[llamabeast]

Basically I agree with you Bananadine, but I suspect that you just haven't been trapped in a late game situation where you can't win. They do exist, and they're not fun. If someone has 6 wishes for gems going off a turn, and you're just moderately powerful, then you're not going to beat them whatever you do, even with the help of allies (assuming the allies are of similar power to you). However, it will take them several turns to finish you off, and in the meantime you may have to invest hours of non-fun time.

Now I think that this situation isn't what dominions is about at all, and I think most players (and very probably the devs) would agree. For this reason I think it's more fun to play on reasonably small maps (say, Cradle of Dominion), with reasonable victory conditions (maybe capture a third or a half of capitals). Then it will stay exciting! Also I am inclined to avoid playing with gem generating items in the future, as I think they are a large part of the problem. Without them a player's power is still limited by their territory, so raiding the leading player would actually be useful. If they have several hundred clams under a load of domes then there really is nothing you can do to hurt them, so fun goes out the window.