OK. I've played NS for a while now, on and off, and to be honest, it's getting rather repitive. And though clearly some functions that would be interesting are either difficult to program, valueless to everyone but a very few or just dysfunctional (e.g. the war function in NS2), here's a bit of a list of stuff I think could be interesting, without being too much of any of the above.
1) An overhaul of the issue submission system:
Fundamentally, NS revolves around the issues, and although it has got better recently, it's still a very stagnant system. Now, I think this revolves around two problems: A) Issues not being submitted, B) Issues not being edited and thus able to be approved for submission. I don't know how much the two problems weigh up to each other, but I suspect B) is more significant (based on personal experience). Anyway.
A) Clearly, this needs some kind of incentive to submit issues. It could be some kind of addition customability for nations, increased government effectiveness in its policies, an economic boost or some kind of special badge. Sadly, these factors would mostly influence the "obsessive" (my apologies) style of NS player, who presumably try to submit issues on a regular basis anyway. Perhaps some kind of more commonplace, showy benefit could accrue - a special industry, or some privelige. This could work in some way analogous to the Jennifer system in NS2, but with more effects, each of which demand less on the server (I would guess that the only way the NS2 server coped with unlimited histories was by paying it from the Jennifer/dollar fund). In any case, it clearly needs to work on a slow rank basis, so that by writing one issue, a nation doesn't become king of his region.
B) I think the answer to this lies in some kind of peer review, which forces players who would submit their own issue to do some light editing, as well as possible rejection, of another's, before it got forwarded to an expanded base of "end-product" issue editors.
An alternate point is that some form of regional issue effects could be interesting, although admittedly complex to program. It would also input some kind of tactical spin to issues - if in a national issue, you elect to conquer a minute nation, you might have to worry about regional economic sanctions, military counteraction (NB: this is not a war function, as not resources/land are exchanged, merely military and economic potential elsewhere) or perhaps some kind of support. It would also add a collobarative/conflicting end to NS.
2) Regional Parliaments
Now, I don't like the W.A.. Good legislation ends up too long to read, and the sheer number of nations involved means that stagnation and a slightly illiberal centrism end up commonplace. I think though, that Regional Parliaments could provide some kind of W.A. functionability, without its foibles. It would also mean that legislation ended up acting on nations who basically consented to it. It could also add an interesting tactical end to things - deal brokering on a simple level, but on a more complex plane, some proposals could be only effective if certain numbers of nations consented/applied them (e.g. protectionist economic policies).
3) National Data
This is asked for a lot, and the proposals are often ridiculous. But there are some that I feel are acceptable/possible. Economic and government calculators already exist, and although they sometimes reflect the politik of the programmer, they could easily be adapted to an in-game function. The game does collect data on other things, so those *could* play a part. An idea I like, which does stray into some reasonably complex programming, although I know programs do exist that can do it. If you imagine all the decisions you take, they all lie as data points on a line (eg. a high value on the "tax" line, a "low" value on the economic freedoms line, etc. etc.). By plotting these data points on a mulitdimensional graph (on a computer, don't try to imagine it), you can create clusters. These clusters could correspond to political parties, which could be named, and more importantly, used in the game's information. For example, a fake news broadcast, either in an issue, or its resolution, could mention "The Liberal Conservatives are disgusted by [leader]'s actions in the economic sphere". You could represent the ruling party (presumably decided by whichever party had the majority of decisions made by its political stance), and your party members could ask you for a decision you don't agree with, but would increase party unity. And so on.
4) An Economy
Which nations are rich, and which are poor, is basically a data statistic now. A real economy could make this more interesting, and give the player more of a feel of what's going on. Industries could be a basic producer, or tiers of manufacturers (eg. Woodcutting -> Furniture Design), which would require imports/exports. Demand could be decided on the basis of population, and some other factors to do with recent supply, total wealth and various other factors (as a side note, ask a real economist about this, because NS2's economy was ridiculous). Of course, with regional parliaments, new issues, etc. this could give players a much better feel for their nation.
Now, this all sounds rather elaborate, and it is. But, if implemented, it would stop NS stagnating, raise the value of its advertising, and go some way towards paying for itself, especially in the long term. If the revenue would be insufficient, with some form of modest reward, as outlined in the Issues section, the idea of a small fee for small, optional benefits, though horrific, is not insane.
It was this same problem that caused me to CTE about 2 years ago. Back then they only had like 50 issues, or I kept on getting the same ones over and over again (once I got the same one 2 days in a row). It was terrible. I didn't wanna join the UN (it was still around), and didn't wanna pay for NS2 (which I guess bombed anyways). Eventually I just quit. Then about in July I remembered this game, thought it might be fun, revived Joshuahood, and was shocked at how different (and how similar) the game was. But now I'm more involved, so I don't plan on CTE'ing for awhile....