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Scurvy is an Affliction in The Long Dark. It is caused by consuming a diet with low/no Vitamin-C, and is lethal if untreated.

Overview[]

Scurvy is a long-term affliction caused by Vitamin-C deficiency: failing to consume as much Vitamin-C as is drained daily. Each day the survivor's Vitamin-C level decreases by a small amount from a hidden Vitamin-C meter; this loss can be mitigated or recovered by consuming foods with Vitamin-C. Foods with Vitamin-C display roughly how much they contain on the item's information page ("Vitamin-C Minor", "Moderate" or "Major"); if a food item contains no Vitamin-C (or on a game mode where Scurvy is disabled) no amount will be shown. Condition of food items does not affect Vitamin-C values. Scurvy Risk appears when below 20% of the Vitamin-C maximum, and will progress into the Scurvy affliction unless more vitamin is consumed.

Scurvy and Vitamin-C is present on Voyageur, Stalker, Interloper, and Misery modes, and is disabled in Wintermute and Pilgrim mode.

Most Vitamin-C food sources are finite (artificial foods and cattails), making Scurvy an increasing challenge in the late-game; however fish and to a lesser extent Birch Bark Tea are renewable sources.

Enable Option[]

Scurvy Warning

Scurvy Enable option warning

Fail to eat a balanced diet and Scurvy will hound you relentlessly. While the onset is slow, the consequences can be disastrous to your health. The choice is yours.


Disable if you do not want to be pressured to find Vitamin-C rich foods.
In-game description

New and existing survival sandboxes after Part 5 of Tales from the Far Territory will have the choice to include Scurvy in their game. It will not appear if the option is disabled when starting a sandbox. This option is not available when playing on Misery Mode.

Risk and Prevention[]

Scurvy can be prevented by consuming enough Vitamin-C foods regularly to prevent Scurvy Risk from reaching 100%. Scurvy Risk will appear when the survivor's hidden Vitamin-C stat drops below 20% remaining, giving the survivor a warning several days before the true affliction occurs.

  • Vitamin-C is a hidden survivor statistic, and is not displayed on the Status Screen.
  • Vitamin-C begins at 500 units at the start of a new Survival Sandbox (or upon treating Scurvy)
  • A small amount of Vitamin-C is drained each day (10 units on Voyageur or 20 units on Stalker/Interloper).
  • Scurvy Risk manifests at/below 100 units of Vitamin-C (20% remaining) on the Status Screen.
  • At 0 units of Vitamin-C (100% Scurvy Risk) Scurvy risk becomes the Scurvy affliction.
  • Scurvy is treated immediately by consuming 500 units of Vitamin-C, which begins the daily Vitamin-C drain.

Because Vitamin-C drains at a consistent rate, it is possible to estimate the survivor's current Vitamin-C amount if Scurvy Risk is manifest, as well as the number of days before Scurvy Risk can appear from the start of a new survival sandbox or after contracting and curing Scurvy.

  • Voyager: 50 days from game start/treatment (10 days after Scurvy Risk)
  • Stalker/Interloper: 25 days from game start/treatment (5 days after Scurvy Risk)

Affliction[]

You consumed a diet low in Vitamin-C for too long and now have Scurvy. If left untreated you will continue to weaken and lose condition until you succumb and die.

Scurvy manifests when Scurvy Risk reaches 100% (0 Vitamin-C), which causes constant slow Condition loss and multiple debilitating effects until treatment or death. Scurvy is cured immediately by consuming food containing Vitamin-C (500 units, tracked on the Survivor's Status Page); when the survivor is afflicted with Scurvy, Vitamin-C will not decay, making it easier to fill the Vitamin-C meter.

Effects of Scurvy:

  • -0.5% Condition per hour (-12% per day)
  • Disables Condition recovery while awake (when all four Needs are met)*
  • -5kg of carry weight
  • +50% Fatigue drain
  • +50% Stamina drain

*Note: While afflicted with Scurvy, Condition can still be recovered from Sleep (if all four Needs are met), but Condition recovery will be reduced as the -0.5% Condition loss will occur each hour even while asleep. The Condition restoring effects of Birch Bark Tea, Emergency Stims and Cooking Recipes which restore Condition retain their full effect.

Treatment[]

Scurvy and Scurvy Risk is cured by consuming food containing Vitamin-C until the "Treatment" bar is full (500 units of Vitamin-C); while Scurvy is manifest the Treatment Meter (Vitamin-C) will not deplete.

Artificial Foods and Fish hold the largest values of Vitamin-C, catching, cooking, and eating a large amount of cooked fish should be the player's immediate priority. Cooking Fish reduces the amount of Vitamin-C, but Raw Fish carry the high likelihood of causing Food Poisoning. Another consideration is Calorie-to-Vitamin-C density, since the survivor cannot eat food beyond 2500 stored Calories.

Curing Scurvy will resume the daily Vitamin-C drain, with the survivor starting at 500 units of Vitamin-C.

Vitamin-C Foods[]

Item Vitamin C Vitamin C/kg Vitamin C/1000 kcal
Thomson Family Stew icon Thomson Family Stew 80 228 88.89
Airline Food - Vegetarian icon Airline Food - Vegetarian 73 292 130.36
Dockworker's Pie icon Dockworker's Pie 68 226 45.33
Military-Grade MRE icon Military-Grade MRE 65 130 37.14
Camber Flight Porridge icon Camber Flight Porridge 59 197 47.20
Lily's Pancakes icon Lily's Pancakes 57 285 57.00
Pinnacle Peaches icon Pinnacle Peaches 56 112 124.44
Canned Corn icon Canned Corn 52 173 176.27
Ranger Stew icon Ranger Stew 42 105 26.25
Tomato Soup icon Tomato Soup 30 116 100
Airline Food - Chicken icon Airline Food - Chicken 29 116 46.77
Cooked Potato icon Cooked Potato 24 160 96
Prepper's Pie icon Prepper's Pie 22 110 24.44
Lake Whitefish (Raw) icon Lake Whitefish (Raw) 1kg 22 22 38.26
Rainbow Trout (Raw) icon Rainbow Trout (Raw) 1kg 20 20 34.78
Peach Pie icon Peach Pie 19 190 76
Trout Stew icon Trout Stew 17 48 22.67
Lake Whitefish (Cooked) icon Lake Whitefish (Cooked) 1kg 16 16 27.83
Rainbow Trout (Cooked) icon Rainbow Trout (Cooked) 1kg 15 15 26.09
Coastal Fishcakes icon Coastal Fishcakes 14 266 44.87
Rose Hip Tea icon Rose Hip Tea 13 130 130
Condensed Milk icon Condensed Milk 12 48 16
Coho Salmon (Raw) icon Coho Salmon (Raw) 1kg 12 12 7.27
Cup of Herbal Tea icon Cup of Herbal Tea 11 110 110
Smallmouth Bass (Raw) icon Smallmouth Bass (Raw) 1kg 11 11 7.33
Carrot icon Carrot 9 90 51.43
Coho Salmon (Cooked) icon Coho Salmon (Cooked) 1kg 9 9 5.45
Prepared Burdock icon Prepared Burdock 8 80 29.09
Smallmouth Bass (Cooked) icon Smallmouth Bass (Cooked) 1kg 8 8 5.33
Burdock Tea icon Burdock Tea 7 70 70
Birch Bark Tea icon Birch Bark Tea 6 60 60
Rose Hip Pie icon Rose Hip Pie 6 60 26.67
Ketchup Chips icon Ketchup Chips 5 50 16.67
Reishi Tea icon Reishi Tea 5 50 50
Energy Bar icon Energy Bar 4 40 8
Tin of Sardines icon Tin of Sardines 3 30 10
Granola Bar icon Granola Bar 2 20 6.67
Pork and Beans icon Pork and Beans 2 8 3.33
Cat Tail Stalk icon Cat Tail Stalk 1 20 6.67

Trivia[]

  • Scurvy was not retroactively enabled on save files created before Part Four: Buried Echoes (December 5th 2023), regardless of difficulty, "to avoid the risk that players have already harvested most of the Vitamin-C rich foods in their game world."
  • Scurvy is a real-world affliction caused by a severe Vitamin-C deficiency, usually by a diet lacking fruits or vegetables. Scurvy is most commonly attributed to 17th and 18th century sailors who may be at-sea for months without access to fruits or vegetables or means to preserve them.
  • The icon for Scurvy depicts a human tooth and blood droplet, both symptoms of real-world scurvy which causes tooth loosening and loss, as well as bruising (bleeding under the skin). Despite this, in-game Scurvy does not cause permanent damage to the survivor like Frostbite, or cause/increase the likelihood of Blood Loss.
  • Real-world people who inhabit arctic conditions, such as the indigenous peoples of Alaska, Canada and northern Russia primarily received their Vitamin-C from eating fish like what is depicted in-game.

Update history[]

  • UPDATE 5 December 2023 (Update):
    • Added to game.
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