Ok so I'd like to start off by saying that I have not even purchased Planetary Annihilation yet. However, I am a competitive rts gamer. I've played Starcraft II for a few years and earned a spot in the top 200 players in North America. Before that, I played Age of Empires III somewhat more casually, but still played against and befriended some of the highest ranking players in the world at the time. Therefore, if I were to invest my money and time into this game, I would like to improve quickly by playing against and learning from more experienced players. It's also worth noting that I go by pacific standard time.
The Realm is the largest clan but there are lots of others. Recommend you install pastats and visit the IRC and you can get ranked matches against competitive players who have pastats.
That's a good idea. You can also look at the ladder for a rought guide: http://pastats-ladder.gamestown24.de/1on1 Finally there is a mod called notes, with it you can store messages about competitors in game. Whenever you find a good player, make a note and you'll see it when they're in the lobby.
