https://support.ubi.com/en-gb/FAQ.aspx?platformid=9&brandid=15&productid=3272&faqid=kA030000000eT1YCAU

After those three activations, you need to contact support.

Had the very same Tages on my retail Codename Panzers: Cold War. Ended up using a crack, because is pretty hard to talk with ATARI support these days ( bankrupcy, so no support ).

Despite being stated that video card replacement, OS reinstall and adding RAM are not considered changes, they are.

http://forums-de.ubi.com/showthread.php/87095-Activation-Limit-Faqs?s=32e733eb5ed000565ae2fbbfda78e3e8

Check the second page with the link towards Guru 3D adventures while trying to test the game on a few different video cards. Despite the protection stating that RAM adding and video card upgrading are not considered changes, the protection is treating those operations as system changes.

So, as long as you don't make any change on the system ( including Windows reinstall ), you will have three working activations. You reinstall windows, change some hardware inside your PC, you will lose the second and the third pretty fast. You don't get them back in those cases. So pretty soon you will use them up and you will be forced to know the painful world of Ubi abusive support.

It's not entirely unfeasible - or unreasonable - for people to buy a single copy of a game for their household. I buy games all the time that both my girlfriend and I play, and I don't feel a sudden urge to pay €100 so that each person has a copy.

It's major publishers like EA and Activision that are trying to foist this bizarre concept of one licence per person upon gamers, although distributors GOG and even Valve haven't subscribed to this approach. I recall TET explicitly stating that GOG has no problem with people installing a game on other family computers, and even Valve is implementing a family sharing feature in Steam to enable the sharing of games with family members.

Sad times indeed when it comes as a surprise that more than one person might want to play a copy of a game.

Anno 2070's store page is incorrect. It says TAGES but prompts for SolidShield. This distinction affects some specifics of DRM behaviour; classic TAGES offers no revoking (hence the timer for regenerating activations) whereas SolidShield supports revoking through an activation executable bundled with the game. Since SolidShield supports revoking it's not clear whether it has regeneration for all games as with classic TAGES.

The list exists because store pages are often erroneous (as with TAGES vs. SolidShield), outdated or don't list the DRM at all. The omission of the DRM used is particularly common for obscure, in-house DRM methods but can also apply to big-name releases when they are first added to Steam (early buyers get an unpleasant surprise).

Note that publishers can deliberately exclude their games from Family Sharing. This is done automatically for the major DRM types so games with added DRM are generally not usable through Family Sharing. The Family Sharing status can be checked on the Steam Database entries. The Steam store will hopefully have its own filtering category for this once the Family Sharing feature is widely available.