Simple workaround: I select the units with the selection tool, switch them to Player 1, do all the constructions, unit placements and formations I need, then save. I reset, reopen the XML file, reassign the relevant units to Player 2, and save again.

IIRC garrisoning has such logic

Well, from what we have already seen, everyone had their own way to do things. They themselves show that reconstruction for the theatre in Athens, stating it came from "attempting a rational reconstruction effort", and that "static and dynamic analysis and simulation of the mechanism kinematics were performed". Then, your link mentions foundations "of similar dimensions and general shape but without a sloping floor are known from theaters at Megalopolis, Eretria, Sparta, and Elis", implying their absence in famous city-states like Athens (whose foundations are known, and different). For Sparta, it would refer to the theatre from Late Hellenistic or Roman times previously discussed. They conclude that "the existence of similar foundations in the theaters of Megalopolis and Eretria, indicating their use for specific purposes connected with the needs of the drama makes the twin-facing stone base in the theater of Phlius unique", and "this approach will be useful for the reconstruction of mechanisms that may apply in the theaters of Megalopolis and Eretria, where similar stone foundations exist". For Athens, I found this: https://www.academia.edu/89373449/_Deus_Ex_Machina_reconstruction_in_the_Athens_theater_of_Dionysus, can you see it? Check the design specifications in 5.2 (taken "from the archeological and historical evidence discussed above"), and the reconstructions shown in the following pages (here some): In any case, your model could maybe be used for the Macedonians, if the Hellenistic theatre of Ohrid (and not the one of Aigai) is used, because I couldn't find anything regarding its mechanism (although the lack of similar foundations could be considered evidence against this).

There is also one on one of the scaffolds, it has a nice texture that I'm using. And for the wooden skene I took the texture of the roman siege wall Are you sure it is unique, it seems to fit to the timeframe, why wouldn't it be build the same way in Athens? I can try to come a bit closer to the picture, but I think a lot of the visual reconstructions are approximations too. Okay, I will get rid of it for the early version and use a compound pully for a later one then. I might add these guys to a later version too: Sophocles: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KAS633?q=Portrait of the Greek tragedian Sophocles&page=0&filters=has_3d_file%3Atrue Two other dudes that could resemble the guys which actually had a statue in the theater of Dionysos: https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KAS240?q=menippus&page=0&filters=has_3d_file%3Atrue https://open.smk.dk/en/artwork/image/KAS629?q=demosthenes&page=0&filters=has_3d_file%3Atrue

So, I got the turreting working, but they are surviving when the boat is destroyed, and they can walk underwater. Is there a way for them to, um, not survive the boat sinking?