These are extracts from the Dev Stream on January 30, 2015. They are not all word for word but, does cover the general summary of the questions and answers. All references to me or I would be in their view of things not mine as I am just writing this out. To get the full version please check out the actual Dev Stream following the links below...
YouTube January 30, 2015 Dev Stream Galactic Civilization III Beta 4 patch 1+
Q: Is there a default carrier built ship?
A: There is not in the current build.
Q: Why is the Yor assembly project being removed?
A: It is not being removed, it’s being replaced by an instant thing, now you go and build 5 Yor and put it in cue. Assembly is still there but you can cue them up whenever you want. It's a much better system.
Q: Will there be an option to auto upgrade something by money instantly or will I have to manually speed up all money buyouts? (If you get to mega factories can you have a button to upgrade all your factories right now by leasing or whatever?)
A: We currently don't support that and that is on purpose, because the problem was and, I know that players have a lot of money, and in some cases this is a Beta and that's a problem that's a bug, and hopefully you won't have that much money later. I'm not currently planning on making possible to buy it straight up and in the long run it's actually better for you, because what happens is you end up with... I mean you can buy the factory or whatever I guess if you’re buying having the option to just buy would be nice so that might be something to consider but it's not currently planned. The problem was before it would cost so much to build the top level one it would take you forever because you don't have any manufacturing whereas if you build a low level one it actually gives you something to the next one the next one so it's actually a more secure system.
Q: In the battle viewer is there a possibility to target specific ships to attack?
A: No, the battle viewer is hands off that's why it's called a battle viewer. That's for a bunch of reasons. What we did do... I know it's kind of a thing right now but's its supper great when you're analyzing if your designs are doing what they want you to do. Oh this guy keeps targeting this other ship, I guess I have to make sure they know not to attack things that are going to kill them.
The reasons we don't have full tactical battles because that's a request that we get a lot. Is just that Galciv is just a really big game and our maps are really big that by mid game on a medium or large map it's just going to be 16 years just to play the game. After all tactical battles are essentially just a whole new game. So really our goal is to make sure the game is true to Galciv. We made the decision early on not to go full tactical battle.
(More side comments in the actual Dev stream.)
Q: Will exploded ship parts collide with live ships?
A: No, adding hit detection into that kind of stuff would add so much complication to the simulation, it would be awesome but, it won't be happening.
Q: Are we still on schedule for an April release?
A: Yes, we are still on schedule. Breaking News!!! loll
Q: Will ships be able to keep enemy ships that have short ranges outside of short range?
A: To some degree yes, you can make a ship that will have that behavior. It will not cheese it for you and, always dodge but it's like your role is not to engage these guys but to take out the support ship and if it gets killed on its way there you know it gets killed on its way there. We like to think you're the emperor of the galaxy if your troops are idiots that's not our fault. lol
Q: Was cloaking scrapped.
A: Cloaking is scrapped for now, mostly because it feels really cheesy and it's kind of mean for the AI because I can hide them for them. For the human players we would have shimmer but, once you've done that on a turn base game you're always going to see it. I still want to bring it back but, it's probably not going to make it to the base game.
Q: Can we get an option or check box to add improvement to the top of the cue versus the bottom.
A: I'll think about it... Yeah, yeah.
Q: Is anything being done with asteroids other than mining durantium?
A: Yes, and that will be in Beta 5. We have so many things coming into Beta 5 that it's going to be huge. One of the things we are doing that you are going to be able to mine them by building a star base, however, it will send some raw production to the planets which you can reassign. It's going to be tied to your star base like all the other mining.
Q: Is there going to be UI scaling?
A: Yes, the existing UI is going to be labeled as small. 1920x1080 will use normal which is 120% bigger than small. Then there will be a medium which is going to be like 150% for UHD and, then there is 4K which is double. When you load the game it will pick which one it thinks is best for your resolution but, there will be an override for you to choose what you want.
Q: Will combat always progress until one fleet is completely destroyed or the AI have retreating as a possible strategy.
A: No, there is no retreating. There is no retreating in any version of Galactic Civ. Maybe someday it may be a cool trait (race trait or something). [Snathi talk]
Q: Are there plans for empire wide trade-able resources?
A: There is, we actually have trade resources that are implemented in my local build and, actually have been working for quite some time. The problem is there is some issues I don't have graphics for them; I didn't have descriptions for them. They're primarily used a lot as trade resources so like I have 4 snuggler colonies on one of my planets. They are giving me a +25% approval. I can say hey Adam do you want one of these snuggler colonies for some duratium. So they are really meant for trading but, they can be overpowering. That is one of the reasons they aren't in yet.
Q: Will it be possible to have upgrades to the colony capital?
A: That is a really good idea. Um, I would say I haven't thought about it, we didn't have it in Galactic Civilizations II but, I love the idea so don't be surprised.
Q: How will fleet formations work?
A: So fleet formations are automatic. They will, however, be affected by the roles. Those are just going to be behaviors.
Q: Will extreme planets have different icons than normal planets when zoomed out?
A: That is planned; that is just a missing feature.
Q: If a blueprint or a user designed upgrade is intact how about an idea of upgrading all you’re in cue ships?
A: We might do that as an option as a toggle or something. I really worry that the end result that your ships will become more expensive and then take longer to build and then people will get mad. No promises on how I'm going to deal with it yet.
Q: Is there going to be a VFX pass on weapon impacts and stuff like that?
A: Oh yeah, the effects on everything right now are being polished. Because we have so much going on we can't do too much but, we'll keep polishing. Jesse's job till release is to make look cool.
Q: Are there going to be input options for the ship creator? For example for those that don't have middle mouse button.
A: We have input mapping and we could probably do that. I'm a little surprised that doesn't work already.
Q: Will there be a warning dialog based on UP laws?
A: Yes!
Q: What are interstellar rifts and when will we see them?
A: Interstellar rifts are rifts that open up and spread across the galaxy. They are an element from the campaign and, I may actually cut them. I like them and they work but, we don't have a cool graphic for them yet. So they might end up showing up in an expansion. The other thing they do they spread and grow so they shake the map up. The other thing is they drop anomalies. That's why we aren't currently spawning anomalies because the rifts are supposed to be spawning them.
Q: Will this support multi-monitors where each monitor can have independent screens?
A: No, that would be awesome but, a lot of work. Not to say we don't like work but, no.
Q: Can you have the same ship serve different roles in different fleets?
A: No, the role is based on the make-up of the ship. There will be different types of drive systems that will make the ship faster but, if it blows up it will take out the ships around it or, support systems that if it blows up it will take out the shields of the fleet around it. Things like that will really shake things up. I have list like a mile long that I'm testing them. That's why they aren't in this build because we have a lot of that to play with before we are going to be putting that in. That and this more traditional Gal civy straight slug fest. So even if we can't get the other things to be super awesome there are plenty of other things to make it fun.
Q: Are we going to see galactic wonders?
A: There are already galactic wonders but, they are called super achievements, however, no one is telling you that it's being built. There a bunch of improvements that there is only one in the game but, in Galciv II we're like hey Bob built this thing and you don't even really realize it. That's a communication problem.
Q: After this stream do you collect all answers and input in this user chat and make a summary or review for reference?
A: No, if you want to do that I fully support that. Sounds like a work. If you want to get your answers come and watch the stream.
Q: Can we see ground clashes?
A: You will not see; we are not going to have a ground mode any more than we have a tactical space mode. It's going to be similar to the battle viewer. We have a lot of ideas on how to do it. We've decided that anything illiterate is going to be a lot of busy work for the player so we want to keep it similar. That will be in Beta 5. You will see the planet your invading not some pre-rendered bink with your ships. It will be pretty awesome.
Thanks to Stardock for continuing to bring us these wonderful Dev streams 
