What I described seemingly does not work. I just modified Yeoman to have 270 range in the EDU, while their 48 m/s arrows could travel at most 235m on level ground. While the enemy was between 270 and 235 meters away, the Yeoman suddenly perked up as if ready for combat, but did not load their weapons. Instead they waited until the enemy got to 235m and then loaded and fired all at once, as we've always been seeing them do. So it seems clear that the loading currently triggers when the unit begins its firing routine, and that definitely means we can't do anything about this except ask CA to change it.