The modding issue is the biggest problem that I see, for a possible "modernization" of Dominions. I'm of the mind that everything else could and should be an acceptable trade-off (especially if there were TW style tactical battles, with Tartarians and Dragons and Illithids.... DROOL), but the hit to the ability of Joe the Plumber (hah!) to actually produce mod units/nations without extremely expensive and complicated 3D rendering software, would be a horrible shame.
But honestly, would we care if the engine were designed to accept fully rendered characters, as well as 2D sprites? I think that I could live with it.
And if the conversion (read: addition) broadened the community much, I bet you'd find a few people who took great pride in doing graphics for mods that they were inspired by. They might just be students, or amateurs, but they'd do what they could, likely with similar degrees of competence that we generally see with the sprite art as it is.
