The title says it all, really. The 12 GDDs already posted on this forum are so outdated that it's hard to tell whether something encountered in-game is a feature or a bug, because many things no longer correspond to the baseline described in these documents.

The most glaring example that I can think of is about Science and Research. The GDD says that you unlock an Era by researching technologies from the previous Era, however in reality research from any previous Era counts toward unlocking the next one (which is kinda weird, for instance in my first game I unlocked Era 5 without researching anything from Era 4...).



Furthermore, there is nothing about Diplomacy, even though it's an important part of the released game.

It would be nice (not to mention incredibly useful, if you want player feedback to be meaningful at all) if the GDDs could be updated, when applicable, along with every new version of the game.



I know this suggestion won't earn me any friends, but I am a project manager by trade and up-to-date documentation is something I take seriously

You should really be looking at the game manual as a reference at this point.

That's a fairly valid point, however I would still prefer something a bit more comprehensive. The manual's purpose is to give players a good general idea on how to play, whereas design documents are (should be, at least) the gospel on how game mechanics are supposed to work.