Plundering (or Protecting) Merchant Caravans
When a merchant caravan crosses the archipelago, all of Dovion asks itself the same question: escort or prey? These convoys, announced on screen like every event in the game, carry riches that whet appetites — and travel under armed protection, which cools some of that enthusiasm. Between the two sits you, and a choice to make.
The anatomy of a caravan
A Dovion caravan is a merchant convoy controlled by the server, accompanied by its escort: ships whose job is precisely to discourage people like you. The picture gets a delicious extra wrinkle: Colonel Mbappé — a purely parody character in the game, worth repeating, with no connection whatsoever to the real player — arrives with the caravan, announced by his trumpet. This sly hunter regularly turns a peaceful raid into a very bad surprise.
The caravan equation boils down to three factors: cargo that attracts, an escort that defends, and a trumpet-blowing troll lurking nearby. The full picture of the man himself is in our article on the Colonel.
The plunder option: the calculated raid
Attacking a caravan is one of the most straightforward risk/reward bets in the game. To pull it off cleanly:
- Assess the escort before firing your first shot. It's your real opponent — the cargo doesn't fight back, its guards do.
- Choose your moment. A caravan is a mobile target: its route passes through zones more or less favorable to you. Tight passages near islands break up the escort's formation; open water lets it spread out.
- Strike in windows. Isolate and sink one escort ship, fall back, repeat: patient siege beats a frontal assault almost every time.
- Keep an eye on the horizon. You're never the only one who read the announcement. Other raiders are inbound, and the Colonel loves a confused melee.
- Empty hold, mandatory. Raiding with your own fortune on board is offering a standard trade to anyone who sinks you.
The protection option: the clever counter-play
Less obvious, just as rewarding in terms of thrills: playing bodyguard. Posting up near a caravan puts you exactly where the raiders will converge — opponents already busy, weakened by the escort, and often loaded with their previous plunder. Let the convoy absorb the first assaults, then pick off the attackers once they're worn down. The escort does the work, you collect the dividends.
It's the same smart-vulture logic that works on every event in the game, from waves of corsairs to the Black Pearl: the best time to hit someone is while they're hitting someone else.
What's the payoff?
Sinking pirates and ships earns gold, and events like caravans concentrate the action — and therefore the loot — into one spot on the map. Whether you plunder the convoy or the plunderers, the caravan remains one of the best opportunity generators in the game. Just remember to sell between engagements: all that gold only counts once it's secured at a trading post, as our gold guide reminds you.
Final advice
Beginner: watch your first caravan from a distance, you'll learn more in three minutes of spectating than in three sinkings. Advanced: mix up your role — raider one day, vulture the next. And whatever your strategy, if the Colonel's trumpet sounds… be wary.
A convoy might be underway right now: Play Dovion for free and pick your side.