Draft Mode, More than 2 Player Support

[WindStrike]

I have figured out a way to incorporate Draft Mode into the game such that it supports up to 8 Players. For those that don't know, it's normally a 1v1 mode where each player drafts the entire pool of combination towers (15 dual towers, 20 triple towers), picking 5 dual towers each then 7 triple towers each. You can totally pick a tower that you can't build just to deny someone else from building it. Essentially, as more players are added, the more times towers can be picked by multiple players. Here's the list for each player count:

• 2 Players
  
  • 10 of 15 total Dual Picks
    
  • 14 of 20 total Triple Picks
    
  
  
• 3 Players
  
  • 15 of 15 total Dual Picks
    
  • 20 of 20 total Triple Picks
    
  • Whoever picks last gets to pick any Triple Tower he wants
    
  
  
• 4 Players
  
  • All towers can be picked twice
    
  • 20 of 30 total Dual Picks
    
  • 28 of 40 total Triple Picks
    
  
  
• 5 Players
  
  • All towers can be picked twice
    
  • 25 of 30 total Dual Picks
    
  • 35 of 40 total Triple Picks
    
  
  
• 6 Players
  
  • All towers can be picked twice
    
  • 30 of 30 total Dual Picks
    
  • 40 of 40 total Triple Picks
    
  • The last two players to pick can pick any Triple Tower they want
    
  
  
• 7 Players
  
  • All towers can be picked thrice
    
  • 35 of 45 total Dual Picks
    
  • 49 of 60 total Triple Picks
    
  
  
• 8 Players
  
  • All towers can be picked thrice
    
  • 40 of 45 total Dual Picks
    
  • 56 of 60 total Triple Picks
    
  
  

In terms of the order of the picking, it'll randomize the pick order, and then when it reaches end of the order, it starts again from the end of that randomization and reverses the order. Whoever's first and last in the pick orders will have multiple chances to pick two towers in a row.

Draft Mode will automatically set the standard gameplay mode to Competitive. Afterwards, the players can set difficulty, creep order, and match duration.

Thoughts?

[holepercent]

it's only 1v1 for forum draft series just to make it easier for the host to organise.

for the actual mode in game, repeats will have to be allowed. the main consideration is whether to allow players to pick duplicates up to the limit from the start or every tower must be taken first before a fresh set is added to the pool.

[WindStrike]

Come to think of it, 8 player picks with something like x 3 total picks allowed... even if everyone only had 5 seconds to pick each tower, that's 5 * 96 = 480 seconds + some extra time for everyone to look at the pool of towers at the start of each phase = approximately 9 minute drafting phase. Even the DOTA 2's random ability draft phase doesn't take that long.

Perhaps Draft Mode in more than 1v1 would be much better suited to be Ban Mode, aka... everyone gets to ban towers. At 8 players, it'd be 1 per player, so of the total 35 towers, 27 would be usable, which is enough to heavily impact what/how players do things.

Why would 1v1 draft mode be easier to organize on the forum? Say the mode really was built into the game, where there's zero interference between the players, but they're in the same replay, thus making it much easier to review, and the mode is built in, so the draft is done on-the-spot, which'd test the players' knowledge of the game. In terms of organizing it, it'd just be "host player invites other player, start game".

[holepercent]

The old school 4 or 5 player forum draft series actually had players vote to ban 5 duals and 7 triples total, then pick the elementals allowed, which led to some hilarious builds.

As in, waiting for just your opponent to post the next pick on the forums is usually shorter than waiting for 3 other players to post their picks before your next pick.

(What we usually call forum draft series is a draft with picks posted on the forum with myself as draft host. The mode in-game is referred as draft pick.)