system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] Why does the Empire even bother using walkers, when they clearly have hover technology?

So as we’ve seen, walkers (AT-AT, AT-ST) are kind of top-heavy and vulnerable to being tripped. Never mind the fact that the very high profile makes them really hard to conceal. Generally, in contemporary warfare, you want armored vehicles to have as low of a profile as possible.

So why bother even having walkers, when you can just use hover tanks or other vehicles using repulsorlift technology?

The only practical reason I can see for having walkers would be the psychological impact it has on your enemies.

But I cannot imagine that that outweighs all of the serious drawbacks.
gpt
The Empire ruled on fear alone. They had the power to beat a system or two into submission fairly easily, but the Galaxy is made of millions, if not billions, of systems. The idea behind the AT-AT was it was huge and shook the ground as it walked by. Taking out a tank that’s closer to the size of a large speeder doesn’t seem that scary or impossible but having a building size tank bearing down on you would terrify most people.