javelins too weak?

[Tollheit]

In EB, well-shielded units such as legionaries are already very resistant to missile fire. Phalangites have the highest shield value and good armour as well, so you'd expect them to be almost immune. Also, I'd expect this feature to be documented somewhere, or else that would have discovered it during testing, but no-one seems to know whether this occurred.

I did some testing today. Since phalangitai are so well armored that the AI will not waste any ammo on them in 1vs1 custom battles, I did some modding first.
Klerouchikoi Phalangitai: defence 1,1,5 (armor,skill,shield)
Saka Foot Archers: secondary attack 1, defence 0,0,0, unit size 42 on huge (in order to discourage melee)

I did 8 battles, 4 using phalanx mode and 4 without phalanx mode.
I noted the casualties once the archers had exhausted their ammunition.
No maneuvering except for approach of archers; flat terrain.
When I used phalanx mode, the AI archers managed to shoot: 17/19/22/17 phalangitai
When I didn't use phalanx, the AI archers managed to shoot: 40/30/36/42 phalangitai

My conclusion: it seems to be plausible that phalanx mode does increase the effective shield value.