thanks for working on it. do you know if Melee units' reload time is triggered even if they don't get to deal damage is being tracked too? it’s a (judging from a relatively recent change to ranged units’ reload behavior) unintended behavior that has been negatively affecting melee combat since the original game.
melee units reload even though they should not have to. looking through the data file, I don’t know how the synced animations were done. but with my proposal, you won’t even have to change anything in the engine:
give melee units projectiles and accurate frame delay values. the projectiles have to be instantly teleporting. give them invisible graphics, and move the attack sounds from the units’ attack animations to those invisible graphics. basically: make a melee projectile unit for every attack type (sword, flail, spear, etc.), and give every melee unit the appropriate projectile.
with this system, melee units won’t have to unnecessarily reload anymore, and sound cues for attacks will always be 100% accurate, since the sound will be played when the projectile spawns.