Having triggers decide who attacks and who defends is better than having two versions of the same level. However, using triggers also makes things more complicated, which could be hard for a new JCS user.

As for the time limit thing, JJ2+ handles that easily. It's one of the most basic server-hosting features it has. Trigger-based time limits are now an overcomplicated, extremely limited, bug-prone, and backwards way of doing things, and shouldn't be used in newer levels unless there is some special need for them.

These days, JJ2+ simplifies level making quite a bit when it comes to custom gametypes. I don't really miss the extremely complicated trigger systems that used to be required. Everything was so much more clunky back then, and never worked half the time.