Why does this game seem to get harder the more I play it?

When I first started playing this game it felt like I was doing quite well. Getting beat but gaining advantages at parts, occasional win, putting up a good fight and only occasionally get sniped because I overstretched my com or whatever.

But the more I keep playing it seems like I'm getting stomped from the get-go more and more. Is it just because there's not enough new players so I'm getting matched with players much better than me?

Anyone else have this issue when they first started out? Love the strategy of this game and to learn more about it but every time I play makes me less and less interested.

maybe you try more risky progressive gameplay, which is a good thing. The rest is experience to not get overrun by t1 spam too early.

I can find a total of 9 1v1 games on your profile. That's really not a large sample size to go by.

Your rating is still adjusting. The matchmaking algorithm needs a while to find your true strength. You are still in the phase where it's trying to match you with players of a large rating range to find out how good you are.

1v1 games are also very aggressive in this game. It's full-on tank spam from minute 1, as compared to other RTS you have to secure control of a large part of the map/mexes asap. I can fully understand that this can feel very overwhelming. If you want to have a slower-paced, more relaxed game and get to higher-tech stages, custom and team games are always an option. Tough if you like 1v1, stay at it. 1v1 will certainly make you a better player quicker compared to custom games.

Starting out in FAF is hard, I think everyone can relate to what a struggle the first 100 games were.

Watch your replays, analyze, learn.

If you want some help with the learning process, you can seek out a trainer. Or you could take a look at the guide I wrote. Just the first few pages have some basic concepts that can be really helpful if you don't already know them.

Watching replays is very important for improving, but you need to know what to look for. The main thing is to try to figure out which side is winning vs. losing. When you get a sense of what is a winning position vs. a losing position, then you can try to figure out HOW each of those players is putting themselves into a winning vs. losing position.