borders; the AI simply has no regard for sphere of influence, and the rush for resources and planets has them claiming well beyond their initial borders, in affect, causing the problems they eventually hate you for. Perhaps this could be fixed by adding a penalty to distance from homeworld modifier? Maybe this would make the AI less likely to try and grab something far away when they have plenty of resources and such closer to home. On that same note, less resources to cap wouldn't be such a bad idea either. They are too prevalent and not rare at all. Nearly everything using them too is kind of a bummer.

Tile bonuses; these should always have a benefit to the race being played, even if it's not something they use. Again, like Yor, why do they care about pop/farm modifiers? They don't, so those resources should instead have some sort of alternate modifier to civs that don't use them.

More custom rooms/portraits; i'd like to see a lot more official and unused options available (such as animated backgrounds/races).

I'll probably think of some more later.

If you just assume the feature was never added in the first place, nothing is being taken away. Just because something was added doesn't necessarily make it a good idea, either. Did anyone have a problem with the way the game was before in this regard? Does adding a bunch of different building types with varying bonuses improve the game? Is this something that is really important enough to care about so much, over other potential changes? This is simply not the first thing I would have changed to make GalCiv3 better. There wasn't anything wrong with GalCiv2's method of dealing with this, so, IMO, it shouldn't have even been an issue in the first place. More features does not necessarily mean the game is made better. Again, it's just an added level of complexity that may or may not be needed, so I just don't see a reason why there needs to be so many of these, because it's far and away from being one of the reasons why this game isn't doing so well.

It’s my first time posting, I saw this thread and I wanted to chip in. I’ve played nearly 600 hours of Gal Civ 3, so it’s pretty safe to say I’ve enjoyed it and I’m grateful to you and your team for all the hard work you’ve put in.

I’m a Concept Artist by trade, so visuals and narrative are a big draw for me. When I’m playing a game that can sometimes last dozens of hours I want to feel like I’m living an epic story with nuance and not a straight A-B, me VS Ai.

A handful of ideas.

Dynamic minor races – Bring back the interaction. Make them meaningful contributors to your empire – give them skills they can bring to the table - more research, better spies etc.  Make them a diplomatic source of contention. When other empires attacked a species I was on good terms with I wanted to be able to tell them to back off, I wanted there to be repercussions. Give them their own objectives and situations to be solved eg Minor Race A has been working on a secret project that requires X resources  from you  for completion which will then go on to be a benefit or detriment to your empire. Diplomatic issues between minor races and you/other minor races. Make them fallible – plagues that you have to research cures for or send scout ships out to retrieve resources for.

If they interact with me I feel like I’m playing in a living, breathing galaxy. When they just sit their quietly as they do now, they may as well not be there. It’s a shame not to make more of them as the stylised art style is gorgeous.

A static Galaxy – I get that there are events, and anomalies, but it feels like, once you’ve colonised a system, or met another minor race, beyond it being annihilated by the Ai, it’s always going to be there.  What if stars had a small chance of undergoing change and impacting that system? Going red giant, or going Nova and leaving behind a black hole. It might be a hindrance, it might be a benefit, but either way your strategy has to change.

Limited turn based events – In X number of turns an Asteroid will collide with a colony world. Do you try to limit the damage or are ships in range that can intercept the asteroid? The shockwave from an exploding star is heading for one of your planets in X turns. Can you counter it with planetary shields, do you have to send colony ships to grab what you can. Alternatively a genesis wave is heading towards a dead system, get your colony ships there before the Ai to reap the rewards.

Dead Worlds – I’ve seen this come up a lot. I play gigantic maps generally and it’s always demoralising to find great swathes of dead systems surrounding my core worlds. Those first turns need to be about exploration and wonder, not chalking up one dead system after another. I want to feel like I’m progressing, not stagnating. Could we make these more useful? Probe the system, discover one time resource bonuses or buffs, eg Dead world yielded +5 Durantium. An artefact was found on Dead World Y which yielded a temporary research buff. Your probe accidentally activated a beacon whilst scanning a dead world that triggers one of the games mega events.  The property of a star changes to something more hospitable and a dead system becomes a living one.

The gameplay of Gal Civ III has always been engaging for me and I prefer it over other big titles out there because of that, but some of the others handle the world building immersion better. If Gal Civ could do more of that I think it’d be a very well balanced offering.

I didn’t enjoy the new MOO for gameplay but I liked how they showcased their races on the various UI screens, how you got a chance to see them a little more and dare I say it, the voice acting wasn’t unwelcome. (probably a contentious one )

I like Stellaris for its variety in race and how the situation on an established colony can suddenly change. I like how it entertains epic ideas like Dyson Spheres and Ring Worlds. I haven’t played Endless Space _2 yet, but it looks expansive, epic, so I’m considering checking that out.

If it felt like there was more going on in Gal Civ other than me trying to annihilate or befriend a major race I don’t think these other games would get a look in.

That's why we would need a black market as suggested elsewhere several times already. There everything would be on sale, ships as well as resources, probably more expensive than when trading with other civs, but at least that would be a reliable source.

I like the idea of a black market for special resources. The prices would need to be substantial, though, high enough that using it would be a last resort. 

I also agree we need more buildings requiring resources. I like the black market idea. I would like to see better diplomacy.

Previously I mentioned that I wanted a simplification of the bonus/adjacency/production system because it is needlessly difficult creating a trap to AI and new players. I recognize this is probably not going to happen because it would present yet another dramatic change of mechanics.

Realistic stuff I would like to see.

1. Tweek/balance planet invasions.  A transport with 3B population can conquer 10B without much fuss even when the invasion screen numbers suggest otherwise.  It just feels like something is wrong with this.

2. Research production rollover.  When research is complete I believe all excess research is lost.  This makes me unhappy.  Planetary production rollover would be nice but less irksome to me.

3. Increased diplomatic options.  Every game I play just turns into conquest.  If I don't have one of the largest fleets then some AI declares war on me.  If I have the largest fleet then I should be utilizing it for more than just deterrence.  I can't cultivate any meaningful alliance that will last.  The AI pretty much just dogpiles the weakest civ over and over.  In a game like Europa Universalis there is a lot that a player can do to cultivate friendships and alliances which allows for a wider style of play.

4.  Starbase and planetary strategic zone of control.  A mechanic so that a starbase/planet, appropriately upgraded, can restrict an opponents fleet from moving past it without engaging the starbase in battle.  Initially a 1 hex adjacent zone of control for military starbases would provide the player with a large range of strategic options.  Interceptor drones could upgrade 1 additional hex.  Military starbases should only be buildable in your own influence controlled space or in neutral space.  This is a strategy game after all.

5.  Planets should always be automatically equipped with a full sensor package which upgrades automatically.  It is silly that a small ship with sensors should be able to lift the fog of war better than an entire planet.

No, research points roll just like production points, but there is no tool tip to see it

I don't think there is, but it's hard to diagnose.

Given the mounds of research I get in some of my empires, I can force some Research build up and rollover by taking one tech at a time, then let it cue up along a branch of one tech type.  I can then accumulate enough Research to completely fill up a previously untouched tech branch in one turn.  Easy in late game.  For example, I can leave the espionage tree alone then fill it all at once.  If there is a limit to the rollover, it is big enough not to matter, even in extreme usages like mine.

>Research rollover is a thing. 

>I like the idea of planets getting auto sensor upgrades. I mean, really... 

>About diplomacy: I don't agree that the AI is all a bunch of warmongers. I find it possible to make friends in this game. Of course, you can't make friends with everyone in a single game, some of the races will be warmongers, and that's okay. I don't want the Drengin to sit there and watch me, as the Altarians, tech to a science victory with no fleet to defend myself. That's super boring. Unless I've made someone an ally, they really should be keen on attacking me if I'm defenseless, the AI should be opportunistic. Even the concept of an alliance is roleplaying and it's an AI that is not playing to win, but I think that is okay when it is a challenge and takes a lot of work to make someone an ally. Other than that one exception, I think the AI should be playing to win, and I know a lot of people feel the same way as I do - they want a challenge. This notion that most players are lazy and just want to win the game and don't want to be challenged is simply false. I'll prove it to you. Look at the sales of Xcom. Nuff said. 

Ugh. I'm dying to tell you about what's coming in the next expansion pack! Some of you guys are going to loovvvve it I think.

Humph. I'm dying to know, lol.