well, what if someone who knows how to code really wanted to code the weapons back?
The thing is, Warband uses a proprietary language (i.e. it's not used elsewhere), so you can't just pick up the code and change it. A good programmer will learn it fast enough (see Ozin), but there's still the fact that cRPG is closed source and we don't give random people acces to the source. If someone is interested in helping to develop the mod, he should hang out in IRC, show interest, etc...
That said, forward bases are not being brought back; they are meant for longer games like Strategus battles, and they don't really work in round-based battles. I see nothing wrong with restoring the weapon rack, but first it needs to be fully integrated with the upkeep system.