I've never really cared for the base model Zeus, it just didn't seem to do enough for the tonnage.
The venerable "Oink" (ON-1K) has served me well in several campaigns. Granted, there's always the risk of an ammo explosion, but it's well padded by other systems. In game after game, they've been able to deliver concentrated 10 point AC hits and a volley of LRMs at range for me, then switch from LRM to SRM and ML spam to exploit the damage inflicted on the way in. It's clearly a "bracket fire" design, and you can't afford the heat buildup from firing the LRMs and MLs/SRMs together, especially since you're going to want to use the AC at any range, any time you get decent odds for a shot.
The armor has usually managed to withstand whatever the opposition threw at it, with the occasional loss of an arm or torso side. I did have one blow itself sky-high from an ammo explosion, but the same happened to a Zeus on one of the rare occasions where I used one (I normally don't play as Lyrans). You do have to take reasonable care with the heat curve, however, because 10 single heat sinks is kind of pathetic for something of that tonnage, and rolling for ammo explosions isn't a good idea.
The rest of your group's lance already has sufficient stand-off capability, and the Victor isn't enough to provide a front line by itself without getting bypassed and/or back-shot. Putting the ON and VTR next to each other a coupe of hexes in front of the MAD and AWS (which have minimum range issues) seems like a winning combination to me. That makes a total of up to 5 PPCs and an AC/10 dealing nasty 10 point hits, an LRM-15 rack and AC/5 piling on a few extra 5 point damage groups, a 20-point doomsday weapon to make closing with your ranged firepower seem like a bad idea, and a 4-rack of SRMs and several MLs, along with the AC/10, to provide additional close-in firepower if they try it anyway. Frankly, the standard ON is a better in-fighter than the standard ZEU, and roughly comparable at range, although some ZEU variants seem to be fairly effective.