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[]
“ | 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.
In-game description
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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[]
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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