Yeah, indeed in the surface Dom can look rather "simple", with its "poor economic engine". The thing is that economy/building is *not* the point, which is rather about war and destruction !
I find these critics rather funny, but telling how mainstream games have shaped "public opinion" :deep strategy games have to boast a complicated "building" system and should offer GNP growth ?
Someone took chess as an example, but you can take any deep-as-you-wish wargame also (ever built something in Squad Leader or Combat Mission ? Do they lack depth ?) .
Dominion (1,2,3) is in fact more of a fantasy wargame than a 4X, even if it appears to the contrary on first sight.