Like most RTS games, Lambda Wars is about collecting resources to build an army and using your army to secure more resources.

Mechanics are the physical ability to execute actions. This skill might seem trivial, but it's one of the most important ones. Having poor mechanics despite having the right strategy can mean losing, especially when there are more and more tasks you need to keep on top of later in the game.

• Use your keyboard instead of your mouse to perform every action possible. Manually clicking commands tends be slower and less accurate.
  
• Assign your units to control groups (Ctrl + [0-9]) after they are trained to help manage and organize your army.
  
• Preferably double tap control groups (0-9) you've assigned to units and buildings to move the camera instead of scrolling.

• Watch the minimap and your resources as much as possible. A lot of the time there is no reason to look at the main screen for very long, but there is always something important that can be missed on the minimap.
  
• Make selection boxes as quickly as possible and only as large as they need to be.
  
• If you have to pan the camera move your mouse to the screen edges instead of using the arrow keys since your keyboard hand should be busy performing other actions.
  
  • You can make the camera more responsive with these console commands:
    
    cl_strategic_cam_accelerate 0 cl_strategic_cam_delta_snap 0 strategic_cam_maxspeed # --Insert number

• Always use attack move to move your units unless you're doing some sort of micro or want them to reach a certain area without attacking.
  
• Always use attack move to attack instead of right clicking a target unless you're specifically target firing something.

Macro or macromanagement is how you management your economy and spend your resources. Mechanics and macro are the two most important skills in my opinion because if you don't have good mechanics, it's difficult to spend and manage resources throughout the game, which results in having less of everything.

• Spend your resources the instant you can afford whatever you plan on buying.
  
• Constantly spend your resources, and keep them as low as possible. Saving resources without a purpose is wasteful and results in fewer units.

• Queue as few units as possible. Resources spent on queued units can be used elsewhere.
  
• Build more production structures if you have the resources to queue excessive amounts of units.
  
• Idle production structures means fewer units. If you have production structures constantly have units training.

You can afford more upgrades/units/income by buying things at the right time and in the right order.

• Don't build extra billets now if you already have enough supply to build units for example, but instead build the billets later.
  
• Instead of building energy cells to store excess power, see if you can spend the power on units instead.
  
• If you have something not being used, next time see if you can get rid of it or buy something else that is useful instead.

You can invest resources in four main areas: army, tech, economy, and defense. Of course investing in one area means fewer resources for another area. Pay attention to what your opponent spends his resources on and take advantage of it if you can.

• Attacking units should be built for a purpose. Otherwise, investing in economy and tech is better in the long run.
  
• Investing in army without adequate economy and tech relative to your opponent means that that army needs to do enough damage before your opponent gets too far ahead.

• Investing in economy or upgrading flags should generally be done whenever you have the safety and time for the investment to pay off.
  
• The longer you have a better economy than your opponent the further ahead you get, so economic investments should be prioritized if you're planning to win later in the game rather than sooner.

• Like economy, upgrading tech should be done when you think it's safe to and if you're planning to win later on.
  
• If you invest in tech before having an adequate economy or army relative to your opponent, that tech should accomplish something to make up for those differences.

• Get away with as few defenses as possible or none at all. Static defense should bide time until your army can arrive but not totally replace your army.
  
• Static defenses do not give you map control like an army does.
  
• The more static defenses built, the less you can pressure and attack your opponent, which gives him the safety to get a better economy and tech.

With Rebels it's easy to scout mostly everything your opponent's doing, but even as Combine you can make the correct decisions based on what few enemy units or structures you're able to see.

In the early game, your opponent can't really do two things at once. He can't upgrade several control points and build a threatening army. If he tries to, he'll have a weak army and a weak economy.

• If you see a control point being upgraded first, you know your opponent can't have the resources to have a strong army for some time, so you're safe to upgrade your economy too or tech to some extent. Or you might choose to attack instead, knowing he will have fewer resources for army or defense.
  
• If you're investing heavily in tech or economy you should scout to see if it's safe to do so. If you don't see your opponent collecting scrap/power or upgrading flags, the only good move he can do is an early attack.
  
• Seeing few enemy units throughout the early and mid game probably means your opponent is spending money on tech for higher tier units and upgrades instead, especially if your opponent is building static defense too.

Your army should typically be used to secure resources and prevent your opponent from taking them.

• Attacking and pressuring your opponent gives you map control, and map control allows you to secure resources.
  
• If you have faster weaker units, abuse slow stronger units by doing counter-attacks and harassment instead of directly fighting them.

• The more resources and flags you capture, the areas you have to defend becomes more spread out and difficult to directly defend. This is where harassment and counter-attacks are more viable.
  
• Because there aren't a lot of reliable defensive units, army movement and attacking is how resources can be defended, especially as they become more spread out.
  
• If your opponent has a slow army, secure resources and upgrade flags farther away first.
  
• There is no reason for your army to be rallied in your main base unless you're defending something there. Instead it should be positioned where it can defend and reach your resources in time.

I didn't cover micro earlier because great micro is not that important in Lambda Wars, and it's probably known about more than these other skills. Most of the micro is straightforward like using unit abilities, splitting units to reduce splash damage, and basic things like moving back injured units, which are just related to mechanics. There is also a crazy split command you can bind in the keyboard options.

For each game I have a simple plan and adjust the next time if it doesn't work or if it could be done better. It takes into account the map and includes which units I want and might include certain scrap and control points. On a small map with fewer resources my goal might just be getting certain army/munitions depot tier units and having one or two points upgraded until more can be secured. On larger maps my goal is either to get a large strider/elite or rpg army.

If the plan doesn't work I don't usually do something entirely different but instead make adjustments to the steps leading there, like upgrading a control point later, or getting an upgrade sooner. If I lost to an attack, it would mean the build wasn't safe. Maybe I teched too quickly for example. If I lost much later in the game, maybe I could have invested more in economy early or made other mistakes.

In a game one player might have a larger army but be behind in tech. Or someone might have a good economy but hasn't had enough time to take advantage of it while the opponent has been building a larger army. Being behind in every area usually means the game's already lost.

• If you're ahead, it's safer to keep taking control points and upgrading tech rather than attacking unnecessarily before your advantage solidifies itself.
  
• Preventing your opponent from securing scrap points and flags should be the main priorities when you have an advantage.

• Counter-attacks and harassment can allow you make a come back if your opponent is not defending his resources or is unprepared.
  
• Playing passively will only solidify a disadvantage unless your only hope is your opponent making a mistake.