147 replies to this topic

[Armorine]

What's every ones thoughts on it? I'm a little underwhelmed. I can't seem to find a good build for them. They feel kinda fragile

[El Bandito]

Pack XL engine, and be a fast moving fire support. ERLL, Goose, AC5, LRMs (wait until they fix the targeting bug) etc...

ZEU-6S Much Dakka, Very Pew

Edited by El Bandito, 17 March 2015 - 06:31 PM.

[Brody319]

can't go wrong with gauss and ppcs
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2e3693640dfa63e

[Fubl]

Im going standard and playing kinda towards the quirks.... The only issue i am having is that the 6 and the 9 both have the same problem almost all the weapons are on the one side of the mech.... so if you lose that side you have what ever you have in the center torso and thats it.... The lrm boat i just equipped 3 lrm 10s with artemis a few pulses and ammo with a tag center line....

Edited by Fubl, 17 March 2015 - 06:45 PM.

[Lord Ikka]

Just remember to leave tonnage to up the armor- it is so much more tanky when you go above stock (weak for Assault) armor levels. So far it's a good chassis for me, each variant plays to a different style and loadout.

Edited by Lord Ikka, 17 March 2015 - 07:28 PM.

[Wolfwood592]

Gauss/MPL is working wonders for me

[Kiiyor]

I think it looks teeny for a mech of it's weight. I might be imagining things, but every time i've seen one next to an Awesome the Awesome is trying to suck in it's gut and hunch over in jealousy.

How are the ST's? Are they XL friendly?

[Zordicron]

Kiiyor, on 17 March 2015 - 07:34 PM, said:

I think it looks teeny for a mech of it's weight. I might be imagining things, but every time i've seen one next to an Awesome the Awesome is trying to suck in it's gut and hunch over in jealousy.

How are the ST's? Are they XL friendly?

NO

[Creovex]

I feel like its armor just peels off right now... Not complaining, just noticing ALOT of ripping... Then again with VOIP and a new paint job, could just be focus fire.

TIP: Not LRM friendly, the low arm placement makes the missile mount a waste with any LRM20 or such... Losing way too many missiles to landscape and obstacles.

So far (playing to quirks for the moment, nothing serious)
6T = 2xPPC, 3xSRM6+A, 2xML, STD300
6S = 1xAC5, 1xLRM20, 4xML, STD320 (not liking LRMs, see above, thinking 2x AC5 and SRMs may be a better fit, however since this is a fully functional LRM20 tube setup, it does have a PERFECT cluster if they all clear the landscape)
9S = 3xERLL, 3xML, 1xSRM6, STD325

However, the new faction content camo looks badass on this mech!

Edited by Creovex, 17 March 2015 - 08:27 PM.

[Sigilum Sanctum]

First game with this:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f64c893a79dae0f

686 damage. Its very fun.

[Zordicron]

Here is my review:

Above all else, the Zeus is an IS 80 tons assault. "Well duh" you say. Sure! it has a small size, and looks badass. it is still an 80 ton assault. this means, it can be either an overgrown medium, or a fragile assault when it comes to firepower.

this is because the engine ratings make it travel like a 90 ton mech, while being 10 tons short on firepower, or armor, or both.

Hitbox wise, which is unrelated to tonnage, the Zeus has a good balance, and spreads dmg well. this of course means the ST are not particularily protected, and running one will see you die to a loss of it as oft as not. In this regard, i compare the Zeus to a Cataphract. If you want an XL, do it for mongo speed. Put an XL380 in or something, make it do 80KPH. OTHERWISE, dont bother. Put a STD 320 as stock in, or maybe a 300 if you are going to go for a support fire only loadout.

Weapons, the only realistic quirks you should bother looking at are the ERLL range on the one variant, as you can make it effective at quite a long range by sticking 3 in torsos. IMO, this was the only variant that could support giant XL, as the speed helps position and you are out of range of many weapons. Internal DHS storage on engine then covers for the loss of crit space for DHS in the ST. The other two variants, the quirks are so generic, put what you like in and run it. Make sure you up the armor! Stock armor is very low on CT especially.

End general review

More specific story time: I ran the ® first, because fancy c-bill buffs etc. Tried a mix of ERLL in torso and SRM6/LBX in arms for brawl. Almost never got to use brawl weapons. When I did, the Zeus got plastered so fast, it wasnt even funny. Switched it to NO missiles, and AC10, added a couple DHS. better, asymetrical, too hot for sustained fighting when a fuzzball starts, too slow to escape. Tomorrow I am going full out PPC etc snipe mode to try that. Maybe a guass.

I moved to the ERLL quirked one next. tried an XL 370 I had laying around, triple ERLL and triple MPL in arm. did ok. too hot. NOTICABLE improvment in agility, though the speed only went up to 75 or so. In a mech that feels as fragile as a catapult, 75kph is not enough speed to compensate for the XL in close range. ran it twice, once in a victory with mech in tact(barely) and other in loss where got my LT opened up and vulture lights got me near the end of match(last 3 mechs) by laser into my open torso. Watching these two matches, and my other matches in the other variants is what brought me to conclude Zeus and XL is going to only work in very specific playstyle for certain players. ERLL can reach past 800M in this variant though, keep that in mind(without module even)

Then I went to 6T, triple missile arm.



I gotta pause here. I know I cant be the only one that put triple SRM6 into that arm right? LOLMEGABUSTER. that thing turns into a round tube bigger than an Atlas' leg. it is glorious in it's hugeness. I put an ERPPC into the other arm, and MPL in torsos. Ran one match on alpine. ERPPC was useful obviously, and actually it was easy to aim and cleared hills well enough etc I would consider it in other variants.

anyway, Did some sniping, team pushed up hill, got into fuzzball. Got one shot off of SRM18. it is so freegin huge, enemy blew that arm off with splash dmg basically lol. Seriously, it is bigger than the CT, and despite looking like I could one shot Dr. Wily, it turns into a bullet magnet. The rest of the poor Zeus got pretty much rekt. between this(my last tonight) and other matches with the ®, I have decided the Zeus is not particularily great at anyrthing under LL range. It is to slow, it is to fragile for how slow it is, and the ST do not support XL well enough to counter either the speed, or the firepower at brawl range.

The Zeus, sad to say, is an Awesome with better hitbox and a smaller target in general. It will do well at fire support, it might have a place in long range combat for CW drop decks(I doubt it) but it otherwise isn;t well rounded enough to perform more roles.

PGI, if you read through this, if you give Zeus some ST armor buffs, maybe a solid +speed quirk, it would help it out IMO. Otherwise it is destined for lower middle of the pack. better than a couple assaults in game, but worse then more.

[MandyB]

Creovex, on 17 March 2015 - 07:42 PM, said:

I feel like its armor just peels off right now... Not complaining, just noticing ALOT of ripping... Then again with VOIP and a new paint job, could just be focus fire.

TIP: Not LRM friendly, the low arm placement makes the missile mount a waste with any LRM20 or such... Losing way too many missiles to landscape and obstacles.

So far (playing to quirks for the moment, nothing serious)
6T = 2xPPC, 3xSRM6+A, 2xML, STD300
6S = 1xAC5, 1xLRM20, 4xML, STD320 (not liking LRMs, see above, thinking 2x AC5 and SRMs may be a better fit)
9S = 3xERLL, 3xML, 1xSRM6, STD325

However, the new faction content camo looks badass on this mech!

Im loving the zeus with med lasers/LL and 3x srm6
Not to be mean or anything but since the LRMS would be in your arms cant you just aim your arm up?

[El Bandito]

Kiiyor, on 17 March 2015 - 07:34 PM, said:

I think it looks teeny for a mech of it's weight. I might be imagining things, but every time i've seen one next to an Awesome the Awesome is trying to suck in it's gut and hunch over in jealousy.

How are the ST's? Are they XL friendly?

Very XL friendly.

[Kjudoon]

The Sunflower on the 6T.

Hillarious. Yes, that's the word I'm using. As in oy vey!

[Creovex]

MandyB, on 17 March 2015 - 08:08 PM, said:

Im loving the zeus with med lasers/LL and 3x srm6
Not to be mean or anything but since the LRMS would be in your arms cant you just aim your arm up?

1) Not with the current LRM bug requiring center of box for a lock
2) No, they are a point of origin and have to fire from the near hip location, causing a lower arc trajectory regardless of who has LOS....

Go run Frozen City once and go from Kappa to Epsilon.... trust me, you will dent ground plenty....

Edited by Creovex, 17 March 2015 - 08:32 PM.

[MandyB]

Oh well that sucks, i figured since you can aim the arms, the lrms would leave at the angle you are aiming

[Sorbic]

Today I've had a few times where I went from barely scratched yellow to dead from firepower which shouldn't have dropped me. Seen a couple others complain about the same thing. I wonder if some of these instances of the CT feeling like paper can be attributed to what seems to be a bug.

[process]

3xLRM15

[Lynx7725]

Huh. One thing I noticed that if you pack the arm with SRMs, their lower point of origin usually means hitting the enemy mech in the crotch... might be a good thing, especially for mechs with bigger packages, since torso twisting won't mitigate crotch hits.

[Cabusha]

I'm cruising around with Standard 350, Endo, DHS, 2xAC5 + 4 tons ammo, 4xML, AMS, Heatsinks and armor to taste. Very tanky and mobile enough to be a threat. Weapons payload is a tad light but it works. You can use the RA and RT to shield this way. Just had a 1K game and unlocked the Ace of Spades, so I can't complain!

For people comparing this to the Awesome...the Awesome is my favorite bad mech. It's got huge hitboxes, low weapon mounts, and a belly that juts. But I can make that damn mech sing, and it's HARD to do it. So far the Zeus is way easier to run and much more forgiving. It just doesn't have any super-sized quirks for weapons, but the general buffs are quite nice and the extra armor to the torsos is very noticeable.

Edited by Cabusha, 17 March 2015 - 09:47 PM.