Well I've played it almost all the way through, still have to pass through the modern age so the inspection is not through. But I've found enough to say as it is.
In any case, before I begin my rain of criticism I'd like to state that this is an excellent mod with an impressive array of new features and a truly new feeling to the game. It has brought the game closer to a certain realism feeling but there is still much, much to be done. So I've split my notes into 3 categories each with its subdivisions. I'll take my time to warn that this will be a very long post and I would advise to most to simply skim through the text and read only the titles and look in depth only at the things they find interesting.
I) Resources - This has been approached wrong from my point of view by the producers of Civ IV and was not corrected by Total Realism crew, the error was more of amplified by them.
1) Animal resources - I really don't understand why after hunting elephants and game for centuries you don't lose the resource, it would be logical to lose such a resource. And of course game and fur could reappear nearby in an undeveloped sector. The obvious result should be something like Europe where there are very little free animals and there are no industrial developments of them as a resource.
Also regarding pigs and horses I think it would be obvious to not set this as a resource, or at least not in this way. Pigs for example are very resilient animals and live in a lot of places, from China to Europe, and from North America to South America. And an interesting case is with horses that have been brought from Europe to America and now are pretty common there. So I propose a solution, which you could build horse herds or such, if you receive the horse resource from another civ. Of course these pig farms and horse herds should only be built on specific terrains, grasslands and plains.
2) Plant resources - To begin with I don't understand why the lemon resource produces happiness.
But to return to the more pressing issue, potatoes & corn are both plants that have an extended habitat they are now found all over Europe and potatoes are known to have saved Europe from starvation several times. It is illogical to say that these can only be found in America. I propose that potato and corn plantations can be built as soon as trade with American civs begins. A similar case is with wheat and other resources.
Same tactic should be applied to other exotic resources such as spice, cotton, silk, however with more severe restrictions. For example a rice plantation should require a wet environment and therefore can only be built in specific regions such as China and Japan.
3) Human made resources - I found this a silly concept and could not understand why it was introduced, books, hit movies & the likes were never government controlled. They were sometimes banned but the government never had the ability to offer any such resource in exchange for something else. And the wonders that provide these bonuses are rather silly as in real history they had nothing to do with the government. Another arrangement can be found though, for example an uncontrolled appearance and various effects that may differ to the governments objective (e.g. a drive towards freedom or religious fanatism) and therefore the government may create a national ban that would cost significantly.
4) Material resources - The only thing that bothered me regarding these is the fact that they do not disappear if they are exploited. The obvious case is yet again Europe where the high exploitation of natural resources has led to massive importations of these resources.
5) Resource supply This has been approached wrong ever since the first civ. Why do you need the same amount of resource to supply a nation with 1 city and to supply one with 20 cities? Supply of resource should be linked strongly with the size of the civilization being supplied.
II) Wrong game concepts
1) Uranium ammunition - When I first saw this I went nuts, I thought I had the wrong mod. How can you put uranium ammunition and claim to be Total Realism. I really can't understand this concept and I myself have studied in my own time nuclear technology, out of curiosity. But let's analyze this in a fair manner, there are 2 possible uses for uranium ammunition: first in order to irradiate the target and second to create a minor nuclear explosion with truly devastating effects.
The first case is just plain stupid, uranium has a very long half-life and the amount of radiation is not significant enough in short exposures and from such small portions. To be frank if the bullet is quickly removed the patient doesn't really suffer any serious effects.
The second case presents a number of technical difficulties, first a nuclear bomb detonates long before impact, how does a bullet know when to explode?
A proper analysis of the distance to the target and whether or not this is valid would take a powerful computer not sizeable to the small bullet.
Also I won't mention the political and economic complication with the theoretical usage of such ammunition. This is one of the things that I wish was quickly removed.
2) Cold fusion - Yet again for some reason the Total Realism crew has ventured into dangerous territory. We have no knowledge on how such a thing could be achieved why include it in a Total realism mod?
3) Crazy wonders - a couple of wonders caught my attention so lets take an in depth look. The fish market was on of them, I dont understand why this wonder is the only provider in the whole world of tuna fish. What you cant fish it anywhere else?
Or the Eiriki Rade oil platform, if its such a huge bonus whats stopping me from building a similar platform in every city. And last but not least the space elevator. Sure this has some scientific backing but it also has a lot of scientific issues. First we dont have the materials to build it, second we dont have the materials to build it and third we dont have the materials to build it.
4) Terraformation yet another futuristic concept that should never have managed to slip through. How could it be possible to either get enough earth to make a strip of water of a couple of thousand square km into land or how would you get rid of enough land to turn a couple of hills into coastal waters. If you truly want this feature you should have a place to either put or take the earth from. For example in order to turn a section of water into land you would turn a section of hills into grasslands. Personally I would rather see this feature gone
5) Demo troops A silly little thing, when have you seen the government send in a couple of troops and level a city. It is unheard of in history. But you do hear of cities being abandoned or pillaged to the ground by a king.
6) Impassible peaks Sure I agree that most troops shouldnt be able to go over mountains, but in modern days we can go over most things with advanced engineering. But even if you dont want that we have alpine troops equipped with skies which have the specific job of moving over these large obstacles.
7) Electricity Yet again, it takes 1 power plant to supply a small city but it takes several to supply a city the size of New York. And in the same area there is the issue of how much energy supply a certain power plant offers. Nuclear for example creates the most power while a study shows that you would have to cover the whole planet in solar panels to power up a city the size of New York. Because of the issue presented I bid that solar power plants either be taken out of the game or be viable only for cities smaller then 6.
III) Military
1) Naval issues Ships heal at sea? Hows that work, the sailors get out and patch the ship up with tape and there ya go, its as good as new.
Also related to this is the promotion for heal.
2) Generals Why wasnt this concept enhanced. All that generals do is offer 10% strength boost and heal boost. Although I cant understand how a general helps his troops heal faster. In any case I find it logical that some generals be better then others and that some offer different advantages then others. A good general should be able to turn the tides of a great battle.
3) Spies Same problem as with the general issue. Spy abilities and level should differ to his experience on the field.
4) Bombardment & artillery The changes done from civ 3 are no improvement at all especially the approach on artillery. When in history have you hear of a battle between an artillery unit and infantry units. The main advantage of artillery is that it does not need to approach in order to fire. Of course it needs accurate readings in order to be effective. That is why I propose the passive bonus they provide be greatly increased, e.g. excellent cover fire. Plus why cant ships provide a bonus to land units, naval bombardment.
I dont expect most of these to be integrated but if only 1-2 two of my specifications get through Ill be a happy man. I do insist however on the uranium ammunition issue and the futuristic concepts that where present. One more thing though Id like to see the civilopedia working properly and depicting the correct game concepts and such. Im also willing to offer assistance in many of these. If youre interested my email address is
nalaotari@yahoo.com .
Thx,
Radu.
100%.I also use free anti-virus that comes with my internet service and never had a problem 
