[Memtok]

Bonus use is highly dependant upon the type of benefit you wish to gain, and your overall expectation of sustaining the gains you get via bonus use.

Early use is effective to A) rush scans, B) rush to siege weapons

(An alternate plan, early bonus use to gain core resource tech, is a null option. The amount of resources you gain by waiting to use the bonus is greater than what you derive from finishing the first core resource tech. So your net effect of bonus use on core research is easily off-set by following a "normal" build plan, waiting to use the bonus, and finishing core somewhere around tick 300- right BEFORE you take your bonus)

The problem with rushing scans via early use is your bonus use on researches tend to be less effective than use on constructions might be a bit later. CAT scanners may be better off going with later use, and putting their bonus into constructions, while Terran scanners might be better served using their bonus to boost research output for earlier scan techs, and use thier fast construction time to get their amps.

Either way, a scanner is a "specialty" type planet, whose sole reason for playing is to give their alliance/galaxy (whatever "group" they are a part of) a general edge on the universe in the form of early scan availability. The edge gained from bonus use by scanners cannot be easily off-set by opponents' strategies (only SK use vs amps is an effective anti-scanner tactic), but it is totally dependant upon a scanner's wish to be of best use to his/her "team".

You are not planning on being a scanner though...

The problem with bonus use to rush siege weapons is that your early gains may not be sustainable. Early use sacrifices the benefits of a BIGGER bonus (in resources and const/research) later on, for the chance at early roids. If/when you GET those early roids, you must hold on to them though. As you will be a "fat" target, if you lack a good alliance or a good galaxy/bp to help protect your gains, it is all too likely you will simply find that you lose the benefits your rush to siege weapons gave you. Thus, you may have been better off in the long run to have waited.

Additionally, as a ZIK you may find that rushing siege weapons with early bonus use does not give you the type of "edge" on the universe you expect. With numerous FR/DE class anti-CR ships available, all of which fire BEFORE ZIK CR fires on DE/FR, if you do not have a consistent attack partner who has also elected to rush siege weapons, your target choices may be extremely limited. In short, the benefit you do gain from early bonus use on a rush to seige weapons is relatively easy for anyone in the universe to off-set.

So your goal for use of your bonus should be to identify the use which is most sustainable AND which is the most effective against all the various build patterns in the universe...

My suggestion:

1) If you wish to rush seige weapons, do it via use of the democracy government option, and save your bonus. You can get to CR shortly after protection ends without using the bonus.

2) Follow your "normal" planet development pattern.

3) As a ZIK, defend in gal/ally early, as your best ship caps are those you make on defense (ship caps + salvage).

4) Sometime between tick 250-350, use your bonus on resources to effect a one-time self-defense ship build. With normal attacks, you should easily have between 400-600 roids (or more). Even if you lose some roids the next night, "saving" 100-150 roids for 24 hours adds significantly to your planet.

5) As for the choice between research and construction use, that choice is dependant upon your individual circumstances.

If you want to go the route of distorter use, you can use your bonus on construction points to add distorters.

If you wish to gain more resources, you can use the bonus on FC construction (up to 60 FC max), or on refineries to balance your resources for optimal use in ship building (you'll find that as you cap roids, you'll probably NOT cap enough Eonium roids to maintain ship builds with ALL resources without trading).

An alternate way of looking at your bonus use is to put the bonus into research. This will take a litte bit of explaining...

PA researches follow 2 basic "tracks" for non-scanner/cov op'pers:

There is a "Primary track", consisting of your travel techs, the infrastructure techs you need to continue constructions, the HCT techs you need to use all the roids you have (or will cap), and the hull techs you need to build your fleet.

The "Secondary track" consists of scan techs, cov op techs, core techs, and any infrastructure or roid use techs above those you need for immediate use.

Bonus use between tick 250-350 SHOULD find that you are well along on the research of your primary track, so completion of any researches along the primary track will be quite expensive in terms of research points. Between tick 250-350, you should also find that (as an attack based planet) you PROBABLY have not begun your secondary track researches, thus those reasearches will be quite cheap. The research points you've gained by waiting give you more "bang for the buck" when used on "cheap" reseaches...

Therefore, if you consider using the bonus on research, and your score is quite large in comparison to the universe (say t150+), you MAY find your "best use" to be research along the scan track, to get to I-scans as quickly as possible (for your own defense). This is highly effective if your alliance does not have a solid scanner group. Of course any Primary researches should be completed forst, but then putting your research points into scans gives you a benefit which cannot be off-set easily by any universal tactics.

If your score is lower, you may want to consider putting research points into cov op's. with a low score, and a high stealth (also a benefit of Demo gov), you can add resources via bank hacking, or just work cov op's for XP in additions to your attacks. Again, these are planetary benefits which cannot be off-set by universal tactics.

So to sum this long post up, it is up to YOU to find the best use of your bonus. But no matter what you decide, you should make certain your choice gives you benefits which are both sustainable, and which cannot be off-set by the tactics your opponents may choose.