Well, may I ask which changes from the 40-list do you consider as irrelevant to you?
As far as testing comes, the only ones that might break too much AoC balance are to me these (but again, it deserves a fair amount of real situation-testing to determine if it's OP or not):
- Guard Tower +2 attack (from 6 to 8), Keep +4 attack (from 7 to 11). It is a very strong change indeed, and as far as I know, yeah even in very high level games people use Watch Tower trush in an extensive use (eg. NarutoFan, some Tyrant players), but don't bother to upgrade their Towers at the University, as it is expensive for what you get (+1 attack each upgrade and some more HP). It might be better to go for 7 attack Guard Towers and 9 attack Keeps, but as I said, 11 attack is the attack of a Castle, a Keep is supposed to be a very powerful building, so 11 attack Keep don't really shock me, even with Japanese Yasama as a Bombard Tower is overall more powerful.
- Cavalry Archers cost reduced to 40w, 60g (was 40w, 65g) => May OP Mongols at first glance, but their CA ROF has been nerfed (+20% to +15%), and overall their Mangs are better than their CA's anyway.
- Britons get Thumb Ring => They were really a classic mid-tier civ before, so the fact that they get them to make them rise to a high-tier one didn't shock me that much. Plumed Archers still got 25 HP more, better accuracy, speed and protection than elite Longbows. Chu Ko Nus got a much greater attack and perform decenly even on anti-archer units (Eagles, Rams...) and buildings with the amount of arrows they fire. Plus as I removed Onagers from them, they won't be able to excel in both high and mid-range warfare, aka protecting their archery with powerful Onagers, contrary to Chinese and Mayans. So it deserves a legit try, imo they won't get OP among all the other civs just because they get Thumb Ring.
- Viking Team Bonus: All Swordsmen and Axemen (not the Spearmen/Kamayuks/Eagles) +2 attack against cavalry
=> All kind of team bonuses which can make grushing significantly faster is OP, even a -15% cost decrease for Docks. As Vikings are primarly a civilization with fine infantry, it's better to focus on it, this bonus will help Vikings a lot against heavy cav civs (as they got the worst heavy cavalry in the game, and no Halberdiers either), and will make this bonus very interesting teaming with other infantry civs (Aztecs for instance). And it's not OP: just like a Halberdier, even a FU Elite Berserker with Chieftains and the TB can't kill a Byzantine Paladin one in one.
As far as testing comes, the only ones that might break too much AoC balance are to me these (but again, it deserves a fair amount of real situation-testing to determine if it's OP or not):
- Guard Tower +2 attack (from 6 to 8), Keep +4 attack (from 7 to 11). It is a very strong change indeed, and as far as I know, yeah even in very high level games people use Watch Tower trush in an extensive use (eg. NarutoFan, some Tyrant players), but don't bother to upgrade their Towers at the University, as it is expensive for what you get (+1 attack each upgrade and some more HP). It might be better to go for 7 attack Guard Towers and 9 attack Keeps, but as I said, 11 attack is the attack of a Castle, a Keep is supposed to be a very powerful building, so 11 attack Keep don't really shock me, even with Japanese Yasama as a Bombard Tower is overall more powerful.
- Cavalry Archers cost reduced to 40w, 60g (was 40w, 65g) => May OP Mongols at first glance, but their CA ROF has been nerfed (+20% to +15%), and overall their Mangs are better than their CA's anyway.
- Britons get Thumb Ring => They were really a classic mid-tier civ before, so the fact that they get them to make them rise to a high-tier one didn't shock me that much. Plumed Archers still got 25 HP more, better accuracy, speed and protection than elite Longbows. Chu Ko Nus got a much greater attack and perform decenly even on anti-archer units (Eagles, Rams...) and buildings with the amount of arrows they fire. Plus as I removed Onagers from them, they won't be able to excel in both high and mid-range warfare, aka protecting their archery with powerful Onagers, contrary to Chinese and Mayans. So it deserves a legit try, imo they won't get OP among all the other civs just because they get Thumb Ring.
- Viking Team Bonus: All Swordsmen and Axemen (not the Spearmen/Kamayuks/Eagles) +2 attack against cavalry
=> All kind of team bonuses which can make grushing significantly faster is OP, even a -15% cost decrease for Docks. As Vikings are primarly a civilization with fine infantry, it's better to focus on it, this bonus will help Vikings a lot against heavy cav civs (as they got the worst heavy cavalry in the game, and no Halberdiers either), and will make this bonus very interesting teaming with other infantry civs (Aztecs for instance). And it's not OP: just like a Halberdier, even a FU Elite Berserker with Chieftains and the TB can't kill a Byzantine Paladin one in one.