Tentatively we release in March. But the roadmap for this game does out until 2022.
That long tail might seem unusual because it is. Most studios are early publicly owned OR they are WFH OR they rely on a third party publisher.
The reason there was no Supreme Commander 3 was because no publisher was willing to fund it.
The only reason Supreme Commander 2 came into being was because Square offered more to GPG to publish it (though at the cost of acquiring the IP) versus Stardock which just wanted to take Supreme Commander: FA and extend it further. We were "that close" to being the publisher to SupCom 2.
But with Ashes, we already have the third race designed, the naval units designed, the new economic and defensive buildings designed, dragon's teeth, multi-monitor support, advanced meta game features (control your empire from your mobile device). Etc.
But for us, we have to release these things in pieces.
The reason I bring all this up is that even if the suggestions in the OP can't be used in 1.0, we integrated them into our schedule.
A 6 year roadmap is very impressive. It is interesting to know that you guys came very close to getting SupCom 2, it is a shame that it turned out the way it did.
If you look back at so many franchises, the two most pertinent being C&C and SupCom, they got it so so right and then paradoxically got it so so wrong. The hardest thing to get right is the formula of strategy, the variations that can be employed by players alongside the balancing of the game to allow players the feeling of almost infinite freedom. That it was precisely my set of actions that led to victory, if I had taken any other step along the way I might not have won the skirmish.
I would happily support the game via paid expansions for units, maps and so on. I'm playing the game in its current form and it is my go to strategy game. I absolutely love it. It is the only game in my mind that can even be considered a true successor to TA, SupCom and C&C.
I do agree on the phased release, and I appreciate the sentiment that the points above have the possibility to come beyond 1.0. I work in this domain so I appreciate the risks. Minimally viable product first with a solid foundation and build out from there.
AotS in its current form only fills me with utter joy and is a fantastic achievement in its own right.