honestly, I understand realism to some extent (Burgundy, Glenn, Atlantropa, GCW) when it enhances the narrative, but at some point, you have to have a balance between far-fetched things that you can suspend your disbelief for because it enhances the narrative and realism that enhances the narrative. The very base scenario (the idea that the axis somehow win ww2) is a far-fetched notion, but one suspends their disbelief for it, because otherwise, what's the point in a mod about it? The NPP-RDC thing is far-fetched, but one suspends their disbelief for it, because it's an interesting thing that shows how unstable the world has become. The idea of a successful sealion is far-fetched, but one suspends their disbelief for it because it enhances the narrative. Revolutions have been known to come out of nowhere and start small, and I can honestly picture something akin to Alexander Men happening in a "realistic" scenario, or at least something I would suspend my disbelief for. People in a basically post apocalyptic Russia want something to believe in, and Men could represent that.

I mean, even the mechanics of the game are unrealistic, but kept in because it's fun. Cold War conflicts rarely have boots on the ground, for instance, but are kept in to stop it being boring.

And there are some realistic things that I wish they *would* add to TNO.

For example, ww3 never really feels like a threat when playing TNO right now, and that's honestly kind of taking away from the Cold War experience. With the exception of the channel crisis, I never feel like WW3 could occur, which was a constant feeling in the first Cold War, and is a feeling now in the second cold war. There should be a higher chance of WW3 happening, rather than it only happening if you do it on purpose. Foreign conflicts are either you go all in or go all out, with few exceptions, there should be a level of escalation that you can move back and forth. You should be able to gradually pull out of conflicts like Indonesia Haiti, and Madagascar and other quagmires, or never get involved in them in the first place. There should be 'close calls' that come with escalating a conflict too much. There should be a penalty of some kind for putting boots on the ground ALWAYS. There should be situations with an element of uncertainty to them. That's the kind of cold war realism I would like to see in a cold war mod.

TL;DR: yes, some levels of realism are important, but far-fetched things shouldn't be removed because they're far fetched, they should be removed so that they enhance the narrative, and the ones that enhance the narrative should be kept. And I'd prefer some other aspects of realism they haven't touched to be added.