Increasing game rank

[PTTG]

So recently I was thinking about joining into some live internet games. However, I ran into a problem when I discovered that of all the servers that were up and running, only six had anyone on them. Half of them were passworded, and anyway they'd been sitting in the state of having one player inside for hours- so I doubted they would ever be played.

There were only two servers that showed any sign of activity. I watched on one server for two games before deciding to join in. At which point I stepped away for two minutes in the lobby and returned to find that everyone had left to the other server. The server I was on was now only inhabited by another observer and the server itself.

Well, I immediately went to join the new battle, but was refused. Apparently I was too low of a rank to join the only active server on the planet.

Well, it seems to me that surely I just need to be involved in a battle or two before I rank up, but nowhere is this explained for sure. And more importantly, how am I going to join any battles if I need to be in battles first?

Is TA: Spring entirely dead? Or can I hope to someday play this game against other actual humans instead of stupid AI?

[klapmongool]

True, there aren't that many hosts with people in them. But good hosts you can join are [x]thehost or [x]thehost2. Good configuration, map cycle, balancing system, player limit and admins. Both don't have rank requirements to join.

[CarRepairer]

Is TA: Spring entirely dead? Or can I hope to someday play this game against other actual humans instead of stupid AI?

The project was renamed from TA:Spring to Spring about 16 years ago.

Year after year people ask if it's dead. These charts show you that it continues to thrive.

http://planetspads.free.fr/spring/stats/graph_53.html
http://planetspads.free.fr/spring/stats/graph_104.html

[Jools]

The project was renamed from TA:Spring to Spring about 16 years ago.

That can't be right. 16 years ago Total Annihilation was released.

[Das Bruce]

Maybe you don't have hyperbole in your language, but it's huge in English.

[dansan]

Try at european evening time. Most players are online at that time. In the US evenings you'll find some very good and friendly BA 1v1 players.

If you want to play BA-Team-games, and only find players on the DSD map, you'll need a little luck. It does often help to enter popular hosts that provide a different game experience like [x]theHost and PrincessHost, even if empty. Then go fetch a coffee, read some emails and wait a little. After some minutes someone else like you or me, that would have gone offline cause there is no interesting game, will join you :)

[Jools]

Maybe you don't have hyperbole in your language, but it's huge in English.

I don't think elements such as hyperbole are confined to a specific language. We do have hyperbole in Swedish too, but we probably use it in a slightly different manner.

I know that 16 years is a huge time period for an American teenager, however, for us it isn't. We already had a king in our society before yours was even discovered :) So to use hyperbole in Swedish, you need to inflate your perspective. Try for example to say "1000 years ago".

[very_bad_soldier]

Well, I immediately went to join the new battle, but was refused. Apparently I was too low of a rank to join the only active server on the planet.

Well, it seems to me that surely I just need to be involved in a battle or two before I rank up, but nowhere is this explained for sure. And more importantly, how am I going to join any battles if I need to be in battles first?

I agree that it is a problem (which is even well known). But since the autohosts are administrated by however runs them they make the rules. Sadly they decided that they dont want newbies on their servers.
So your only choice is to follow dansan's advice. Join another server or take the patience and try to fill up a new host (or host yourself). Usually players join where players are. So as soon as some players join an empty host it fills up quickly.

[Jools]

If you want to try playing XTA, look for the semprini autohost: everyone* is welcome there. Usually games fill up on evenings CET, but XTA people also talk a lot, so don't expect games to start quick.

* Except for wombats. Wombats that refrain from uttering the name S*mprini can apply to be included on a case for case basis.