non-nuke wars are only good if the sides are relatively even [difficult to accommodate with the dwindling population] . The only way to put up a decent fight at disadvantage is to have better coordination than the bigger side [smaller alliances tend to be less active, and combinations of smaller alliances have a harder time coordinating than a single large alliance]. NS disparity would just get worse as the round goes on if the smaller side has no access to nukes.
Using our last war as an example: I was still on vacation when when NLoN declared on OP so I was still unbuilt, thus received no declarations. When I got home about a day later D1 had already declared on them, so I only hit 2 nations that had hit other OP members [the only 2 with any open defensive slots]. I was freshly built fighting only 2 nations while they were a day or 2 in fighting 5 or 6 nations each. As a result I only lost 3 out of a possible 10 defensive ground attacks [including underdog wins]. In the end they got $%&@ed up while I barely suffered any damage at all.