In my opinion Soldat is very alive, the problem is there are too many bad server admins. There are way too many servers that are CTF with the same old maps, no gameplay variation (realistic, advance mode etc.), and all the weapons are always enabled.
There are those server admins who host a few servers but all of the servers are exactly the same, with everything set on default. I don't understand that. I am bored of the default maps, there is a map auto-downloader for this exact reason.
Every week at least 1 new awesome high quality map is released in the mapping section of our forum. Sadly, most of us will never play it in a decent ping server. Pretty much all the skilled mappers we have are just wasting their time, in fact, the only decent ping CTF server with custom maps I've ever played on was Sebastian's pub and I spent hours there because it was the most fun I've had in Soldat since I can remember.
New features in the actual game can only keep basic gameplay exciting for so long, it's new and exciting maps that keep me (and I'm sure others) coming back.
That's why you will rarely find me on one of those bull
[IMAGE] U13, Apaxteam, himitsukichi, gamezone, etc., etc., servers.