[Kelan]

I am not sure how well these ideas can fit into Dominions, but I figured I would throw them out there anyway just in case. My apologies if they have already been mentioned.

How about some type of sites that are like ruins or dungeons or abandoned temples. These are not gem producing (although they could be I suppose), but are one time conquerable sites once they are found. A new turn order would be added and be something like "Enter Dungeon" and would have a battle result for those that entered. If the army inside is conquered, there would be some random reward which could be gold, gems, artifacts, or other things perhaps. This would be similar to the feature that the old Warlords games had where you could fight the creatures inside the site to get rewards. The enemies inside could be any combination of troops and even pretender type creatures for the tougher ones. Maybe some sites of this type would be automatically found when a province is conquered, but some would need to be searched for... maybe by a new skill that allows for easier finding. There could be different levels (hardness) of each with scaled up defenders and rewards. I am not sure how this could be handled, but maybe on detection the scout/finder would get some hint of to the type of creatures or ability of them so the player could judge a least a little as to whether they would want to attempt the battle without wiping out easily. This could give you another choice in the game... do I keep expanding or take a shot at getting something cool/useful in the dungeon this turn (if I can win).

Edit: Another thing that may be neat as a reward would be a mage or commander could join your army if you defeat all of the defenders in the dungeon or site and "rescue" them. This could give you a new mage with paths you don't have or possibly a good leader or fighter or even a band of units.

Also, some type of diplomacy like the old Warlords games would be fun for single player, but that would be probably a lesser request. It would be fun to have as an option, though, and could add a level of complexity to the single player experience.

Other than that, some type of modified AI would be nice. This could include changes in how troops are built and having the AI build more castles like others have mentioned. Perhaps just having the AI be a bit more unpredictable would have the single player experience be a bit more enjoyable. I tend to think the AI plays very well myself, but is just too predictable for it to be a challenge to most of the good players.