I know it sounds like a crazy suggestion, but hear me out. Banning enchantments, potions, god apples, and enderpearls would completely change the flow of the game, putting a massive emphasis on gunplay / strategy as opposed to having well-established players dominate with god armour. Let me explain.

Nations as a server is meant to focus on geopolitics / worldbuilding, with war as a side feature of geopolitics. It was never meant to be the main feature of the server, and as time goes on its clear to see that the server is starting to look and play like a factions server. Player in OP god armour basically dominate new or even established, but poorly-equipped players. There's no longer an incentive to trade or travel outside of the town boundaries, because players who want to partake in piracy have little risks when hijacking your vehicle, since god armour makes them practically invulnerable unless you yourself use god gear.

Guns can't even scratch god armour, and the flamethrower is the only weapon that is useful, since you can score fire damage against your opponent. Movecraft cannons barely affect god-armoured players, too, and the canister shot is the only useful shot for striking actual players. This meta essentially diminishes the point of having features like guns and cannons implemented in the first place, since it forces players to use vanilla god armour and weapons if they want to stand a chance in a fight. Potions are another problematic item, as they can give players unrealistic advantages if exploited correctly. Despite the fact that enchantments are the main problem in the server, potions play a role in this as well, since they give players potentially OP advantages over others with basically no downside.

A recent trend has emerged in which players have been recruiting designated PVPers from KitPVP servers. This trend is causing more players who only PVP to join. They don't build, they don't partake in diplomacy or geopolitics -- they literally just fight and destroy. If this trend continues, Nations will be no more than a fancy factions server, which will drive out many players and ruin the uniqueness of the Nations gamemode.

My proposal is to completely rework the way PVP is done. By banning enchantments, guns could actually have an affect on armoured opponents, and movecraft cannons would be something that they're meant to be -- an intimidating, deadly, and powerful weapon to be used against fortifications, but could easily kill players if they get in the way. The PVP meta would be shifted from close-combat swordfights with max enchanted gear to strategic, paced gun battles, with swords or axes being used as close-quarters melee weapons for when guns aren't viable -- there's even a gun cooldown if you've been hit by a sword, which would still allow players to engage in melee combat, although to a far lesser degree than what's currently the main tactic (rushing with god gear and potions).

Another aspect to consider is piracy. One player in god armour is practically unstoppable, and gangs of two or three god-armoured opponents can completely seize a movecraft vehicle and plunder it, regardless of whatever weapons and armour the crew has, since there are rarely crews larger than two on the rare occasion that someone actually leaves their town. Most higher level players almost never leave their towns unless they're out to PVP anyways, so the odds are incredibly low that the crew of a movecraft vehicle could fend off these god-armoured pirates. New players also tend to move around more than well-established players, and they often only have whatever gear they have in their inventories, which will make them likely to quit if they lose everything to an unstoppable enemy. The solution is to ban enchants. By forcing even the most high-tier players to use gilded or unenchanted diamond armour, there's an actual risk to piracy / PVP, even with new players -- a good pvper in iron armour could take down a foe in diamond, and two new players in iron could probably take down or at least scare off a foe in diamond armour. Banning enchantments would also encourage players to explore sliemfun, since there are slimefun armours which are better than the unenchanted diamond armour.

There are a couple downsides to banning enchantments, but in my opinion most of these are actually positives. Firstly, a lot of players who only log in to PVP (there are big factions with big-name players who literally only join to fight and destroy. They don't build or partake in worldbuilding / geopolitics) would likely threaten to leave en-masse. However, this would actually solve a lot of problems, as the most prominent "toxic" PVP-only groups / players would leave the server. This would reverse the trend of Nations becoming Factions, as well as making a much more survivable environment for new players. While the player count would be down temporarily, a lot of new players would be able to appreciate and enjoy the server. The current trend is incredibly unsustainable, and unless change happens soon, CCNet will be reduced to a 30-players, generic Factions server. A lot of players also act like they will strike / leave, but in reality, it's mostly just talk. Most players, especially the well-established ones, will be hesitant to actually leave -- and even if they do, it will stop and reverse a trend which is killing the server, slowly. The impacts of the "factionisation" of CCNet is pretty clear: numerous new players join, establish a town, and leave after a couple weeks or even days, never to come back. The meta is basically to join a big, established nation of designated PVPers, who design ugly towns and only play to siege and destroy smaller towns. Changes like reworking sieges are only treating symptoms of the cause, which is the designated-PVP players who only want to destroy things. Banning enchanted armour will severely limit the power that these players have over the average player, balancing the playing field and generally making the experience more enjoyable.

Overall, banning enchantments could reverse a seriously bad trend in the server, by reducing the power that players with OP gear have. Things like potions and enderpearls should also be fully disabled, to prevent cheesing or otherwise unrealistic strategies in combat. Beacons could stay, justified as a monument or something that encourages nearby fighters to fight better. The new PVP meta would be based on gunplay, with melee weapons actually being for melee -- players would use guns for strategic, slow-paced combat, and fight with swords only when the combat is too close to use guns viably, or if the player's line was rushed by an enemy. Smaller towns could actually stand a chance against foes, since normal diamond armour can be stopped by enough players in iron or even leather gear, and generally the experience would be playable for new players. Eventually, some change could be added to encourage development outside of towns, but in the meantime the most immediate action that must be taken is to ban enchanted armour.

TL;DR: Ban enchanted armour, potions, and epearls
Pros:
- no more OP players
- PVP-only players will leave or learn to do other things besides kill and destroy (they can still fight, but war should never be the main feature)
- guns will be actually useful
- players can't literally teleport into or behind your trench lines, into your vehicle, etc
- players in OP armour with potions can actually die
- new players will be able to join and build up
- small towns can defend themselves
Cons:
- Some established players will leave (but is that really a downside?)
- Players who invested in God armour will be upset