Build a captain through the choices that shape a life.

A Life at Sea lets you shape a future captain by choosing a young sailor and living through their decisions. Start with one of the backgrounds offered in the recruiting book, then develop skills, take a companion aboard and choose a ship for the voyage ahead.

Play and build your captain ↗

Choose a sailor's background

The game has five starting characters. Each new life offers three of them, with an option to turn another page before committing. Their starting strengths, weaknesses and first youth event differ. Read the character cards before choosing; all five are not presented together in every new life.

Mateo, the shipwright's son: Ship Repair and Endurance; weaker Negotiation.
Isabel, the harbour clerk's apprentice: Negotiation and Command; weaker Sailcraft.
Tomás, the fisherman's son: Sailcraft and Weather; weaker Command.
Beatriz, the reef diver: Courage and Endurance; weaker Negotiation.
Rui, the lighthouse keeper: Navigation and Weather; weaker Sailcraft.

Build skills through youth decisions

Eight youth decisions take your sailor from adolescence toward the first voyage. A choice develops a main ability and a secondary ability, and leaves a remembered event. The situations can change on a new life, so a build is a sequence of decisions rather than a fixed list of points to spend.

A repair-minded sailor can deepen that strength or develop other abilities when the offered choices allow it. Watch the result after each decision to see how the character has changed.

Choose a companion and a ship

After youth, review your abilities and choose from the companions offered in this life. Weather, repair and negotiation specialties matter in different encounters; a companion can help when their specialty matches the problem.

There are two starting ships. Sparrow is a nimble small sailing ship whose selection develops Sailcraft. Stone Bay is a sturdy old merchant ship whose selection develops Ship Repair and whose hull can absorb a hard impact. Choose around the sailor you have grown and the risks you plan to take.

Carry the character into a career

Your captain continues to change at sea and in port. The same life can include discovery, setbacks, returning to repair, retirement or death. Try a different background and set of decisions on another life to explore another path; the game saves the current life in this browser.

Questions before you sail

Can I set every starting stat myself?

You choose an existing young sailor with a defined background. Skills develop through story choices, companions, ships and later decisions; there is no free-form starting stat editor.

Will starting the game replace my current life?

Opening the game resumes a saved life when one exists in this browser. Use the game's restart option only when you want to begin again.

Can I play a complete captain career free?

Yes. A full life can be played free, subject to the new-life limits shown in the game. Age of Seas PRO unlocks unlimited new runs across all games.

Keep shaping your captain

Captain Skills Guide | Navigation, Command & Growth

Understand Navigation, Weather, Sailcraft, Ship Repair, Command, Negotiation, Courage and Endurance in A Life at Sea, with youth and port training choices.

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Sailing Career Guide | Routes, Survival & Endings

Plan a sailing career in A Life at Sea: choose coastal or ocean routes, answer sea crises, explore landfalls and return to port before damage ends the voyage.

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