Got a reply from them. Seems their policy for pre-orders is not to refund you. They can keep the game on hold forever and never return any money you've paid.
The game is advertised all over the internet for a 4th quarter 2017 release date even on a recent Stardock news feed in september 2016 when you type in the game it is one of the first places it takes you to the stardock news site.
There needs to be more clarity from the company that the game is still at least a year away from any kind of finished product and that is a rough guess at best looking at the forum post I read. Buyers will come in expecting a 2017 release date and purchase on that reason. Even when you type in the game all over the internet they have said it's a end 2017 release date so they must have got the information from somewhere.
I've done pre-orders loads of times and while there has been delays on a release date usually a couple of months I've never paid for a game 12+ months ahead of it's time. The fact the company has "drastically" changed the date of the "possibly" finished product then it should automatically trigger refunds to those that want them.
What I want to know is why there is loads of information penned for end 2017 release date to all of a sudden 2018 release date it's not like they are saying its going to be like early 2018 because of some set back to finish off they have delayed for 12+ months. Sounds like they haven't really even started making the game yet (just a small sample video) to reel people in.