Tried now on spectating 1v1 (pop limit 200). In combination to other changes, doesn't help. I reduced everything to minimum and still get 30 FPS during big fights.
IDK if I can play 0AD on this hardware (intel i3 gen 7, Indel HD integrated graphics, 8GB ram) - it might be too weak for such graphics game.
Maybe if it's stronger, i'd be able to incrase quality without lag so consequenlty it'd be better for eyes... no idea.
shame there's no some "clean graphics"/low-performance mod.