LC - Mining.
Courtesy of SpaceTug
While the LC have the most difficult power system to master, they have the easiest Ore Extraction system. Place the mine down on a resource field, and, with power, it will start extracting immediately. There, that was a lot of effort, wasn't it?
You should aim to leave as much room as possible for putting additional mines down on resource fields (this doesn't mean you can extract more, just that mining what's there is speeded up). Again, the advantage of bringing buildings down without a builder vehicle comes into play here: if you spot a resource field which is out of enemy territory, you can start mining without the other player realising it. There is also the option of protecting your mining structures with the new money you get from this.
MANAGING RESOURCES
Managing resources is the most important part of multiplayer and skirmish "Mine for Money" modes, and is the primary factor of most RTS games. The LC can't upgrade their mines, and the power structures aren't expensive, so buildings and units are the most important decisions to make. The Main Base, although it costs 3000CR, is great value because it can defend the base and produce units at the same time.
THE CRUSHER.. OR A WCC?
The three things you have to balance when playing with resources are research, building units and building up your base.
BUILDING UNITS
It is important to have a couple of units at your base as soon as possible in case your enemies are early birds. Unit building is quite slow and doesn't drain resources very fast at all, so you should be building units pretty much throughout the whole game. While you should be cautious at the start, you should be comfortable enough to use the Continuous option on your main bases.
RESEARCH
Keeping up with technology is the most important task that is placed in your hands when taking up skirmish challenges. With all the tactical skill in the world a bunch of Moons with rocket launchers won't beat a Panther with heavy plasma cannons. So make your choices wisely. The amount of input required into research depends on research rate, set at the start of the game, and number of research centres. At 1x (normal), research, it will drain CR at about the same rate as production, meaning you can queue up researches with no worries. However, on 8x research, you may have to click on researches as you need them, watching that Money display - researches will drain CR 8 times as quickly.
BASE BUILDING
Different players put a different priority on building up a base. While you need to have enough to produce units and keep them supplied, some players prefer to use units for base defence. I will cover this in Defend, but you need to make sure that at all times you have enough CR to replace mining structures and power structures.
This is the bit you need to get good at to become a good player. For example, using too many CR on research going for that lovely Plasma Artillery won't count for anything if your defence force is too weak to throw off the incoming ED attack. Or building up your Heavy Rocket defences won't help you when a fully stocked Grenade Panther starts his run from outside your view range. So think carefully...