"4 rounds reversed snake draft" means putting the first round bonus tile into the draft pool, and let players pick the 4 parts for 4 rounds in 4321 1234 4321 1234.
--------Why to use this draft rule--------
Statistically, based on the hundreds of offline/online game results in my community, it is a better drafting rule between experienced AOI players which can stabilize every position's win rate to around 25%.
And it makes the draft much playable as it gives players more choices.
For example, 3 rounds drafting only guarantee the 4th player picks the best bonus tile, but in some case the 4th player may want to pick the strongest faction/palace tile/color to get more advantage. Obviously, the draft rule in the rulebook doesn't allow the 4th player to do that, while the 4 round draft do.
For the order, we tried 1234 4321 1234 4321 first. It works well in the beginning and gives us much more fun than the rulebook's 3 rounds drafting.
But after 40-50 matches, when everyone become familiar to this game, the 1st player's win rate keep increasing to over 30% and the 4rd player's win rate decrease to lower than 20%. So, it is quickly replaced by the 4 rounds reversed snake draft in our offline game.
--------Why to use this draft rule--------
Statistically, based on the hundreds of offline/online game results in my community, it is a better drafting rule between experienced AOI players which can stabilize every position's win rate to around 25%.
And it makes the draft much playable as it gives players more choices.
For example, 3 rounds drafting only guarantee the 4th player picks the best bonus tile, but in some case the 4th player may want to pick the strongest faction/palace tile/color to get more advantage. Obviously, the draft rule in the rulebook doesn't allow the 4th player to do that, while the 4 round draft do.
For the order, we tried 1234 4321 1234 4321 first. It works well in the beginning and gives us much more fun than the rulebook's 3 rounds drafting.
But after 40-50 matches, when everyone become familiar to this game, the 1st player's win rate keep increasing to over 30% and the 4rd player's win rate decrease to lower than 20%. So, it is quickly replaced by the 4 rounds reversed snake draft in our offline game.
