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I've already got a sizeable CSM army at the moment, but it's sorely lacking in terms of staying power and it hinges almost entirely on taking the fight to the enemy. I'm definitely going to expand it, but I'm not entirely sure what to get next. Here's my collection so far;

HQ
Chaos Lord
Chaos Sorcerer
Daemon Prince

Troops
Chaos Marines x10 (Rhino included)
Cultists x20

Elites
Terminators x5
Helbrute
Possessed x5

Fast Attack
Raptors x5
Bikers x3

I know I need HS, but should I get a tank, Obliterators, or a Daemon Engine? Also, I'm not sure which FA slot I should invest in more, my Bikers or Raptors and I'm unsure as to which Cult unit I should get first. Any general advice for how I should build up my army would be greatly appreciated.

What legion are you doing?

I recommend Chaos spawn for 30 odd pts they're a great distraction unit. Heldrake is still a good choice, reliable way to deal with enemy air units. As for Heavy Support, some good options there, its more whatever you feel like. Id avoid the havocs unless you kitbash them yourself as the model is pretty bleh.

I think competitive players will tell you get all the oblits, but I like the LR with the termis or full squad of CSM w/ CCW and the pred is always reliable.

Forge Fiends....all of the Forge Fiends.

You've only got 1 model with AV at the moment (the helbrute) so if you get a tank or daemon engine, then you'll probably find it focus fired down in short order (unless you grab 3 of them).

I'm a huge fan of forgefiends, but unless you get 2, and maybe a drake as well, I'm not sure how much success you're going to have with them. Still, the ectoplasma can deal with 2+ saves quite well (if only at shorter ranges) and the hades autocannon version can serve as anti-air given that the chaos dex is sorely lacking there.

You don't really have the CC potential as yet to run a wall of AV 12 brutes and mauler fiends down the field with rhino and spawn support, though you could if you so choose.

Vindicators are not a terrible option either, but as they say, one is none, so you'd want to be packing 2 to try and ensure at least 1 gets a shot off. Would also like to have more Armour on the field for this, so maybe if you want to run mech troops with rhinos? Consider Daemonic possession as the -1 BS doesn't matter as much for something that rolls scatter dice and the protection from half the pen damage table is handy.

You could grab a Raider for the termies, but again, that will greatly depend on how you want to run your list, as while it might be the only vehicle on the field, many armies also can't do anything about it. Can also be run as HS to transport stuff, but that's a fairly niche choice.

As usual though, oblits are the answer to much of chaos' problems, as they have been for quite a few editions now.

Defiler is a no-no unless you have very specific plans, as it's far too expensive for what you get.

Predators get the job done on the cheap, 115 for auto/las is fantastic unless you neeed to open AV14, and a little bit extra for tri-las is good too. Excellent compliment to Vindicators IMHO.

As for cult units, stay away from Thousand Sons or Khorne Berserkers unless you really have a plan and build your list around them. Noise marines and plauge marines can be used, but both are still best taken as troops or not at all. There's nothing saying you need cult troops at all, many a warband won't have any.

Fast attack is full of great choices, but each one tends to fit in with a different army theme. If you grab daemon engines, then a heldrake is a great choice, if you go juggerlord, then spawn are great escorts and also do well as threat overload in a mass melee rush list, nurgle lord on a bike gets a biker retinue. Raptors are great for smaller squads with double melta to go hunt tanks if the rest of your army doesn't have sufficient anti tank, though they can also provide a great escort for a slaneshi jump pack lord. Nobody takes warp talons because their rules are bad and they should feel bad, despite being one of, if not the, best looking models in the codex.

As to how you build your army, a lot of that will come down to how you want to run your HQ. Daemon prince will require lots of fast unit (you did take wings and armour, right?) to lockdown stuff that bypasses armour or has skyfire so he can land in peace and then start wrcking stuff next turn. Chaos lord might want to have a raider to ride around in with some terminator buddies to wreck face with if you haven't got him a Juggernaught/bike/jump pack and the sorceror will want to hang back a bit since 2 wounds doesn't stretch very far with the new psychic phase these days, so you'll tend to a more gunline list.

Basically, did you have a legion/god/theme that you wanted to build towards? If so, we can probably guide you a bit better on which way to go.

Well, for the HS slots, I would take Obliterators simply because they can be used in so many roles.

The Forgefiends would be completely acceptable, but realize they are going to take fire starting round one. Obliterators arriving from deepstrike can wreck battle plans.

If you want staying power then you can't go wrong with Noise Marines. Plop them on an objective for short range, high damage output against smaller enemies. Plague Marines can take nearly anything on the chin and stay where they are, be it melee or shooting.

The 'problem' with Oblits is that they are fully able to move up with a slow crawl army and annihilate things. Bubble wrap them in Cultists so they can't get bogged down by Assault and get a bit of a Cover Save. But if you want to be more static, it's easier just to grab Havocs. If the plan is not to move ever, they're cheaper, can grab an ADL and turret and just stay where they're at.

I personally like Forgefiends but they're dinosaurs. People like to shoot dinosaurs. They won't last long and if you get less than two, you'll be disappointed more often than happy with what they do in a game.

You FA slot should be focused on the Bikes. The Raptors suffer from the 'too stupid to throw a punch when they land' syndrome that all Deep Strike units have. Add in atleast three more bikes, give them some Melta and use them as your forward party. The Raptors just don't need to be there at all.

Well the theme for my CSM is that they're the usual bitter Traitors who hate the Imperium above all others, but the warband consists of elements of all of the Traitor Legions that abandoned their original Legion during the Slave Wars and they united to found my warband.

If it helps, I usually go up against SM, IG, and Tau, so I'm trying to figure out which unit can effectively deal with each army.