Are topics random?

I was wondering, are the topics 100% random? Or are there several preset positions for all the topics?
And if so, is city in one of the first 4 if the topics arent fully random?
Thanks!

The topic ordering is fully random. It used to have a preset starting lineup, but that was done away with.

The previous, non-steam addition had little randomization in the topics, where they selected 8 linear topics, sports, military, medieval, pirate, space, fantasy and sci-fi. Every other topic after was completely random. Then, GDT decided to add more of a challenge to the game by making all topics random for each game. So, you could get really crap topics or really awesome topics, or a mix.

My favorite topics are fantasy and virtual pet. In the old system, fantasy is one of the set topics at the top so I’d always unlock it early, but I hardly ever unlocked virtual pet before endgame. On my first three play-throughs of the new topic system, virtual pet was near the top and fantasy ended up on the very bottom. If I can start with both at the top I’ll have a perfect play through XD