Dominions I is a great game.
But requires a lot of micromanagement and the end game is very tedious.
so much so that I usually stop my single player games at some point when I am sure to win.
I have noticed the same thing happened in most of my PBEM games.
I really hope this was solved in DOM-II.
I have been following the DOM-II progress for almost a year now. needless to say I am very excited about it. I will probably preorder the game
A word about AOW.
I agree it doesn't have an epic feel to it.
But it has it's merits. it has very nice interface (gpx+music), It's very easy to learn and play and it has a large community with tournaments and a (tough) ladder.
Still L liked MOM the best. I still hope to someday see a MOM-II. I do not understand how come it never had a sequel.