Also in the sword vs. sniper argument:
It is true that a sniper has the advantage in most regular combat, but the circumstances are a bit different with our giant robots. A human being is down after at most 2 decent shots from a sniper, but a CVF is tougher than that even with a class 3 armor. Now most sword and shield CVF's also come with a fair amount of agility used mainly to close the gap between them and a gun men, but this agility can also be used to also avoid his gun fire. But when it comes down to it the better pilot can come out on top in either situation with knowing how to properly gain the advantage with either weapon.