A lot of this list is single-run conditions that don’t conflict with each other, so you can earn several at once instead of replaying for each. Each plan below is one run. Achievements in a plan are marked with a ⛓ badge further down.
Keep the same lineage going across captains: when one dies, continue with a successor rather than starting fresh. Keep time ticking at zee and accept deaths as part of the plan.
- ✓▢One Year at Zee — Spend one year out at zee in an unbroken lineage
- ✓▢Five Years at Zee — Spend five years out at zee in an unbroken lineage
- ✓▢Ten Years at Zee — Spend ten years out at zee in an unbroken lineage
- ✓▢Sink Beneath the Waves. Again. — Die 5 times in an unbroken lineage
- ✓▢Never Stop Sinking... — Die 10 times in an unbroken lineage
Nested: ten years passes one and five, and ten deaths passes five, so chase only the top tiers. Exactly which successor choices keep a lineage unbroken is not verified here - check a community guide before your first death.
Create a captain and skip the background (past) choice, then never use a manual save until you complete an ambition.
- ✓▢I am the Captain of my Soul — Complete the game without saving manually
- ✓▢A Past Wreathed in Shadows — Complete the game without ever choosing a past
Both are about how you play the whole run rather than what you do in it, so they share one captain. Which ambitions count as completing the game is not verified here.
Happens to everyone. Sunless Sea expects you to lose captains.
Pursue one of the romance storylines available in London until you have a sweetheart. Exact storylets not verified here.
Legacies are chosen when a new captain starts after a death. Rival is one of them; the conditions that make it available are set by your previous captain and are not verified here — see a community guide.
Admiralty's Favour is a quality earned by doing the Admiralty's bidding, typically bringing back port reports. Raise it to 10.
Stay out in the dark zee with your lights off and Terror climbs. Reach 90, then head home before it hits 100 unless you want Lose your Mind too.
Description refers to downloading new stories, which matches the free post-launch content updates. Trigger not verified — see a community guide.
Making a will in London is how you pass things on to your next captain. An ironclad will is the stronger version. Exact cost not verified here.
Hidden on Steam and not verified — see a community guide for the exact trigger.
Another starting legacy for a successor captain. Availability conditions not verified here — see a community guide.
Hidden on Steam and not verified — see a community guide for the exact trigger.
A curse tied to one of the zee's gods. How to incur it is not verified here.
Starting legacy for a successor captain. Availability conditions not verified here.
Let Terror hit 100. It can end the voyage badly, so save the attempt for a captain you can afford to risk.
Hidden on Steam and not verified — see a community guide for the exact trigger.
Time spent across a lineage of captains rather than one run. How the game defines 'unbroken' (which legacies preserve it) is not verified here — check before restarting fresh.
Starting legacy for a successor captain. Availability conditions not verified here.
Starting legacy for a successor captain. Availability conditions not verified here.
Your captain needs a child first, then sends them out to zee. The family storyline steps are not verified here.
Five captain deaths without breaking the lineage. Chase it with the same lineage as the time-at-zee achievements.
Raise the Antiquarian quality to 10. How it is earned is not verified here.
Dive below the surface, which is the Zubmariner expansion's underwater travel.
Zubmariner. Once underwater, ride a current.
Zubmariner. Get into a fight below the surface and break off by resurfacing.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Hidden on Steam and not verified — see a community guide for the exact trigger.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
The biggest warship, bought at a heavy price. Plan a lineage that keeps its wealth via a will.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Another god's curse. How to incur it is not verified here.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Zubmariner. Find an underwater oasis and refill oxygen from it.
Hidden on Steam and not verified — see a community guide for the exact trigger.
Discovery achievement. It shares the rarity band of the Zubmariner achievements, so it most likely needs the Zubmariner expansion; we have not verified the location ourselves.
Description says you accept a power of the deep zee. Source not verified — see a community guide.
Finish an ambition without ever using a manual save. Pair it with A Past Wreathed in Shadows on the same captain: both are about how you play the whole run, not what you do in it.
Encounter the Constant Companion. Where is not verified here.
A third god's curse. How to incur it is not verified here.
Ten deaths in one lineage. Covers the 5-death achievement on the way.
Covers One Year at Zee on the way.
Description only says avoid being killed by the bomb. Where it appears is not verified here.
An abyssal ritual tied to Lady Black. Steps not verified — see a community guide.
When creating your captain you can skip the background choice. Do that and finish an ambition. Combine with I am the Captain of my Soul.
The ambition added by the Zubmariner expansion. Needs that DLC.
Zubmariner. Let something below the surface finish you. Cheap on a disposable captain.
Get killed by the Constant Companion. Plan around a captain you are ready to lose.
Zubmariner. Run out of oxygen underwater.
The top time-at-zee tier. Covers the one- and five-year achievements on the way.
Three Drownie items. Where they come from is not verified — see a community guide.
