Farming vs. Hunting: Two Playstyles, One Leaderboard
Every match of Dovion has two kinds of players living side by side. The farmer, who mines their rocks, fishes, sells their cargo, and climbs quietly. And the hunter, who figures the richest gold deposit on the map is other players' cargo holds. Farming and aggression are both legitimate strategies for climbing the leaderboard — and the real question isn't "which one is better?" but "which one, and when?" Let's break down both schools of thought.
The farming school: quiet wealth
The farmer plays against the environment. Their income sources are predictable: ore on the rocks, fishing, and the server-controlled pirates — corsairs, skiffs and other raiders who hand out gold without holding a grudge like a real player would. Their advantages are real:
- Consistency: no variance, no lost fights, a smooth progress curve.
- Discretion: a player who shoots at no one makes few enemies.
- Risk control: you pick your zones, you sell when you want.
Their weakness? Farmers stack gold in their hold — and in Dovion, gold in your hold is lost if you sink. The longer your farming session runs, the more profitable a target you become. Farming without tight hold management means working for your future killer.
The hunting school: the risky shortcut
The hunter, on the other hand, plays against people. Sinking players and pirates pays off, and gold-laden targets pay off big. Their advantages:
- Explosive payoff: one good kill can be worth long minutes of mining.
- Snowball effect: every win makes you stronger, and a feared player controls their area without even fighting.
- The fun factor, plainly: let's be honest, that's why we're here.
Their costs are just as real. Every fight wears you down, even the ones you win. Every act of aggression creates an enemy who might come back — especially since revenge tickets literally let players jump straight back into the fight after dying. And a hunter who's too visible ends up with a bounty on their head: the gold marker on every player's minimap in the room might just be you.
The real answer: switch styles by game phase
The best players don't pick a side — they change hats depending on the match's tempo:
- Early game: near-pure farming. Low level, fragile hull, no reason to fight — surviving the opening minutes comes before anything else.
- Mid-game: this is where aggression pays off the most. You have your line, your E ability, and plenty of farmers around you who still can't fight back.
- Late game: dial the farming back up. Near the top of the leaderboard, every unnecessary fight risks losing everything — holding rank 1 is about discipline, not kill count.
Another dial to watch: the state of your hold. Empty hold? You can afford to be aggressive, you have almost nothing to lose. Full hold? Go back to careful farming until you reach a place to sell.
The third way: the opportunist
There's a hybrid school that takes the best of both: farm by default, and only hunt the golden opportunities. A weakened ship passing through, a fight between two players whose survivor you scoop up, an event announced on screen — a merchant caravan, the Black Pearl — that bunches targets together in one spot. The opportunist doesn't get the pure hunter's maximum payoff, but their risk-to-reward ratio is excellent. To go further, anticipating events is their signature skill.
So, farmer or hunter?
If you're just starting out: farmer, no question. If you've got dueling down: hunter in mid-game, farmer at both ends. If you're going for the top: opportunist, with a hold that's always half-empty and one eye on the minimap.
Both schools lead to the same place — the top of the leaderboard. Come play Dovion for free and find out which one is yours.