Defense Skill vs. Armor/Shield

[PrestigeX]

Yes another thread, I noticed with quite a few units that the stats for Defense overall will be the same, but one unit will have higher armor , with lower defense skill,,, meanwhile others will have a high defense skill, but low armor .

Does anyone know what it means, or is only the total defense stats important? I figured that higher armor and better shield makes the unit better able to withstand missile attacks... Where as, higher defense skill would mean the unit performs better in a melee.

[rrgg]

Defense skill won't protect against arrows and shield only protects the front and left.

[painter]

If I am not mistaken:

• armour piercing weapons halves armour bonus,
• missile weapons ignores the targets defence skill bonus, and
• gunpowder weapons ignore defence skill bonus, shield bonus and halves armour bonus.

And yes, shields only protect front and left.

[Incomitatus]

The shield worked that way in RTW (as well as being doubled against missiles to the front). IN M2TW it protects full to the front, and 1/2 to both the left and right.

[Rakoua]

Units with high defense skill are easier to kill at range, but they're better against AP weapons. They are also faster then armored units.
Units with high shield are better shot from the right, or better yet back. I think shield only counts on the front or left sides. Bu this might also be because with HA, spearmen often form a defensive line on their left flank.
Units with high armor are slow but resistant to arrows.

[Lennert]

So to sum it all up:

Armor: Applies to all damage but is halved by armor piercing weapons. Adds weight and thus slows the unit down.

Skill: Applies to melee damage only but doesn't add weight.

Shield: Applies to all damage dealt from the front, is halved for damage from the sides and is ignored for damage dealt from the back. Entirely ignored for gunpowder weapons.

Is this correct?

[Surgeon]

Well, armor doesn't affect movement speed so much as the mass and speed values (hidden values only seen when actually modding the unit's stats), but otherwise you are all correct! Reps are on me tonight!