Lead Designer for GC3, Paul Boyer, was on the Three Moves Ahead podcast where the obvious topic of discussion was Galactic Civilizations III.
"In our 2^8 episode, Rob and Troy talk about Galactic Civilizations 3 with lead designer Paul Boyer. Paul explains the goals of the alpha and what early backers can expect at this stage of development as well as future builds. Rob and Troy rattle off a few items from their wishlist and both of them are wrong once again about how fun the ship builder was in GalCiv2"
You can listen to the podcast here.
https://www.idlethumbs.net/3ma/episodes/the-days-of-yor