Okay, so, I'm just wondering, is there any point in fighting with small weapons?
For instance, is it at all beneficial to use knives instead of swords?
Does each weapon have its pros and cons?
I'm afraid, for the most part the answer you will get is, Find out IC.
But, I will say, What bonuses do you think you would have to fighting with small weapons over large IRL? Odds are, the same applies in game.
Curiously, it's considered bad form in the Armageddon community to make engineering and performance based evaluations of game weaponry. As far as I can tell, most players prefer not to circulate this type of information for the reason that it would be incredibly useful to twinks, who are almost universally reviled. Certainly, a large amount of experimentation in-game will yield results that you can use to make an appropriate selection. The Armageddon codebase, a wonderful and robust example of modified DIKU, does support the following conventions from real life:
:arrow: In general, weapons made from high quality materials perform better than weapons made from shoddy materials.
:arrow: In general, weapons that were masterfully crafted perform better than weapons that were inexpertly crafted.
:arrow: In general, weapons that have been well-maintained perform better than weapons that are chipped, old or battered.
:arrow: In general, longer weapons offer a performance advantage over shorter weapons.
That being said, you will forgive me if I decline to make an item-by-item comparison of the potential arsenal. For myself, I almost exclusively choose weapons that compliment my style over weapons that will let me ultimately destroy my opponents.
In fact, on veteran player recently recommended using (notoriously shoddy) Gith Gear:
http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=17318
In this case, think about it in terms of real life. What are the advantages to using a knife instead of a sword?
I usually just figure it as the type of weapon you use more closely relating to whatever skill it is you're working on, but maybe I'm off on that. Like, you've got your sneaky little rinther out and about. If they're going to go diving behind chairs and hiding, it'd be a bit more tricky with a 4 foot spear strapped to their back, than a 6 inch dagger on the belt. On the other hand, your ranger is out hunting big bad things... They might want to use arrows and keep more distance between themselves, than something that puts them within easy smooshing distance.