I'm a big fan of the 9S, simply because it's accessible to most of the Periphery powers even into the Early Republic. The Zeus fits nicely into fire support, trooper, or anchor roles for the often lighter units of the Periphery, and it's not too technologically advanced for them to support by the time of the Jihad. The only thing I usually do is dump the medium pulses for either two ER Mediums or two regular mediums to add another ton of LRM ammunition and another ton of armor, but that's a pretty simple change. It also works well the 9K/D Victor and the 9M Awesome, given their similar movement speeds and firepower. Kick in a 7V Longbow or a Salamander, and that makes for a nice fire/battle assault lance.