More Variety in (medieval/Renaissance) Weaponry?

[Kadian]

As it stands now, Cataclysm lacks, in my opinion, in the Sword-category. It has, mostly, Renaissance and eastern Swords, which is quite saddenning to me. To clear things up, these are all the swords CDDA currently has to offer - I will ignore the diamond-varieties, for obvious reasons:

Broadsword (Renaissance. Also, the term Broadsword isn’t very…good, it’s a pretty new term and it can confuse people into thinking of a medieval sword with a broad blade…which this is NOT, it’s a rapier with a blade similar to the medieval one. Better terminology would probably be ‘Basket-hilted Sword’.)
Zweihänder (or Great Sword, Bidenhänder, and so on. Renaissance, you will very, very rarely find such a big sword in medieval times.)
Cutlass (Renaissance)
Katana (eastern)
Nodachi (eastern)
wakizashi (eastern)
Bokken (eastern. Also technically not necessary to list it here, as it isn’t a metal sword, but a wooden one.)
Tanto (eastern)
forged sword (Or ‘Shortsword’ - a problematic term in of itself, but fine in the description of this sword, as it just tells us that the sword is short.)

This is actually not a whole lot, if you think about it. And we mostly have, as stated earlier, renaissance swords and eastern swords. There are a lot of other sword-typed which could be implemented, for example:

Long Sword (Or One-and-a-half-sword or Bastard Sword. No, it is not a one handed sword with a long blade, the Longswords main use is two-handed fighting. It’s not as big as a zweihänder, but it has a similar grip, for two hands. It >can< be used for one-handed fighting, but it’s not very fast this way, and you loose a lot of the power you could have if you use it with two hands. Also, it just weighs around 1kg and 2kg, it was not heavy )

Arming Sword (The proper, medieval, one handed Sword. Nothing else to say. Also called ‘Knights Sword’ or ‘Knightly Sword’)

Katzbalger (Renaissance, a german Sword used by the Landsknecht. Some people call it a Short Sword, but it has a length of ~70cm-80cm. Still, this would be an option for another ‘Short Sword’…)

Long Knives (Knives, constructed similar to a Sword, like the Gladius, the Seax or the Renaissance Dirk. They are also called Long Daggers and have a length between 30 and 60 cm, which would be enough to be counted as short sword.)

Viking Sword (Used in the early middle ages, similar to the roman Spatha ; It wasn’t only used by the Vikings, it was also used by several other european groups.)

Ceremonial Swords (To name one famous Ceremonial Sword: The Curtana/Cortana or Sword of Mercy, used by the british in their coronations. Similar swords were used by other monarchs as well, they are blunt, and not as strong as a real sword, you could probably bash someone with it though.)

Estoc (A longsword-Rapier Hybrid. It looks a lot like a normal Longsword, but it has a very pointy end instead of a sharpened blade. For the most basic, it’s a very long rapier with a medieval Crossguard instead of the very complex hilt designs of the rapier.)

Executioner Sword (Mostly used in the german area, those swords are for twohanded use only. They do not have a point, which makes them useless for thrusting, something, most other swords are capable of. They aren’t intended for fighting either, however, they do have quite a bit of weight behind them, thanks to the bigger blade and, as the name suggests, are used for decapitations.)

Now that I gave a few examples, to the sword fighting style!
Knights and other (full time) Sword Fighter were trained for quite a while ; naturally, there were books for said training, with some quite interesting techniques which could be used in CDDA too.
Not only that, the real Sword Fighting was different than what Hollywood tries to tell us. For example, you didn’t just block a sword with your own sword, that would damage your sword as well as the enemies, you would >parry< it, means, you redirect the attack. You also didn’t spin around like a madman, neither did your sword, that just opens you to the enemy which could easily kill you.

Now, for 2 techniques i know somewhat well and are, at least in my opinion, viable for use in CDDA.:

Half-Swording: You grab the blade with 1 hand, basically shortening the blade and taking some of it’s power away, but you have greater accuracy with it and can thrust the blade better. This was mostly used against enemies in heavy armor, as you couldn’t penetrate something like plate armor with a Sword, you had to thrust your blade into the weak points of the Armor. This could translate to a skill where you loose a bit of damage, but the damage is completely changed to thrusting damage instead of cutting damage - armor penetration could also be a possible part of this skill.

Murder-Stroke: You turn the sword arount, grab the blad and basically use the pommel and Crossguard as makeshift Striking Weapons. Again, mostly used against armored targets, this technique gives you the ability to penetrate the enemies armor like with a mace. This can end in quite a heavy attack which is quite damaging - it also does blunt damage.

edit: small edits and corrections, yay

[Muaddib]

You know, execution swords being used by a hulky mutant would be very interesting…

[Kadian]

You know, execution swords being used by a hulky mutant would be very interesting…

I have the feeling you’re hoping for an instant decapitation of thy enemy? I wonder if you could make something like this as a technique, unqiue to the Executioner Sword with a strength requirement…
I personally would favour a Longsword, maybe you could activate the Sword in order to switch between one-handed and two-handed use, which could change the damage output and speed of the weapon.

[trelatyraelis]

Because what the game really needs is more bloat and out of context weapons!

[someguy]

It’s my understanding that a broadsword is just a sword with a double edged blade. As opposed to a backsword, which is single edged. Neither term really tells you anything else about the weapon. A longsword is generally a broadsword, whereas a katana is a backsword. I agree that both terms are more archaeological than historical.

Similarly though, using the term “basket hilted” doesn’t really tell you much about a sword either. Not every European sword with a basket hilt was the same. The English during the renaissance generally favoured more cut and thrust blades for example, which are shorter and wider than the thrust centric rapier. And of course the famous Scottish basket hilted broadsword from the period has a blade profile which is nearly identical to what you’re calling a medieval knightly sword.

I’m not sure we really need more examples, but bringing European blades more in line with those from the mythical East would be nice. I don’t see why a katana and nodachi get rapid strike over their European counterparts for example. Their blade profiles make them superb cutters, but they actually have relatively thick, short and heavy blades. If you’re ranking weapons by “quickness”, they’re not it by any stretch. And that’s without getting into their shitty construction, a “genuine” katana would be quickly ruined in a zombie apocalypse.

Can of worms really… heh.

[Kadian]

Because what the game really needs is more bloat and out of context weapons!

Out of context? How so? Just because the game is slightly in the future does not mean that this weaponry is not available anymore. We have nowadays enough Smiths which still make Swords, you can buy them online, we have medieval festivals, with tourneys and duels, you cannot tell me that this is impossible to imagine in the future.

It's my understanding that a broadsword is just a sword with a double edged blade. As opposed to a backsword, which is single edged. Neither term really tells you anything else about the weapon. A longsword is generally a broadsword, whereas a katana is a backsword. I agree that both terms are more archaeological than historical.

It hurts, make it stop q.q This - nothing against you or anyone who thinks the same - stupidity comes from modern games, i can understand why you'd say that, but it's fundamentally wrong :/ Broadsword is another term for basket-hilted swords, which is a group of swords of the renaissance. The name comes from the 'broad' blade, which is much bigger and wider than that of a rapier. It has nothing to do with 2 or 1 edge, its just a differentiation between the basket-hilted swords and a rapier. To show you, THIS is a broadsword: [spoiler][img]http://www.medieval-weaponry.co.uk/acatalog/SH2002-920-1.jpg[/img][/spoiler]

Similarly though, using the term "basket hilted" doesn't really tell you much about a sword either. Not every European sword with a basket hilt was the same. The English during the renaissance generally favoured more cut and thrust blades for example, which are shorter and wider than the thrust centric rapier. And of course the famous Scottish basket hilted broadsword from the period has a blade profile which is nearly identical to what you're calling a medieval knightly sword.

Rapier =/= Broadsword = Basket-hilted Sword, so I don’t exactly know why you try to bring the rapiers in the mix too? Or am I just misreading it? But yes, Basket-hilted swords were different from place to place, so were longswords, so were Zweihänder, which looked extremely different, depending on where you go. Still, those are groups of weapons which look and act similar, which is why you can put them in the same category and give them the same name. A basket-hilted sword is a broader rapier with 2 sharp edges, mainly used for cutting, while the rapier might have sharp edges, but it’s main use was thrusting.

Big edit:
This Video here, by one Skallagrim, explains the differences between the swords and how Shortsword & Broadsword are somewhat vague terms in of itself. This might help people out if they never even held a sword or only know a bit about swords from games.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk0GBKaMcgE
The Channel itself seems to be pretty much about all kinds of weapons, and from what I saw so far, he seems to know his weapons. At least mostly.
He also has videos about half-swording and the murder-stroke, I’ll link those too, if necessary. This video here is just to explain the groups of swords and the differences.

[someguy]

I said nothing about the thickness, I said edges. A broadsword has two edges, a backsword has a single edge (and sometimes a false edge). I’m not using the terms as used in games (I’ve never ever seen the term backsword used in any game in any case), I’m using them as used in archaeology and HEMA circles.

Broadsword certainly isn’t just another term for basket hilted swords, it has a very specific meaning inside the circles I just mentioned. The typical arming sword is a broadsword, a typical longsword is also a broadsword, because they’re double edged. That Scottish sword is also a broadsword yes… did you ever stop to think that the name isn’t arbitrary, but is actually descriptive? It’s a double edged sword with an enclosed (basket) hilt, hence “basket hilted broadsword”!

The people who used these things generally just called them “sword” by the way.

[Kadian]

I said nothing about the thickness, I said edges. A broadsword has two edges, a backsword has a single edge (and sometimes a false edge). I’m not using the terms as used in games (I’ve never ever seen the term backsword used in any game in any case), I’m using them as used in archaeology and HEMA circles.

But that is wrong. What you call ‘Broadsword’ is simply a double-edged Sword. Also, giving a Single Edged Sword a false edge makes it a double edged sword. the false edge is the Edge on the users side, the one youre looking at, while the true edge is the edge pointed at the enemy. Also, why would you call something BROAD when you mean DOUBLE EDGED? Thats like I say youre FAT when I mean you have…2 long arms or something like this. This doesn’t make sense, you have to see that, right?
Now, back to topic, here is for example what the ARMA says about the Broadsword - which should be quite enlightening to you.

[spoiler=“From The Association of Renaissance Martial Arts”]

The Broadsword

A term popularly misapplied as a generic synonym for medieval swords or any long, wide military blade. The now popular misnomer “broadsword” in reference to Medieval blades actually originated with collectors in the early 19th century -although many mistranslations and misinterpretations of Medieval literature during the 19th & 20th centuries have inserted the word broadsword in place of other terms. They described swords of earlier ages as being “broader” than their own contemporary thinner ones. Many 17th-19th century blades such as spadroons, cutlasses, and straight sabers are classed as broadswords as are other closed hilt military swords. The weapon known as the true broadsword is in fact a form of short cutlass. The term “broadsword” does not appear in English military texts from the 1570s - 1630s and noes not show up in inventories of sword types from the 1630’s, and likely came into use sometime between 1619 and 1630. Descriptions of swords as “broad” before this time are only incidental and the word “broad” is used as an adjective in the same way “sharp” or “large” would be applied. Leading arms curators almost always list the broadsword specifically as a close-hilted military sword from the second half of the 17th century. Those cage and basket hilted blades used by cavalry starting in the 1640’s were in form, “broadswords”. During this time a gentleman’s blade had become the slender small-sword, whereas the military used various cutting blades. Today, arms collectors, museum curators theatrical-fighters, and fantasy-gamers have made the word broadsword a common, albeit blatantly historically incorrect, term for the Medieval sword.

[/spoiler]

As to what the Archeologists say - no, they don’t say a broadsword is just a double edged sword. This is monumentally wrong, yet again. Where do you get your infos from?

[size=6pt]For more reading about sword forms: http://www.thearma.org/terms4.htm#Medieval%20&%20Renaissance%20Sword%20Forms%20and%20Companion%20Implements[/size]

edit: quickly made a few things bold in my quote, for the most important stuff. Also, now im afk for while.

[Zero]

@Kadian, someguy - it sounds like the two of you are in a prescriptivist vs. descriptivist battle over terminology. Also, I think you’re both right in that “broadsword” seems to be used both as a synonym for a particular type of basket-hilted sword and as a generic term for double-edged European blades that are usually wider than a rapier blade.

[someguy]

Nope, he’s right and I’m mistaken (with caveats). Depending on historical context a broadsword could just refer to a cut and thrust sword, as opposed to a thrusting sword. It’s got nothing to do with edges though, so I was wrong about that, and nowadays the term generally does refer to a specific kind of basket hilted cut and thrust sword of the renaissance period.

I did take a bit of offence that he thought I was referencing Dungeons and Dragons, and not HEMA and historical sources… that might have clouded my judgement a wee bit.

Also, careful quoting ARMA. They aren’t the entirety of the HEMA community, and Jon Clements in particular he has been shown to be a bit full of shit on occasions (flat of my strong, lol).

[Kadian]

Happy we’re able to an agreement of sorts.
However, as (I think?) I stated before, the word Broadsword is a bit vague in of itself, a reason why I don’t like using the term. Also, it was somewhat clear from the description of the ‘Broadsword’ that it’s most likely a basket hilted sword, because it refers to i as an early modern sword from the 16th to 18th century, and it compares the Sword to the Rapier.
That alone would be reason enough to rename the Sword, just to make sure nobody else starts argueing about it
A similar problem is the term short sword, for that matter. There is no clear limit as to when a Dagger becomes a short sword and a short sword becomes an Arming Sword, making the term itself very sketchy. Best example is the Katzbalger and the long knives/daggers I mentioned earlier, i wouldn’t really classify a katzbalger as Shortsword, others do though, and some would argue that a few of the long knives are in fact Short Swords. It’s best not to use both those terms, if possible.

Also, careful quoting ARMA. They aren't entirety of the HEMA community, and Jon Clements in particular he has been shown to be a bit full of shit on occasions (flat of my strong, lol).

yeah, i know, some of them are...problematic. Still, ARMA is a better source than most other websites, and especially better than Wikipedia, where every idiot can write what they want.

I did take a bit of offence that he thought I was referencing Dungeons and Dragons, and not HEMA and historical sources

Sorry for that, didn’t mean to insult you~ Best buddies now? <3

[someguy]

[quote=“Kadian, post:11, topic:10093”]Sorry for that, didn’t mean to insult you~ Best buddies now? <3[/quote]Heh, sure. That was just a bit of a joke anyway.

[Muaddib]

Because what the game really needs is more bloat and out of context weapons!

Because what the game really needs is more museums and pawn shops with the same shit over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

If I find ONE MORE KRIS DAGGER I’m going to nuke ALL of New England.

[Kadian]

[quote=“trelatyraelis, post:4, topic:10093”]Because what the game really needs is more bloat and out of context weapons!

Because what the game really needs is more museums and pawn shops with the same shit over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.

If I find ONE MORE KRIS DAGGER I’m going to nuke ALL of New England.[/quote]

Have more variety in the melee weapons and you won’t find a thousand Kris Daggers anymore. That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? And…maybe change the spawn rate of those weapons, they do come up a lot…

Variety is the spice of life, or something like this, not sure how the saying goes In any case, it would make sense to at least have a bit more variety in medieval swords, and give the weapons some real sword-fighting techniques, the Katana got their own fighting style (The 9 rings thingy, can’t remember the name right now q.q), why not the other Swords?

[kevin.granade]

The main reason I haven’t looked into adding more swords myself is that a lot of these variations aren’t going to have meaningfully different properties in the game. If at the same time as the variety is added, additional weapon flags are added that describe properties of the weapons (such as two-edged for swords) and martial arts use these properties to determine what techniques can be used with them, then you definitely have the different properties you need to make them usefully different.

[Kadian]

As I said earlier, there are definitely a few techniques one could use in a martial art with Swords. There is also the fact that you’re able to hook the enemy with the Crossguard of a medieval sword (not the fancy crossguards of the Renaissance), which can, in case of a human opponent, disarm them, or in case of zombies, at least cause staggering and tumbling, or an opening for a guaranted Strike(critical maybe) or even kill.
There’s also the fact that usually you put your second hand on the pommel of the Longsword (or Zweihänder, in some cases) in order to put more power behind it. Most people would think you’d grab the handle with both hands, which actually makes it difficult to handle a longsword.
half-swording and murder-stroke are explained in my first post, and there are definitely other possible techniques one could find in order to make things more interesting. Obviously, one important feature is currently missing in CDDA, which is the length or reach of a melee weapon - this would help a lot to make weapons more diverse, but obviously it’s also problematic to code I’d assume.

[kevin.granade]

Less problematic to code and more problematic to imagine, what exactly is going to be the in-game effect of another 2-5" of reach in-game?

[Random_dragon]

I have a thing I really should release sometime.

Just professions to give an example:

[
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "hoplite",
        "name": "Hoplite",
        "description": "Heavy infantry of the ancient Greek city-states, before the shift towards the Macedonean phalanx. Well-trained for combat in formation, but less effective when outmaneuvered or on broken ground.",
        "points": 0,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "bashing"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "cutting"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "melee"
            },
            {
                "level": 4,
                "name": "stabbing"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "unarmed"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "loincloth",
                "tunic",
                "leathersandals",
                "armor_cuirass",
                "legguard_bronze",
                "helmet_corinthian",
                "backpack_leather",
                "scabbard",
                "sheath",
                "shield_hoplon",
                "spear_dory",
                "sword_xiphos",
                "knife_hunting",
                "waterskin"
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "legionary",
        "name": "Legionary",
        "description": "Roman heavy infantry, after the military reforms that standardized the legion's equipment. Trained to act in formation with javelin and sword, well-known for their field fortifications as well.",
        "points": 0,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "carpentry"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "cooking"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "cutting"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "gun"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "melee"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "throw"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "loincloth",
                "tunic",
                "leathersandals",
                "armor_lorica",
                "legguard_metal",
                "helmet_galea",
                "backpack_leather",
                "scabbard",
                "sheath",
                "shield_scutum",
                "javelin_iron",
                "javelin_iron",
                "sword_forged",
                "knife_hunting",
                "shovel",
                "pot",
                "waterskin"
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "viking",
        "name": "Viking",
        "description": "The infamous pirates of the early medieval period, raiders and explorers from various Scandinavian countries.",
        "points": 0,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "survival"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "swimming"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "cutting"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "dodge"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "melee"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "loincloth",
                "tunic",
                "pants",
                "socks",
                "cloak_fur",
                "gauntlets_larmor",
                "boots_larmor",
                "helmet_nasal",
                "backpack_leather",
                "scabbard",
                "sheath",
                "shield_round",
                "battleaxe",
                "knife_hunting",
                "waterskin"
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "manatarms",
        "name": {
            "male": "Man-at-Arms",
            "female": "Woman-at-Arms"
        },
        "description": "The medival heavy cavalry of various countries in Europe, whether noble-born or of common blood. While knights traditionally were men-at-arms, not every man-at-arms was a knight.",
        "points": 0,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "driving"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "firstaid"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "speech"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "cutting"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "melee"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "loincloth",
                "gambeson",
                "chainmail_suit",
                "socks",
                "boots_plate",
                "helmet_plate",
                "gloves_plate",
                "backpack_leather",
                "scabbard",
                "sheath",
                "shield_kite",
                "arming_sword",
                "knife_hunting",
                "waterskin"
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "horsearcher",
        "name": "Horse Archer",
        "description": "The famed light cavalry of the Mongol Empire. Best known for their skill as mounted archers.",
        "points": 0,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "driving"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "survival"
            },
            {
                "level": 4,
                "name": "archery"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "dodge"
            },
            {
                "level": 3,
                "name": "gun"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "melee"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "loincloth",
                "armor_larmor",
                "socks",
                "armor_lamellar",
                "gauntlets_larmor",
                "helmet_conical",
                "backpack_leather",
                "scabbard",
                "sheath",
                "quiver_large",
                "scimitar",
                "recurbow",
                "arrow_wood",
                "arrow_wood",
                "knife_hunting",
                "fur_rollmat",
                "pot",
                "waterskin"
            ]
        }
    },
    {
        "type": "profession",
        "ident": "samurai",
        "name": "Samurai",
        "description": "Warrior nobility of fuedal Japan. Known originally as masters of the horse and bow, they become famous for their swordsmanship in later eras.",
        "points": 0,
        "skills": [
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "driving"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "firstaid"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "speech"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "archery"
            },
            {
                "level": 1,
                "name": "cutting"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "dodge"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "gun"
            },
            {
                "level": 2,
                "name": "melee"
            }
        ],
        "items": {
            "both": [
                "loincloth",
                "hakama_gi",
                "obi_gi",
                "armor_samurai",
                "tabi_dress",
                "bastsandals",
                "helmet_kabuto",
                "gloves_plate",
                "backpack_leather",
                "sheath",
                "quiver",
                "compositebow",
                "arrow_wood",
                "arrow_wood",
                "tanto",
                "waterskin"
            ],
            "male": [
                "scabbard",
                "katana"
            ],
            "female": [
                "naginata"
            ]
        }
    }
]

Dropbox link for now, I’ll either create a topic or PR it when I feel like it: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/89427928/Medieval_Stuff.zip

[Kadian]

Less problematic to code and more problematic to imagine, what exactly is going to be the in-game effect of another 2-5" of reach in-game?

2-5’’ , so 5-12 cm? That’s the reach of a very short sword or Knife you’re talking about, Kevin. an ordinary Arming Sword has a length of 75cm/30’’, which would give you an additional reach of at least 50cm, usually more, because you are supposed to hit the enemy with the last few cm of the blade. The Blade of a Longsword is up to 110cm/43’’ longer, you could have a meter or more between your enemies.
Now, what does it matter? A whole lot actually, if you think about it.
Against Humans it’s very clear. Someone with a melee weapon wouldn’t be able to reach you if your weapon is longer and you have a little bit of experience how you handle a weapon. A longer weapon always means more safety for the user, as they can hit the enemy, while the Enemy can’t hit back. Longer Weapon also means that the Weapon has a longer way on it’s tip if you swing it, making the end of the Blade therefore faster, which would mean it hits harder.
Let’s do an example for now, with weapons already ingame:
The Enemy has, for example, a Kris, with a blade length of…eh, let’s say 20-40 cm? I’m not an expert, so that will do. You on the other hand got…for example an awlpike, with a length of ~100-150 cm, or a spear, which >can< be several feet long, depending on the type of spear. Lets say the Spear the player can make is about their length, or maybe a bit less, that would still be at least 150cm, which means you have several times the enemies reach. And I can promise you, they won’t be able to come near you if you have barely any experience with spears, as you can keep harassing them from afar. A spear is pretty fast, if the enemy moves, the spear moves as well. That’s a win, if you ask me.
Even if the weapons aren’t that differently, for example an arming Sword versus a longsword, the longsword will probably win because it can harass the enemy better. This all can obviously differ if you could wear a shield with your one-handed weapon, but as long as this isn’t implemented…yeah, longer = better.

Now, more Reach against a zombie is more useful as well. Imagine this: Your main weapon is a hatchet, a Knife, a short sword, something like this - YOU have to be in reach of the zombie in order to attack it, the zombie therefore can claw or bite at you. Not to mention you’d have to use the weapon also to block/parry the attacks of the zombie.
A longer weapon, again, everything with at least ~50cm of length would suffice, will keep you out of reach for the zombie. The zombie has to step in your direction in order to attack you, opening themself up for a an attack. In fact, you could just point the spear/pike at the zombie, it would probably kill itself in order to reach you.

[Muaddib]

Given how combat works in CDDA, I’d say that you don’t need reach stats, like in a combat sim as Mount and Blade.

All you need is just some tag whether a weapon is a normal melee weapon, or an exceptionally large melee weapon. I remember that Dungeon Crawl allows you to (E)voke polearms to hit enemies that are one square away.
A similar system or a different system that follows a similar idea could be used in CDDA for polearms and exceptionally large weapons like nodachis and zweihanders. (and polehammers and poleaxes if they ever show up in the game)