Dominions 3 is no longer available from Shrapnel Games (this is a good thing). Illwinter is going to put the game on Desura and hopes to get it up by December 1st. Hopefully they can also get the game on Steam like they did with Conquest of Elysium. This should also mean a drop in price as Shrapnel were the ones that insisted on the high price.
Dominions 3 is, in my opinion, the greatest turned-based fantasy game ever created. It has incredible depth, both strategic and tactical, that even after years of playing I am still learning things about it. It has active mod and multi-player communities. That said, it does have flaws. The graphics are old and the user-interface is, well, odd. Download the demo and give it a try and see if you can get over the interface.
Back on topic of this thread, I have Conquest of Elysium 3 and while it is a good game, it does pale in comparison to Dom 3.