Hey there, so being occupied really isn't too big of a deal for most. This just means you cannot unclaim plots and that your town would have to pay the occupying nations daily town tax, which is capped at $1000/day (day = 24hours).
If you're not wanting to participate in sieges in the future, I recommend doing "/t toggle neutral on". After a 5day cooldown, your town will be exempt from sieges.
If your town does lose the siege, it will be granted an immunity timer equal to 3x of the duration of the siege. Since it takes 5 days for your town to go peaceful, I recommend keeping the siege going for 48 hours minimum. To end the siege early and forfeit the siege, you can place a while banner down outside your town.
Losing the siege would result in the possibility of your town being plundered and occupied. Plunder is equal to $4,000 per claim owned by your town. An example of this would be if your town has claims 100 chunks, your town would lose $400,000. A town can only be plundered one time per siege. Occupation was explained above.
I will also link to you the siege wiki, which is up to date with the exception of one thing. Occupied towns can now move their home block one time per week for a cost of $250,000.
Siege Wiki
https://manacube.wiki/en/earth/sieges
Excerpt from wiki regarding occupation
Occupation from Siege: If a town loses a siege and the attacking nation decides to invade them they will be placed under occupation.
When a town is occupied They will no longer be able to do the following things:
Excerpt from the wiki regarding siege immunity
New Towns: All new towns have a 120-hour siege immunity timer during which they can't be besieged.
Siege Immunity: When a siege ends the besieged town will receive siege immunity for three times the duration of the siege.
Revolt Immunity: When a siege ends the besieged town will receive revolt immunity for 75% of the duration of the siege immunity.
If you decide down the road you'd like to revolt to no longer be occupied, you can do a revolt siege, however, you cannot be neutral/peaceful to do so. Revolting is the same as the siege is now, just it's like sieging yourself. You'd have to win this siege to be relieved from occupation.
Excerpt from the wiki regarding revolt sieges
To start a revolt siege the town that is occupied must place a colored banner outside of their town. This will start a revolt siege which will last for 3 days. During a revolt siege all of the features and mechanics of the siege are the same as a conquests siege. If the defenders win the siege they will be released from occupation.
Please let me know if you have any further questions regarding sieges. I'd be happy to answer them. Sieges are quite confusing for the majority of players, so it's completely understandable there'd be some confusion. My Discord is
@TeamJacob if you'd rather have a conversation with me there. Apologies that I know it's a lot to take in, but I'd be happy to help you figure it out and decide what the best route it is for you and your town to go at this time.
For an added relief, even when occupied your items are 100% safe. No one can raid your town. When you see the word "invasion" don't be alarmed, this just means occupation.