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Thank you all very much Good question. I haven't specifically searched for this in the literature, but here is what was in some of the literature I looked through to gain insight into ship-building much later: The first mentions of naval battles were around 3500-3050 BC [2]. If I remember correctly, minoean ships looked pretty much the same, independently of their purpose around 1650-1500 BC [2]. The first ships that could be identified as the predecessors of the later monoremes were developed around 1200 BC in mycenaean greece [1,3] and around the same time there were also depictions of the warships built in egypt and by the sea people together with distinct mentions of both trading and combat ships [2]. The first purpose built variants designed specifically for war might be estimated to be conceived around that time [1,2] though even earlier depictions of ships (1567-1320 BC) show the front and aft platforms of later warships [2]. As far as I know, the earliest direct mention of a ship-attached ram was around the middle of the 8th century BC [1], though it is estimated that it was developed between 1000 and 850 BC [1] or possibly even earlier as a reinvention of bronze age designs [3]. This is roughly also the point where from then on, civil and military naval architecture were no longer similar since a ram requires a strongly reinforced prow and hull [1]. The solution at the time was to make the ships shorter, more robust and equipped with more oars. Increasing the length of ships was not a great option at the time [1]. You can see the two possibilities with the development of the improved penteconter and the bireme. Around that time (second half of the 8th century BC) in the Odyssey there was a distinction between broad freighters with 20 oars and the 50 oared ship that can be seen as a specialization of the previously used ship type(s) [3]. Thucydides implies this "early" pentekonter was used for many tasks, including "convoyance of ambassadors, supression of piracy and, exceptionally, warfare" [3]. Biremes were in use at least since 700 BC [1,2,3] and the penteconter was mentioned (together with other warship types) in Homer's Iliad [2]. The penteconter seems to have been improved into a pure warship by at least the 6th century BC [1,2]. However, the evolution was even more gradual and harder to pin down than these numbers might indicate. The evolution of ships was very slowly with many intermediate steps so that even living at the time would still make it hard to tell in which century and in which region the transition happend, in particular as there are many examples where old designs and technologies were used alongside new ones until the new ones proved more reliable [3]. The issue becomes even more confusing as even at later times warships were often also used as transports and transports as warships [3]. Additionally the sources in the time of interest are very sparse and there is even debate to which extend the knowledge about ship-building from the late bronze age carried over to the early iron age [3]. And even the sources that are available are debated a lot [3]. [1] wikipedia and sources therein. [2] Warships of the Ancient world: 3000-500BC by Adrian K. Wood and sources therein. [3] The age of the galley by Robert Gardiner and sources therein. I hope this small paragraph helps a little

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Why would someone want to do that anyways? You need to micro your troops individually to make them have the biggest effect by making them attack their counters, move them around to avoid unnecessary damage etc. Just A-clicking a group of units into the enemy city isn't really what RTS is about.