If you play Advent, take advantage of that you get drone host tier two.

1) Build a crystal extractor.

2) Build a cap facility

3) Build 2 diciples (don't bother with a scout in the beginning)

4) Look for a) asteroid belts asteroids, with your diciples

5) Build either a mothership or a capital of your choice at the expense of a colony frig (you also get a combat ability

    this way. I personally like carriers, but be careful not to let it die to enemy caps (build 2 bombers with it).

6) Take an asteroid and  build crystal extractor. Use colony frigate to take asteroid crystal if possible. (Build one even

    if you have a mothership at this point.)

6) Build metal extractors on your homeoworld (you do need them somewhat. maybe you should build one a little

    earilier even).

7) Build two temples of hostility (if you did it right, you should be able to do this simultaneously, metal first then

    these.)

8) Research drone host.

8) Build 12 drone hosts.

9) Load them with fighters and watch your opponent bawl as he loses all his LRMs. (make sure you run your hosts   

    away from his slow LRMs).

10) Switch the fighters to bombers, and build 10 or so diciples (yes, I know these are food for LRM's. Bear with me.)

11) Your "sneaky" opponent undoubtably read on the forumns that flaks are  "cheap" against fighters. He will build

      them. Maybe he had 10 or so the first time, and it just didn't matter.

12) Use your bombers to take out the ultra squishy lrms this time. Then bring in the diciples for his flaks.

Note: If you can get illuminators instead. Great. Use them on his LRMs once some of them are cleared, then go for his

         flaks with them.

I hope this helps some newbs cope with the "ultra cheap" LRM strategy. Please bear in mind that you could probably build 22 drone hosts before a big LRM rush, but do not do this. Build like 15 max, and then go for illuminators + diciples, which you should keep away from a huge lrm blob. Also note that if he goes flak heavy, well then that's not an LRM rush anymore. Is it? Build no flak yourself and build illuminators.

PS. You should take any ice planets you find before volcanic, if you can defend them.