Hi itzchewy, Glad to hear you're loving the game as much as I am.
The devs have mentioned that one of the things they would like to include in the future is tournament. It's certainly something I would enjoy. They have also mentioned different ways in which you can customise your games when you host it. This includes things such as game speed, player anonymity and factory/generator numbers.
And regarding the people resigning early in the game. If you join a rated game and half the players resign then you are guaranteed to have a ratings increase. After a few games of this happening your rating should be above 1250 at a minimum. Next time you go to start a rated game you can join (or host) a game that has a minimum rating requirement of 1201. If people are prone to retiring then their rating will be under 1200 and you are eliminating them from the equation.
You can also host a game and when somebody joins you can look at their profile and see if they have a history of quitting. Although, you can only kick them if the game hasn't started already.