Do you realize what MPQs really are?
If the word is spooky to you then you should really start by reading that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPQ_(file_format)
The game files do have many MPQs files that contain many sort of data most of which are pictures songs videos and raw data etc...
So yes it seems that u8 has changed his shortcuts and some colors like the black color.
About the color change some may say it is fair for colorblind people to be able to do that I do not really care about that and now there is also a plugin that allow you to do the same without having to dive yourself in the MPQs so I guess that is why you are not complaining about it though technically any change on the graphics can constitute an advantage for readability etc? Maybe Warbux is a hacker then since he made custom skins for his buildings? XD
So yeah you can edit shortcuts and we do not have a proper plugin that allow you to do that without diving yourself in these spooky MPQ data files. But wait!
Maybe you could make or pay someone to make such a program for everyone to be able to do it easily?
I know I would be able to, though if I am being honest I never really felt I needed to change my own shortcuts and I don't really want to spend any effort or time into something like that, maybe if one day I started to care about winning I would, but then again I don't...
But you seem to care enough! And you look like you can add 1 and 1, so who knows maybe you could do it?
There are a lot of tutorials and resources out there that tell you/ teach you how to do it
After all War2.ru is a community driven thing I am pretty sure
IL would be very very very happy to add such a plugin for everyone to download on the download page if someone made one.
But that someone would have to spend time doing the thing or pay for someone to do it...
Some other points:
As mentioned before there is a difference between macros and different mapping of the keyboards/shortcuts you cannot really change the way the game operates you still have to press the same number of times to do the same things.
The game uses a lockstep networking system the idea here is the game is a simulation that runs on all machines each turn any one sided change (on units damage etc..) would mean a synchronization and the game would not be able to continue further from that point.
Sure there are things that were not properly simulated like restrictions for techs when peons build that only are checked by the one player building the thing but you can always record the games and look for yourself after if you see the guy building a dragon lair without having a fortress you know something was up...
Other types of hacks like automation, macros etc... You wont do that by editing the MPQ files as like I said MPQs are just data...
Hopefully that helps