Yes it matters for several reasons. Your case is the easy one though. To modify the existing hotkeys do as follows (you may want to adjust the corresponding description strings as well)
Open '_patch106.big' (your installation directory) with finalbig and extract data\lotr.str
Open lotr.str with your favourite editor (like notepad++).
This file contains the ingame strings, you are allowed to modify anything encapsulated by two ". The character for the shortcut is defined by a pre-put ampersand.
Example:
"Guard &Unit"
This tells the game that 'U' will be the hotkey for guard unit. Do not change the file encoding.
After you have made your modifications, save the file lotr.str and create a new .big with finalbig.
Add the file lotr.str in finalbig with the path data\lotr.str
I suggest saving the new .big as '_patch106CustomEnglish.big'
Copy this file to your installation directory.
// Edit: Moved to BFME1 Modding
Edited by ICT, 31 March 2014 - 10:35 AM.
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