I haven't seen any raws for it, so I assume it's hardcoded.
Attack prepare and recover times for individual attacks are moddable, though, with this token:
[ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:3:3] this is what it defaults to; the first number is preparation time, second is recovery time.
Was that for creature body part attacks, weapon attacks, or perhaps both? Or is the token used in another context? EDIT: Found it
In terms of the clicks of the world, where normally when you take a step in the game it takes about 9 to 10 ticks of the clock if you're walking. And so an attack now, it might be, depending on what you think the tile size is and so on it's a little slow, but the average attack now will take 6 ticks, but... so an attack is incoming for part of that, and then the person's recovering from the attack for part of th
regular: 3,3
quick: 2,2 (-50% velocity)
heavy: 4,4 (+50% velocity)
wild: 2,5 (velocity bonus, minus to hit, unbalanced while recovering)
precise: 5,? (increased everything, especially bonus to hit)
It looks like long preparation time boosts accuracy, but telegraphs your intents to observant enemies. It also looks like long recovery time boosts the velocity of the attack, but makes you more vulnerable. Inversely, short prep time decreases accuracy and short recovery time decreases velocity.
It also appears that you add the two numbers to get the number of ticks for the attack - so a creature that attacked with 1,1 (if possible) would dance around and attack three times as often as you. Could be useful if it had poison or something and just needed to scratch you.
EDIT:
[ATTACK_PREPARE_AND_RECOVER:<incoming time>:<recover time>]
3:3 is a standard punch and 4:4 is a standard kick at this point, and those numbers are modified by the adjective you apply in play.
[ATTACK_FLAG_INDEPENDENT_MULTIATTACK] <- hydra head
[ATTACK_FLAG_BAD_MULTIATTACK] <- kick
So we can make at least creature attacks take different speeds, and since adjectives only modify the times, a quick punch is still faster than a quick kick.
So someone might make a monster with quick latching tentacles that don't do much damage. However if it hooks you, you have a harder time dodging the slow powerful bite attack which follows.