[HoneyBadger]

There are things about Dom3 that make it great, that are tradeoffs which naturally reduce the player base (graphics, the learning curve, historical mythology instead of generic fantasy), and then there are things that could be polished (the AI, lack of a single player campaign, the UI, Windows integration, more/less varied music and "smoother" sound (more music to combat repetitiveness, a thorough revising of the sounds in the game to remove any "screeching elephants", etc.), the game manual, balance and more regular "updating" of older Nations), which would appeal to both the current fanbase, and bring in new players, at the same time.

All of these things would take time, but some of them could be done without monetary cost, or attention from the Devs:

While the AI, the UI, and the Windows incompatibility are basically beyond the ability for anyone but the Devs to directly improve, the rest probably wouldn't be impossible for the existing player base to atleast improve, if not completely fix.

A very good map with a lot of attention given to extensive background "flavor" and documentation...well, it won't replace a "proper" campaign, but it might go a long ways towards filling the gap. Done well, though, it could go a long way towards increasing the "roleplaying" aspects of the game, and add some semi-canon, which, if interesting enough, might draw some customers in on it's own merits.

The cost: A huge amount of time and talent, and some consideration towards both an amicable "vanilla" scenario, and towards how even to go about creating such a thing. Also, probably the equivalent of writing atleast one historical fantasy novel...or series...and enough research to choke a Great Sage.

Music's been discussed before, and sounds have already been improved by modders. It would be nice if we could get together some kind of "Forum's Choice" music soundtrack for each existing Nation, drawn from free open sources without legal strings. There's quite a lot of sources for exactly this kind of thing, online. Not only pieces of music, but also sounds. There's even a limited amount of modern music, distributed as free, unlicensed music.

The cost: Time, probably from several individuals, in order for proper perspective and scope, and still more time, to assure that the pieces selected are without legal strings.

The game manual can-and from what I've seen, probably should be-rewritten by (old) players, for (new) players. The better such a thing was written, the more it should (slightly) reduce the learning-curve.

That's not a criticism of the original manual, it's simply a product of years of post-Gold research, and updates to the game. The ability to edit and expand the existing manual to clear up confusion, and correct mistakes/fill in gaps, would be useful, but if a manual needed to be rewritten from the beginning for legal reasons, that would also be possible.

The finished product could then be accessed by PDF or what have you, and downloaded/printed, without publishing costs. This could be separate from, and parallel to, Wiki efforts, since some people like having the information in their physical hand, while others prefer having it at their digital fingertips, via the web/wiki.

The cost: Again, lots of time, good writing/editing skills, more research (I think the manual could be made more "readable" and interesting, and we wouldn't be handcuffed to a page-count, since this would be a PDF), and either permission from Shrapnel Games and Illwinter, or a separate website and a complete rewrite.
A downloaded manual can easily be handed to a friend, who might then read it, and decide to give the game a chance. That could bring in a few customers, here and there.

As per balance: Some Nations are more powerful than others. That's not a bad thing, by itself, and doesn't always need to be excised. That does not mean that the Nations we have can't be better balanced against each other, without making them all the same. This could (and in my opinion, should) be a much larger focus than it currently is, compared to the development of new original Nations. For one thing, the better the existing Nations worked against each other, the more fun it would be to create new Nations to compete with them, and compare them to.

For those who consider the Nations that come with the game to be sacrosanct: As far as I know, none of them are hardcoded into the game, all of them are fully modifiable, and Kristoffer himself (who's admitted he doesn't always fully grasp balancing issues) has modded his own Nations in the past, to make them more playable and/or interesting (Recently, Hinnom and Jomon).

As for making Nations "all the same", this ofcourse isn't a goal, but it has some limited potential. For instance, niefel giants, elephants, dragons, etc. all lack gluttony. If that single factor were made homogenous across all 50+ Nations, it would affect balance enormously, and in many cases for the better.

Units with abilities that can be considered common, and very useful, like assassins, scouts, sailors, and banner units, could be made more commonplace across the board, while still much more expensive and rare for some Nations than others, increasing strategic options and flexibility, especially for weaker Nations, while not destroying balance.

New abilities, such as "Shattered Soul" could be incorporated into existing Nations that were simply created long before the ability was coded. New Heroes/Multiheroes, Summons, and Pretenders could be added, to make existing Nations play in new ways.

There's no reason that independent units need be generically bland. Great citystates, ancient warrior-orders, mysterious ruins (and their occupants) assassin cults, and crumbling empires might exist in many lands where Pretenders simply haven't arisen, and might be interested in getting behind a likely Power.

Independents could be more thoroughly and interestingly developed, in terms of flavour, while removing the most generic independent units that have little usefulness, giving the AI (and the players as well) a small break in the process. This could likely be done more easily than the creation of a new Nation, since consideration of balance and pixel art would be less burdensome.

Making each Nation in the game as balanced as possible, while adding new interest to old ideas, could be expected to net atleast a few new players. The cost: Lots of time, again. Help, if possible, from people who understand balance. Much less graphic intensity than creating new Nations (which should appeal to some people on the Forums).

Dom3 may always remain a "niche game", but it can be made broader simply by removing it's real weaknesses, without compromising it's strengths, even the quirky ones that might be considered "faults" in the eyes of some.

Some of those weaknesses (not all, but some) can be repaired by the "niche players" who love it, despite them. And, in the process, make the game more successful, which we can all be proud of.