Welcome members of 0-12 to this discussion on our favorite TAG, the Zeta Unit. As members of 0-12 our job is to protect the people and uphold the law, no better way to do that than with a big gun on a even bigger robot! With the introduction over let's talk about the TAG. The Zeta has the standard skills of Tactical Awareness, ECM, and Fatality lvl 1, but thats not all, It also comes with Climbing Plus, G: Remote Presence, and Peacekeeper. When it comes to weapons the Zeta has some of the best, the Hyper Rapid Magnetic Cannon has the best burst of any other weapon, and the Heavy Riotstopper can render CC monsters useless. When it comes to stats the Zeta is average for TAG. With CC 17 and BS 14, its attack stats are underwhelming, but it makes up for that with ARM 8, BTS 6, and STR 3 so it is very durable and tanky. When it comes to WIP it has a terrible 13, so it is at a disadvantage when it comes to combating hacking. Lets talk about how to use the Zeta: The Zeta is a very easy TAG to position. With a Heavy Riotstopper and HRMC (the cannon) it is almost never out of good range, because the Riotstopper can hit close up enemies that the HRMC is ineffective against. To make postioning even easier, the Zeta has Climbing Plus, which allows it to move up buildings that it normal TAGs coudn't. The only hard thing about positioning the Zeta is its massive size, which can make it hard to move. The Zeta needs good support. Like most TAGs it is very vulnerable to hacking, so you need good Killer Hackers to eliminate enemy hackers. The Gangbuster and the Delta can fill this role very well. A engineer is also needed to heal your TAG if/when it falls in combat. when it comes to playing the TAG the strategy it is pretty simple. Attack the opponents biggest pieces, opposing TAGs, snipers, and Links, while staying away from hackers. It would be wise to use your killer hacker to take out any hacking threats before hand if possible. When it nears the end of your turn put your TAG somewhere safe while still posing a threat. The final point to make is a more controversial one: why play the Zeta? There are several points to be made about this subject. The Zeta has the best gun in the faction, the best ARM in the faction, and has a whole bunch of abilities that go with it to make it more dangerous. The Zeta is also very simple to use and easy to learn. But, of course, There is an opposite side to the arguement. The Zeta is very pricy at 93 points and 2-3 SWC and the Gamma does many of the same things at around 30 points less. The Zeta also takes up a huge chunk of your army that goes doen the drain when it dies, leaving you with very little to fall back on. In Snyopsis, the Zeta is a very powerful unit, but requires the rest of your list built around him and your up most diligence to protect. I hope this post helps those who it may concern and that you are all a bit more enlightened about 0-12's TAG.
I think the Zeta is serviceable as a TAG. And still playable, But is so boringly bland and average. For something that was talked up as too expensive for PanO, and one of the top of the line; if not most advanced TAGs of the Sphere, it us a huge let down. It's not top of its class in any stat. In fact its basicly an inferior Szalamandra with climbing plus. I really hope CB does something to upgrade for N4, give it something to make it stand out from the other TAGs and make it feel as advanced as advertised.
Maybe giving it ODD would help? I think any TAG that's able to laverage vis. mods is quite scary - also, it'd be interesting to see it move 8-2 But tbh, I don't see anything super interesting that would make it 1. really good 2. stand out Looking at Sphinx, he's able to murder things thanks to it's TO camo and C+, which makes him one of the better TAGs in the game, but doing the same thing would be kinda... boring? Although, there isn't THAT much difference between ODD and camo tbh (and I, for one, prefer ODD on a TAG)
Give it Full Auto : p In all seriousness it could probally use extra BTS, extra BS, and extra WIP. I would go ahead and slap on multiterrain or superjump to complete the high mobility feel of it. Give it mimetisem instead of ODD to keep the price moderate.
This is a Guijia with a good cost effective weapon, not to mention that the Riotstopper is a lot better than a Flamethrower. I find it's a good, solid 4 out of 5 unit and I would not want a Szalamandra in its stead. There's a bunch of units that are 5 out of 5 in O-12 which means that combined with the price category that the Zeta is not a first or even second pick, but I'd still rank it as a top-tier TAG without going crazy like with the Avatar or Cutter.
I think climbing plus on a big model like the zeta makes for some very uncomfortable situations for your opponent. Most guys going prone behind a parapet are still accessible because of the high mobility. And with the N4 changes coming that seem to value ARM heavy models, he gets even better.
Yooo I just had a really bad idea that I absolutely love. So, you know how there's gonna be a timeskip in N4? I say we give Zeta... plasma spitfire. And slap an X visor on top of that, to have dem sweet range bands Probably broken? Yes indeed Super cool? Yes indeed Feeling unique? Yes indeed I mean, there are just two plasma guns available to human factions (one of them being a rifle, so a precedent for higher burst weaponry is there), and if O-12 has one, it shows that they got the tech. So, a few years forward, a reverse-engineered CA super-weapon would be dope - also it would make sense that they would put it on a giant TAG
I think the Zeta is really good. BS 14 MOV 6-4 HMCs are very effective and Climbing Plus adds a huge amount to the Zeta, gives it incredible mobility and the ability to avoid enemy counter attacks. The ARM 8 and STR 3 is very simple, you know, battle TAG, but it's still really tough you know, ARM 11 in cover bounces a huge amount of stuff. I've used it a lot and I really rate it. In a faction with a Holo1 CoC, Gangbuster KHDs with Madtraps and Varangians you can very effectively run a Zeta LT and protect it/insure against its loss.
I wonder what are your Zeta lists? Is it better to go with Zeta lt and Cho CoC or maybe just go with Cho Lt? I dont have much experience with TAGs as Ariadna doesnt have one so I dont know if this list is any decent. O-12 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── 10 2 ZETA Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon + Heavy Riotstopper / AP CC Weapon. (2 | 93) ZETBOT Flash Pulse / Electric Pulse. (0 | 0) CHO Lieutenant Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 15) OMEGA HMG / Pistol, Knife. (2 | 48) EPSILON HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 30) EPSILON Shock Marksman Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 26) LAMBDA Engineer Combi Rifle, D-Charges / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 16) YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) YUDBOT Electric Pulse. (0 | 3) GANGBUSTER Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, MadTrap / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) GANGBUSTER Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, MadTrap / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) VARANGIAN Light Shotgun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12) VARANGIAN Light Shotgun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12) 6 SWC | 300 Points Open in Infinity Army Maybe I should drop 1 epsilon and yudbot, go for lambda doctor and change one gangbuster into Beta KHD.
I would take away one of the gangbusters in favor of Delta KHD who can drop where you need him or drop where there is a button to press.
At the moment I use this O-12 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── GROUP 1 10 ZETA Lieutenant Hyper-Rapid Magnetic Cannon + Heavy Riotstopper / AP CC Weapon. (3 | 93) ZETBOT Flash Pulse / Electric Pulse. (0 | 0) EPSILON HMG, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (1.5 | 30) DAKINI Tacbot HMG / Electric Pulse. (1 | 21) GANGBUSTER Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, MadTrap / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) GANGBUSTER Hacker (Killer Hacking Device) Submachine Gun, MadTrap / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 21) CHO (Chain of Command) Combi Rifle, Nanopulser / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 20) OKO Combi Rifle, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 17) KYTTÄ Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) KYTTÄ Flash Pulse, Sniffer / Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) FUZZBOT (Minesweeper, Repeater) Electric Pulse. (0 | 8) GROUP 2 3 1 2 MONSTRUCKER Submachine Gun, Chain Rifle, Drop Bears / Pistol, Knife. (0 | 13) KAPPA Hacker (Hacking Device) Submachine Gun / Pistol, Knife. (0.5 | 15) VARANGIAN Light Shotgun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12) VARANGIAN Light Shotgun, Chain Rifle, Smoke Grenades / Pistol, AP CC Weapon. (0 | 12) 6 SWC | 299 Points Open in Infinity Army But usually I run limited insertion. I do like this list though. Having two fast HMG options, one on each flank, is really nice. The Epsilon usually hides towards the middle to deal with guys with ODD or TO or whatever on the Active, clear a path. The Varangians and Gangbusters run interference largely, which is why the Varangians are in group 2; they often die and I don't want them taking orders from the Zeta.
So first things first, I wanted to share my Zeta conversion for those of you not in the Facebook group! Secondly, I took the Zeta to a tournament back before the whole lockdown thing, and played the Zeta list in 2/3 rounds. The first round he went toe to toe with a Szalamandra who improbably made 3 Riotstopper saves while gunning down the Zeta at close range. No great data from that game due to wacky dice luck. In the third round however, the Zeta ran the table against NCA. I was able to leverage a very tall building in the center of the map to spider-TAG around and pick off models to deny Fireteam bonuses before I went for the big guns. I basically spent the game on the wall of that building, coming around the sides to shoot models and ending my turn on the shielded side of the building in Suppressive Fire. My opponent had no tools to deal with it outside of engaging in direct shootouts, and it basically ran the table. I’ll get some more data over TTS and continue to refine the list, but I’m very happy with the mobility options for the big boy.