I honestly like the old cover more, but from a perspective of drawing attention I can see why the new one would aid in marketing. Note that I think there's a trend of the people newer to dominions to like the new cover and the dominions 1 fans to like the old one. I could be wrong...but it seems that way.
I think its largely either the all blue scheme or the white lines all over the world that most give it the sci-fi look. But keep in mind the old dominions box looked nice with the old dominions interface...the new interface iself has a new color scheme.
