Cool, I can still get in on the Alpha!

Cheers for the heads up.

Well actually im thrilled. Means my founder got worth more 

Thanks for the heads up. It's just a label. Looking forward to this next pretty huge update coming out in the next week or so.

Tell it to the non-elite founders 

Indeed as a founder there is no bad news here and I can see the point of waiting until you are more feature complete before the beta. Looking forward to the next update.

I think this is probably for the best, I completely agree that more of the basic mechanics should be in before a wider audience hits the beta, thanks for letting us know. Looking forward to future updates.

Me five seconds ago,

Excited for this update you speak of! 

To be honest, this is best. I was seriously wondering how Stardock was going to have something "Playable" in a week.  The current game isn't a game yet.

  I'd like to think that it doesn't go beta until it's about 90% feature complete. Not that the features can't be changed, but I think the Beta folks will be much happier with a game that has virtually all aspects of the "final" game already in place, even if there's significant tweaking to be done yet.

And, besides, us Founders like the ability to steer things a little longer without the Great Unwashed Masses that are the Beta people clogging up the airwaves.

How Elitist of me.

I think this is good  news. I think you would receive a better reception with these other features included vs. absent.

Are you adding more races before the beta or with the beta will these races be included?

Personally I always thought the alpha time window was a bit too short.

I also think it makes a bit more sense, given that the Steam hub is STILL being invaded by every troll with a soap box decrying Early Access and the price. I'm sure tehy'd love nothign more than to see the beta drop and say "see they're lying to you the game is totally incomplete, thieves, scam artists, valve needs to pull this game!"

Timelines are good an all. But in the end you have to do what's best for the game. If that means moving the timeline, then that's a better decision than to blindly stick to it.

Thanks 4 the INFO!!

Nasty!

This is for the best.  Even more than Elemental, I want Gal Civ 3 to be the best EVOLVED and FUN Space Empire game to ever have been designed.  Just based on some of the elements I've observed from playing I'm sort of scratching my head at some choices.

Yeah, it's undoubtably for the best. Good decission.

Very much looking forward to that update. I think, beta should already contain all features but it may still be a bit buggy, right? Alpha may also leave out some features. I think it's ok to stick to the alpha a little longer to make sure, all features are included the way that you all like and without any compromises to be made.