laravel new <project> using pre-built env

I've tried to search, and am drawing a blank ...

Is there a way of setup a .env file to be used when I run 'laravel new' ... ?

Using the latest installer / laravel, I can set '--database' to PostgreSQL, but there appears to be no way to set any of the values for the environment ( server, user, database, etc ) ... so of course, the migration step fails, since its trying to connect to a bogus database.

I tried to create a .env file with the right settings in the directory that I'm creating the new project into, but then I have to use --force, and that overwrites the .env file that is there ... so that doesn't help.

I read in the configuration docs for 11.x about using the APP_ENV or --env CLI option, but having tried the former, I suspect that only applies after the initialization is complete, as it did nothing ... and I couldn't find an --env option, although I suspect that too only applies after the fact.

Seems odd to have the migrate db step in the installer if you can't actually set the DB Connection information, so I have to be missing something.

Always happy with pointer to the docs to read if its something I missed ... ?

Thanks ...