Question on weapon range

I am just trying to refine my melee weapons tables. The sensor range on melee weapons is indicated as 1.5+range with the max being 5.5. Well the range I use, should that be the length of the weapon or the total range, persons reach plus weapon length? If I do the later then most weapons will be close to 5.5m. The former makes more sense. For example:

The average person has a reach of 1.5 meters with their bare hand. So I could calculate the following:
Pocket Knife (<0.1m): 1.5 + 0 = 1.5m
Short Sword (0.75m): 1.5 + 0.75 = 2.25m
1 handed Long Sword (1m): 1.5 + 1.0 = 2.5m
Spear (2m): 1.5 + 2.0 = 3.5m

Now if its reach + weapon length then these figures would be:
Pocket Knife (<0.1m): 1.5 + 1.5 = 3m
Short Sword (0.75m): 1.5 + 2.25 = 3.75m
1 handed Long Sword (1m): 1.5 + 2.5 = 3.5m
Spear (2m): 1.5 + 3.5 = 5m

The important parameter for each weapon is the 'core range'. This is the distance which a weapon does optimal damage, and this is also the distance which should be specified in the attack command string. For example, let's say a pocket knife works best when you're standing really close to a person. So let's assume a pocket knife has a core range of 0.1m, and a damage value or, say, 5. Then you would e.g. use an attack command string "damage|5|0.1". However, you will also be able to hurt someone when you're further away than 0.1m from that person (basically you have at least one arm length of freedom). So, ML will accept attacks from further positions, but possible scale them down. The maximal range that you should specify in your sensors is core_range+1.5m, so the sensor range should be 1.6m for the pocket knife (it can be higher, that won't make a weapon illegal, but it's simply a waste of resources).

So then my first supposition is right. Take the effective length of the weapon and use that as the core range then just add 1.5m. This makes things very easy. I have length data on hundreds of different weapons, and of course weapon lengths are available by doing an internet search on the weapon name and then picking a reputable source. I like this cause it forces a little determinism to the decision of weapons range and can provide a bit of realism for those that care about such things.