39 replies to this topic

[Cyborne Elemental]

Its armor bonuses make it pretty damn nice.
Thats about it, think of it as an Awesome with superior hitboxes and alot more survivability.

An 80 ton mech for CW, that can take a beating like any 100 tonner, a good fighter, and leaves you with extra tonnage for your other 3 slots to bring more beef to the table.

[StraferX]

Tank and Look Great doing it.

[CancersCincar]

It can be the Zeus. And it has reactive geometry, unlike the Awesome. And it's left arm looks awesome. And missile hands.

[aniviron]

DaZur, on 16 June 2015 - 01:24 PM, said:

Bad

• Very hemisphere biased.

Not sure when having a shield side has ever been a bad thing? I can't think of a single mech from the top of the meta heap in the last three years that didn't try to cram all the weapons onto one side when possible. I guess having a shield side is bad if you don't know how to torso twist though.

[Cabusha]

An old Awesome and Victor pilot here, and I have to say the Zeus kicks ass. The armor quirks make it absurdly tanky. It reminds me of how assault mechs in this game used to feel. The weapon quirks are "OK...". Rocket punches with 3aSRM6 never get old. The variant with 2xballistic and 4 energy kicks ass with 2xAC5 and 4xMLAS and a standard engine. The 5 energy variant is ridiculous with 3xERLL and 2xLPL for backup.

It's a versatile, strong chassis. Just lacks the AC-20 of the victor, otherwise it'd be perfect.

[Anjian]

The Zeus is the Zeus. You run it because its the Zeus.

[Madcap72]

Running the 9s with 3x ERLL+range mod, 3x MPL and an SRM6 with a ton or two of ammo and a 360XL means I can hit 70KPH and be in place to whack the hell out of dudes with the ERLL's. Then light swat with the MPL's and SRM's on top of brawling. The big engine makes everything zippy too!

[Ted Wayz]

The Zeus can effectively kite with LRMs and the others cannot. The Awesome can boat LRMs but not kite with them.

[DaZur]

aniviron, on 16 June 2015 - 06:37 PM, said:

Not sure when having a shield side has ever been a bad thing? I can't think of a single mech from the top of the meta heap in the last three years that didn't try to cram all the weapons onto one side when possible. I guess having a shield side is bad if you don't know how to torso twist though.

Not a bad thing per say... That said, while having a sheild side is great and all but cramming everything one one side does however present a nice little focus point for folks that "know what their doing" as well.

[Gaussfather]

CancersCincar, on 16 June 2015 - 06:23 PM, said:

It can be the Zeus. And it has reactive geometry, unlike the Awesome. And it's left arm looks awesome. And missile hands.

Thanks, but what do you mean by reactive geometry?

Ted Wayz, on 16 June 2015 - 08:42 PM, said:

The Zeus can effectively kite with LRMs and the others cannot. The Awesome can boat LRMs but not kite with them.

Thanks Ted - I'm learning a lot on this thread But what do you mean by "kite lrms"... you mean launch 1 after another in quick succession?

[BarHaid]

Jman88, on 17 June 2015 - 02:35 PM, said:

Thanks Ted - I'm learning a lot on this thread But what do you mean by "kite lrms"... you mean launch 1 after another in quick succession?

Kiting means firing and moving quickly; usually by using your speed or maneuverability to stay at optimal range to lay down the rain.

[CancersCincar]

Jman88, on 17 June 2015 - 02:35 PM, said:

Thanks, but what do you mean by reactive geometry?

If you put an AC 20 in the left arm, it looks like there's an AC 20 there. If you put a Gauss Rifle in the left arm, it looks like there's a Gauss Rifle there. The Awesome's geometry does not change to reflect it's loadout.

[Slow and Decrepit]

I've had Awesome's, I still have a few Victors that are getting quite dusty, and 1 Zeus left from the set of 3. As a die hard big Victor fan, I will admit, the Zeus has a huge unfair advantage over the Vic. It has more armor than two Victors! You darn right it will tank like a Banshee! It can walk up to a Dire and punch it in the face! Made me sick knowing that Vic doesn't stand a chance in these MWO days. Vic's calling card was lost in it's JJ's when Paul ruined it and the (now)lowlander. PGI won't fix them because that would take away from newer mech sales. They say they have removed all the nerfs, but the one that hurt them the most by far was the ability to twist like a urbie while in the air! That's how I could get my Victors all the way down in the teens and twenty range with a big XL. While the Zeus is a good mech, it can't hold a candle (my op) to a free jumping Vic from back in the day, when everyone walked 10 miles to school all uphill both ways in 6 ft of snow!

[Axeface]

The Zeus is tough as nails and very versatile. With its quirks it has armour just shy of a dire and it's small and fast... very good mech.
You can laser vomit with the 9S effectively with a std for major durability. The Awesomne is garbage and the victor is just, well different - bigger.

Edited by Axeface, 17 June 2015 - 03:24 PM.

[Bleary]

The Zeus can take All of the Damage. My std engine 6S soaks more than my Stalkers. Honking huge shield arms, compact torso with symmetrical hitboxes, tons of bonus armor.

They can also accomodate almost any loadout. They're good at boating missiles, great at boating lasers, a solid platform for Gauss/AC-10/dual AC-5. They're both XL friendly and ideally set up for side-shielding with stds. They have a sky-high engine cap if you feel like going fast.

What they can't do is ridge hump. Or abuse weapon quirks. That's pretty much it. But given those things define the Inner Sphere meta right now, it's enough to keep the Zeus from the top of the tier lists.

Edited by Bleary, 17 June 2015 - 10:06 PM.

[Madcap72]

BarHaid, on 17 June 2015 - 02:52 PM, said:

Kiting means firing and moving quickly; usually by using your speed or maneuverability to stay at optimal range to lay down the rain.

Not... really. That's just playing smart.


Kiting is where you run towards a badguy, shoot, then move back to draw badguys into your own friendly forces who are hidden out of sight.

[BarHaid]

Madcap72, on 17 June 2015 - 05:18 PM, said:

Not... really. That's just playing smart.


Kiting is where you run towards a badguy, shoot, then move back to draw badguys into your own friendly forces who are hidden out of sight.

Ah! I had it a bit backwards. I thought you were the kite, not the bad guy.

[Hoffenstein]

It can out-range the pants off pretty much anything in CW

[Bloodweaver]

Jman88, on 16 June 2015 - 12:53 PM, said:

I have Awesomes and Victors... what can a Zeus do that is better than those mechs?

Live. It can live better than Victors, and especially better than Awesomes. The Zeus is very small for its size. This means small hitboxes, which means greater survivabilty. And on top of that, its hitboxes appear to be actually well-designed. So you get a double-dose of survivability. In comparison, the Victor's hitboxes are more-or-less average, and the Awesome's are among the worst in the game. Also, you get great hardpoint distribution. And this is amplified by your survivability, because that allows you to safely use XL engines and thus increase your firepower by using those hardpoints. It's the best 80-ton 'Mech in the game.

[Carrioncrows]

The zues is the epitome of the "On Paper" versus "In Reality" argument.

On paper there should be no significant difference between the Awesome, Victor and Zues.

In Reality the hitboxes alone make the Zues makes it an actual desirable 80 ton mech. One of those niches where you have 80 tons to play with in CW and you select the zues and are good rather than playing with other loadouts trying to squeeze up to an 85 stalker or down to a 70 ton cataract.

Edited by Carrioncrows, 17 June 2015 - 10:04 PM.