I get this a lot. So just for you.... # Designer's note for those unfamiliar with Gunslave mecha... They are non-essential balance bars and extra armour. Very helpful for aiming while doing fast running, maneuvers, that kind of thing. They reduce the dampening effect of lining up the mech to hit a target. Which means you can aim faster. (This is a rule in our game). So, adding them to the side, means you're building a bigger cross section and an easier to hit target, plus they give no effect whatsoever. - On the rear, the mech becomes rearward heavy, as it's already stacked to capacity back there. So it'll topple over no matter how much you lean forward. (Always checked with mass analysis in CAD). So by adding them to the front, if you've ever shot a bow before, or held something with auto-correcting motion, you'll see how handy balance bars are. These ones are specially designed to help the pilot aim under full stride/walk/slide, seconds and milliseconds matter when firing at an enemy. So essentially, removing them only makes the mech less superior than the same mech without them. ... However, sometimes, extra ammo and capacitors are loaded in, but with one note, the ammo is long range and the capacitors are generally for high powered items. In close combat, big weapons that require lots of energy are a liability. Slow to aim and draw too much reserve. So shedding big weapons and their ammo containers makes you light, however, the balance bar is 'extra' safety armour too. ... So as far as it goes, one can lose a balance bar 'eventually'. However, in the initial battle, they are extremely handy.