I hope that stardocks adds missions for all resources I am playing without mods but sometimes missing resources truly grimp the game. I’m aware there are mods to fix this but I haven’t modded so far and don’t like to mod until I’ve completely experienced the game.

Looking fwd to 4.0.

I'd find it better to base it on Crusade, not Retribution, because I don't have the latter - yet (shameless egoistic plug)

Otoh, I may simply buy it with 4.0 then

I think the inevitable answer to that is YES, but it will then make modding much simpler going forward.

Quoting skywalkerhogie,

reply 6

Good opportunity to include the "random civilization" feature for the player (not just the AI?) ???     

Yes please. I would also love an option to choose which aliens are included in the random list.

(eg Gal Civ originals, Star Control Origins, Custom Only etc...)

Now that we’re talking about custom civilizations, is there a way to have them configurable to a larger degree? At the very least, I would like to be able to select music for the faction without resorting to mods, which would block multiplayer.

By the way, are there improvements being planned for multiplayer? Though I’ve tested it long time ago, I’ve found multiplayer mode still far away from stably working. I don’t know how much has it been fixed between 3.7 and 3.96, but I guess there’s still more things to do.

This is very encouraging to hear about!

Would there be any chance (slim though it may be) to include SQL support for modding the game database? 

• It would make it far, far, easier to make smaller, compartmentalized updates ("mods"), especially when you only just want to update some value buried deep within one of the large defines files (e.g. UPDATE GlobalDefines SET Value = 5 WHERE Tag = "sometag").
• As an extension of point #1, it would allow mods to be more interoperable with one another, if two mods want to modify different values from the same file.

Oh, and continuing my faction music subtopic, I would like to have combat themes more varied, as the Terran war theme used in this role for majority of factions may quickly get old. For specific combat tracks, I would like to point to the unused GC3_Drengin_War.2.mp3 file (an alternate Drengin war theme I've heard in the combat beta test video by IGN) and suggest using a track borrowed or derived from Star Control: Origins for its respective DLC races. And of course, please fix typos in the music definition files (as well as everywhere else if any)! The Snathi's declaration of war on me during one of my playthroughs was silent.

(By the way, an examination of the sound bank using Dragon Unpacker revealed that the sounds are in Ogg Vorbis format, but I tried using Ogg files for music and it didn't play — it only supports MP3 music. I would welcome adding support for Ogg so modders won't have to put music quality at risk while transcoding their Vorbis tracks to MP3.)

I would really like to have the old campaigns (and the tutorial) adapted to the reality of Crusade and Retribution expansions. A newcomer would be confused with how to play the campaigns under an archaic gameplay. By the way, recent Sid Meier's Civilization games have a drop-down list which allows to choose which expansion's rules of gameplay will be in effect, is there something like that considered for GalCiv3?

Will there be any improvements to the technology tree system? Is it really possible to recreate GalCiv2's configurable civilization-unique trees and don't have such nonsense as the Phamysht having access to the Shrine of Tandis (which is supposed to be an Altarian exclusive improvement)? Also, I think that would be useful for the campaigns (should be they updated), as this allows to disable out of place technologies like the hypergate, which is only invented during Retribution's time period but appears quite early in game.

UPD: And can you please make the Theocracy government from Intrigue require the Devout trait instead of Bureaucrats? It would make more sense, and Mowlings would praise Jeff for eternity if you do that.

Though you could build an entire text tree designed for a particular ability I suppose