This may be a stupid question (and I have a gut feeling it is), but does altering a units stats, specifically the armor and particularly shield stats, have bearing on it's battle performance. I don't mean any simply change, so let me clarify:
As it stands (vanilla version of the game), all infantry have either a 2 or 5 shield, and all cavalry have a 4 shield (RSC had 2 in 1.1 and earlier, as I believe did certain militia cavalry). So what I am asking is whether or not changing a shield value to 3 or 4 for infantry and higher or lower for cavalry with actually have an effect, in-battle, on a units ability to shield themselves from arrows, etc.
This would also make it easier for me as so far I have been reluctant to change shield values, simply for this reason, to ensure a more complete, balanced game.

Again probably a stupid question, but I have to know for certain (I'll probably go and play right now to test it out, but a quick answer from a more experienced modder would be painless). Thanks.