There's been a lot of discussion on these forums about how long a game of NS should last.

If I'm correct then Flayra wanted to focus on quicker paced games but polls suggest that a lot of the community still want to play great epic games.

I suggest that the NS dev team accepts two types of ns map based on different criteria.

The existing criteria would serve the current maps which are 85% balanced and great for competitive play. A new set of criteria would be created for long haul maps. This might include requirements such as less resource towers, more entrenched positions etc . I'm sure we could easily come up with a list of criteria that would serve to prolong a game and make it seem more 'epic. You could also go one step further and have slightly different settings per map and specify the game style per map e.g. co, regular ns, epic ns.

I would certainly make a prototype map for this gameplay style if it would be considered (even though it might not meet current guidelines)

I don't think a set of mapping guidelines for that kind of custom maps could hurt, at least. However, what would be different from the regular mapping guidelines? Anything that I can think of would too greatly restrict the map's concept.

The problem might be that the custom mappers just aren't following the current guidelines when they apply.

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if the work put in would be worthwhile.

I was having a good think about it last night to actually see how it could be achieved.

I don't have much time to go in to detail now but I did have some interesting ideas based on my experience of existing NS maps.

Some of the situations you end up with a ridiculously long game are

A) Neither side has a stack of pro players so the one or two that are playing continually tip the balance to and fro.
B) A good marine team is supported by an incompetent commander.
C) The aliens don't get their act together in terms of building but still outclass the marines.

So it seems like there isn't a lot that can be changed easily but thinking about it from another angle, what if it was harder for the pro players to make a big difference.

Do this by:

A) Stop them spawn camping the hives so easily.
B) Make a greater graduation between marine and alien territory with an increasing number of ambush spots, hard to navigate corridors and less cover.
C) The maps can't get much bigger but a change in layout can easily accomodate more 'corridors' so a focus could be moved to important areas (rts) but progress from one area to the next can be hindered.
D) A method to allow the marines/aliens to gradually win should be possible. This might be weldable vents and doors for the marines to slowly shut down the possible avenues of confrontation or hidden spots for aliens to place chambers and change things in their favour.

I will experiment more later but I have my graduation ceremony to attend

Your initial reasons are to do with how people play the game (eg the Marines have a nub commander) and not to do with a problem with the game. Could you be more specific with what is wrong with the game instead of saying that the game should change to suit every way a team of players might foul up in a round?

Sorry if you misunderstood my post, I'll try to clarify it.

I was listing the reasons I could think of, off the top of my head, where games would be prolonged. Then I tried to analyse which ones were 'reproducable' to cause longer gameplay.

This suggestion is saying something is wrong with the game at all, in the first post I stated that some people enjoy short games and others prefer longer games and therefore one way to have both ways of play is to vary the map play-styles.

Let me give you an example of exploiting the behavours I listed.

C) The aliens don't get their act together in terms of building but still outclass the marines.

This typically manifests itself as no one putting down the chambers until late in the game. However you could induce the effect by creating a larger emphasis on securing areas with places to heal and static defenses. So in your map you'd want good places to put chambers. Now even if the team builds like they should there'll still be a lot of ground to cover and we'll effectively see this prolonging effect.

I think it seems logical to look at the situations where we do see long games and work from there else it'd simply require *vast* amounts of experimentation.