Advertising the game works well but still players dont join it

It has been for like 3 months since i posted 2 threads in romanian forrums

Here is the first one:
http://forum.computergames.ro/146-strategii.html
With 183 views
Second one:
http://forum.pgl.ro/forums/398-Alte-jocuri
With 79 views
Search for the "Zero-k open source" to see more detalis
Its weird that after the view count i have i dont see anny new romanian player.What can be the cause?
Links to threads:
http://forum.computergames.ro/146-strategii/960615-zero-k-open-source.html
http://forum.pgl.ro/threads/115083-Zero-k-open-source?p=2261016#post2261016

Conversion rate (% of people who download game after visiting is fairly low still)



and new visitors arent improving either



Most people are put off by the front page without even visiting media.

First impression matters most:

Could you get those statistics in English Licho?

When I saw the main page for the very first time, statistics of players online and battles played made a huge deal. "Wow, an open source multiplayer rts that actually gets played? *looks in forums* With a community that's not dead? I gotta try that".

Right, so you were actually looking to check out the forum. You were doing this after a good first impression. You were not visiting the page just to head straight for the forum, right?

As I understand it, the problem is that only few people are impressed in the first five or so seconds they spend on the website. Let me give two examples. Notice how all the nice looking stuff (including features and artwork) is at the top, visible without scrolling.

http://www.planetside2.com/
http://www.firefallthegame.com/

To me these sites look EXTREMELY similar and simple:
* Nav and Logo at the top, similar to ZK, but take up less space so less scrolling. Login in corner where it doesn't take up all the space.
* Next comes a nice picture left (where in ZK they all need scrolling), play button at the right, with link to video right below for people who are not convinced yet.
* Then top 3 things you wanna show (could be features, a link to media, etc.).
This is what people will see without scrolling.

Now that people are impressed and want to see more, they explore the website and see the game is actually being played (stats), that the community is active (forum) and even competitive (top 10). We could also link to commentated replays here.

If you gave Spring a flash port, i'm sure we'd get somebody to do that animation.

Its true, doesnt help the game is as daunting as dwarf fortress but if their not even getting there I guess it doesnt matter. The game is niche, no getting around that... best to appeal to the niche. Amusingly enough its the players of the games youd find listed in zk's offtopic forums thatd be the most likely to play zk.

Most of the people that get put off by a front page arent the kind that would stick out the learning period of this game as well. But the front page has a webgame feel more than an actual rts lol :x Dont take this too seriously, just saying how I felt when I landed here the first place. Also took me around a week to get around to trying it even though I was recommended this game by another rts player.

Edit: Might wanna throw in the whole salvage thing as a feature. I know all the TA style ones have it pretty much but thats really what draws me to the TA games. Harvesting the dead units for more units is just <3