Though I know it is far too early to be suggesting new features for NS:Source, I thought I’d throw in my two cents on existing entities that could be slightly reworked during the switchover to make things easier for mappers. Once the code its transitioned and people start making maps it's too late, so I want to get this out there now.

Weldables shouldn’t collide with players. They would be easier to use just as brush based triggers.
Right now the func_weldable has a physical presence. Players collide with them. The original intent of the func_weldable was for it to be the actual physical obstruction to the vent, and welding it would either make it appear or disappear. However, the pause that players experienced when crossing weldables in early versions, and the lack of realism in a wall appearing out of thin air led map designers to use the func_weldable for no more than its triggering abilities. Most mappers hack around it to make the func_weldable invisible, and just have it trigger the desired effect. Given that the range of special effects possible in Source is well beyond what Half-Life can deliver, I doubt we will see any mappers using the func_weldable for its appearing/disappearing properties. In NS:Source, I suggest making the brush associated with a func_weldable solely define the area you have to point at to weld, and not have any collision detection or other things associated with it. The effects can be done much more effectively with triggered entities than by any default behavior you would pick to assign to the func_weldable, and this would only require a small update for those maps that do use the original functionality.

Func_nobuilds shouldn’t collide with players. Just make them define the area of effect.
Right now this entity is solid. At the moment it is a bit of a pain to use, and it It will be even more of a pain if maps in NS:Source attempt to portray a wider variety of environments. Imagine that you are making a small outdoor area in your map. Players can get there, but the commander shouldn't be able to build there (according to backstory) because the nanogrid doesn't extend beyond the base. In order to accomplish this, you would have to make a thin sliver of func_nobuild over every brush in the area. It should be easy to see why this is a pain. The easiest way is just to copy all the geometry, and move it vertically by one unit, then texture it all with null. Then if you want to change anything about the area, you have to redo this. I propose making the func_nobuild simply define an area in which buildings cannot be placed, rather than colliding with anything. For instance, to prevent building in a section of the map, you would just enclose the entire area in a single brush marked with the entity. There are also a lot of other reasons for wanting to designate areas as unbuildable other than compliance with the backstory. Elevators, irregular geometry, and all sorts of other factors make it desirable to restrict where the commander can build. (Afterall, most commanders would be much happier having a structure refuse to be placed on a spot, then to place it and have it sink under the map.) If we could simply enclose areas in a func_nobuild and still allow players through, it would make our lives much easier.

Give us direct control over command chairs, res nodes, and possibly other structures pre-placed in the map.
Mappers like to play with the game mechanics a bit to mix things up, and right now they have to go through all sorts of nasty hacks to disable a resource node (for instance,) and the result ends up being less intuitive for the players. Give every placeable structure a setting in which they would start out as a lump of coal (effectively) until triggered. This would make it a lot easier to incorporate the TSA technology into the maps, and ultimately make for a more cohesive and atmospheric experience.

Make the seethrough texture actually seethrough for the commander.
Quite frankly, I’ve never found a good use for the seethrough texture on anything, because the commanders can’t see through it. It just allows structures to be placed through it. Make it invisible like the null texture by default and you’ll have a real winner.

Much <3 to the devs for all their hard work, and for giving us mappers an outlet for all of our creativity, freetime, sweat, blood, and tears, and an occasional replacement for our social lives. I hope this is helpful.

well, this part isnt for ns:source, but again, i would like to see certain features from spirit of half-life make it into ns 3.1 (ut style skys, the movewith lotus system, the extra particle effects, etc) so that ns for the hl engine can go out with a bang in the power that mappers have over creating maps, but still be able to look good on low end machines.

as for the func_weldable, not only does it block players, it blocks bullets. so if you stand in a big enough func_weldable, your invulnerable until a marine enters that same brush then shoots you, or lobs a grenade in at you. this is the same with the func_breakable also.

the only conflict is that on some of the maps i make, i rely on that bullet blocking bug. maybe it can be toggeled on and off?

Specific team triggered entities.

for the func_weldables.. this is HL what I am gona say, so if NS is different, let me know.

func_ work by finding there partner(s) in that map, and range does not matter. So why do you need to place it close to its partner, if range is unlimited?

What i always did was, name both partners right (so you know there together casue of the names), then make a VERY small room somewhere, perhaps even outside the map. (hey its closed, no leaks) and dump all your triggers in there.

I have this idea that the func weldable is the actual thing you need to weld (so this won't work) but its a good idea for other triggers.
As the func weld, I'd say overlap.if you place it in a wall, and stick it out 1 unit.. you can still weld it. make its partner (the closing vent) above it or something.

If its a entity which blocks bullets and stuff, I don't want it in view. That easy.

I'd like the rendermode of func_weldables to be fixed, even on Solid 255 the blue parts still come out black.

This is really useful and not simply a list of things we should for NS:S (new weapons etc) so I'll move this to future versions...

Thought I'd add to this.

Give every game specific entity the ability to be toggled on and off by other entities.

One more thing. Give us a cliplike texture that skulks can't climb on, or an entity that has the same effect.