"The Flottille Line: Armed Trade All the Way to the Armada"
In Dovion, most players count their kills. Players on the Flottille line count their gold instead. This branch of the tree bets on something few .io games dare to try: winning through trade — but an escorted, armed trade that gets less and less approachable as you level up. Here's the portrait of the archipelago's business captain.
Marchand armé, Croiseur marchand, Armada marchande
The line plays out its logic across three hulls: the Marchand armé (Armed Merchant) at level 15, the Croiseur marchand (Merchant Cruiser) at level 30, and the Armada marchande (Merchant Armada) at level 45. Each tier's name says it all: you start as a merchant who can defend itself, you end as a full-blown trading power. It's the natural endpoint of the Control and Economy path opened by the Chalutier at level 5 — if you're still torn on that first pick, our guide Goélette, Brigantin, or Chalutier is for you.
The giant hold: your strength and your target
The line's passive superpower is the cargo hold: very large across the whole branch, and outright the biggest in the game on the Armada marchande. In practice, while everyone else makes endless trips back to the selling points, you chain rocks, fishing grounds, and wrecks, filling up, filling up, filling up.
But that hold has a price, and every Dovion merchant learns it once in their life: gold in your hold doesn't belong to you yet. If you sink, it all returns to the sea. A fully loaded Armada is the juiciest target on the whole server — and hunters know it. The merchant's job is 50% gathering, 50% risk management.
The Armada Banner: you never sail alone
The E-key active answers that exact problem: the Pavillon d'Armada (Armada Banner) lets you command an escort. Raised at the right moment, it turns the lone hauler into a defended convoy — the attacker who thought they were picking off an isolated merchant suddenly faces a small fleet.
The Banner changes how you read danger:
- Before a risky run (full hold, long distance to a selling point), raise the banner instead of just hoping.
- Against a persistent lurker, the escort often works as a deterrent before the first cannonball ever flies.
- In rich, contested zones, it lets you farm where a lone merchant wouldn't survive.
A tactical warning: an escort is a group — and tight groups are a feast for the Orage line and its bouncing lightning. Keep an eye on galleons on the horizon.
The playstyle: patience, routes, and cool nerves
Succeeding with Flottille demands a specific profile. You need to enjoy optimizing routes (which rocks, what order, which selling point), know when to back off — sometimes the best call is to sell at half-full rather than risk one rock too many — and stay calm when half the map is eyeing you like a floating treasure chest.
In exchange, the line offers an economic progression nothing else matches, plus the very particular pleasure of building an empire while everyone else fights over kills.
Also worth reading
- The 9 ship lines: the complete tree guide
- Fast little hull or slow fortress: which to choose?
The archipelago's trade routes are waiting for their tycoon. Play Dovion for free and raise your first banner.