LS vs Hamata

How should I differentiate the two? Or should they just be visual variants and statistically identical?

And what about the heavy Eastern Cohorts - should I make those units more elite in addition to being better armoured?

LS might be worse a little because it has less coverage, but then it would be less effective against arrows, but good protection from missiles was one of the main feature of LS. So Hamata and LS should have the very same stats. But don't forget to consider such things as Iron Gallic helmet which is far better then bronze coolus.

I can make hamata legioner - same as our LS, but in hamata.

And i think heavy Eastern Cohorts should be just heavy non elite troops.