There is definitely something wrong with the current build of game. Same performance happens when using GeforceNOW Ultimate tier, so this isn't a problem on my end. 

Not sure if this was the case previously, since I only bought the game recently.

That's dissapointing to put it mildly. It's really jarring having the game this choppy. Having separate sectors was a huge deal, yet - for some reason - they can't code the map feature properly. I do tend to zoom out a lot, especially in later stages where you have to manage multiple fix.

Using debug - zoomed out the engine is doing 4000-5500 draw calls meaning it's probably FUBAR'd.
Did they comment previously on why they can't fix such a glaring issue?

That would be cool, thanks.
In my opinion, good priorities for further development would be:

1. polishing the UI and fixing its many bugs
2. further performance improvements
3. polishing event text so that voice overs match what's being read by the AI 

It's a cool game but I feel the ongoing lack of polish is really holding it back from greatness.

Yes, I did post screenshots in this thread:

https://forums.galciv4.com/533950/page/1/#3960740

Some of them are minor, others are bugs.

• there is a lot of spacing and alignment issues in general
• there is missing spacing in between UI elements - like text and buttons
• there's instances where text overlaps or is cut-off by UI elements
• different problems manifest depending on what UI scaling is used (different spacing, UI glitches, etc.)
  
  A good UI follows a design system, something like this:
  
  

So in short - spacing, margins and paddings are incoherent accross the entire UI.
Padding is a web design term, but I think it safely applies to GalCiv's 4 buttons in this instance.

If it's a design choice then it's a little bit confusing for me, as I find it harder focus on the message.
It's like watching a movie where the subtitles on the screen don't match what the characters are saying.
Again, just confusing - do I listen to the audio, or do I read the message? Or do I do both at the same time?
Hope this makes sense.

Why exactly is the game using 100% of my GPU while looking at nothing?
Is there no back-face culling? There doesn't seem to be any sort of optimization techniques coded in the game.

Are there any plans to ever optimize this game or do developers think this is an acceptable state of affairs?

Well, zoomed out or not, but 15 fps is pretty unplayble sadly.

That's really strange. I'm getting 100ish FPS when looking at this screen. Using the latest Nvidia drivers. I have the whole gigantic map revealed as well. When zooming out, yeah the FPS does go down, but when I zoom back in and only look at one sector, or one part of a sector, it goes back up quickly.