Scurvy

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 ("Minor", "Moderate" or "Major" source of Vitamin-C). 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-C is consumed.

Most Vitamin-C food sources are finite (artificial foods and cattails), which can make 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. Disable if you do not want to be pressured to find Vitamin-C rich foods. In-game description

”

Starting a Survival Mode save file presents the option to enable Scurvy to that save. If enabled, foods with Vitamin-C will be labeled as a Minor, Moderate, or Major source of Vitamin-C when examined.

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

This option to disable Scurvy is not available when playing on Misery.

Risk and Prevention

Scurvy can be prevented by regularly consuming enough Vitamin-C foods 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 resumes 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 manifests, 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.

• Voyageur: 50 days from game start/treatment (10 days after Scurvy Risk)
• Stalker/Interloper/Misery: 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 and fully emptying the recovery time bar (tracked at 500 units of Vitamin-C)

When the survivor is afflicted with Scurvy, the recovery time bar will not increase over time, making it easier to find Vitamin-C.

Effects of Scurvy:

• -0.5% Condition per hour (-12% per day)
• Disables Condition recovery while awake (when all four Needs are met)*
• -5.00kg 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 some Cooked Foods 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.

Eating a single piece food that has Minor levels of Vitamin-C will only prevent Scurvy Risk for a brief amount of time, reappearing 1-2 days or less. Because of this, it is better to consume Moderate or Major level foods (or many Minor level foods) to keep Scurvy Risk away for longer.

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.

If the player has the Tales from the Far Territory addon installed, reaching maximum Trust with the Trader unlocks access to Vitamin-C Pills, a powerful, renewable set of pills that can eliminate Scurvy instantly.

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

Cooked Meals vs Ingredients

Cooking usually destroys some of the Vitamin-C (in real life, this process is called denaturing). Apart from two of the fish-based meals, all other items contain about the same or less Vitamin-C when compared to their ingredients consumed separately. When aiming for maximizing Vitamin-C intake, it is often better to consume the ingredients separately.

Examples (in order of added/lost Vitamin-C)

• Dockworker's Pie: +17 [68 in final dish vs 51+ (48 in 2 cooked potatoes, 3 in 0.5 kg coho salmon, in 0.5 kg rockfish)]
• Trout Stew: +7 [17 in final dish vs 10 in 0.5 kg Rainbow trout]
• Camber Flight Porridge: +1 [59 in final dish vs 58 (56 in Pinnacle peaches, 2 in 4 rose hips (in the form of 1/6 of a rose hip tea))]
• Lily's Pancakes: +1 [57 in final dish vs 56 in Pinnacle Peaches]
• Peach Pie: +1 [57 in final dish (17 per pie) vs 56 in Pinnacle Peaches]
• Ranger Stew: 0 [42 in final dish vs 42 (24 in 1 cooked potato, 18 in 2 carrots)]
• Prepper's Pie: -4 [22 in final dish vs 26 (10 in 4 reishi mushrooms (in the form of 2 reishi teas), 16 in 2 prepared burdock roots)]
• Coastal Fishcakes: -39 [14 in final dish vs 53 (48 in 2 cooked potatoes, 5 in 0.5 kg rainbow trout: 5)]
• Thomson Family Stew: -61 [80 in final dish vs 141 (52 in canned corn, 36 in 4 carrots: 36, 48 in 2 cooked potatoes, 5 in 2 reishi mushrooms (as 1 reishi tea))]

Vitamin-C Foods

Note that fish are the only food where the higher their weight, the higher their Vitamin-C levels becomes (average fish weight increases when caught with higher Ice Fishing Levels). All other Vitamin-C levels in foods are static.

Item	Vitamin C	Hidden%	Vitamin C/kg	Vitamin C/1000 kcal
Vitamin-C Pills	Major	125	6250	25000
Thomson Family Stew	Major	80	228	88.89
Airline Food - Vegetarian	Major	73	292	130.36
Dockworker's Pie	Major	68	226	45.33
Military-Grade MRE	Major	65	130	37.14
Camber Flight Porridge	Moderate	59	197	47.20
Last Resort Soup	Moderate	40	114	50
Lily's Pancakes	Moderate	57	285	57.00
Pinnacle Peaches	Moderate	56	112	124.44
Canned Pineapple	Moderate	56	140	189.83
Canned Corn	Moderate	52	173	176.27
Pickles	Moderate	50	83	76.92
Ranger Stew	Moderate	42	105	26.25
Tomato Soup	Moderate	30	116	100
Airline Food - Chicken	Moderate	29	116	46.77
Porter's Soup	Moderate	24	240	20
Cooked Potato	Moderate	24	160	96
Prepper's Pie	Moderate	22	110	24.44
Lake Whitefish (Raw) 1kg	Moderate	22	22	38.26
Rainbow Trout (Raw) 1kg	Moderate	20	20	34.78
Peach Pie	Minor	19	190	76
Trout Stew	Minor	17	48	22.67
Lake Whitefish (Cooked) 1kg	Minor	16	16	27.83
Rainbow Trout (Cooked) 1kg	Minor	15	15	26.09
Coastal Fishcakes	Minor	14	266	44.87
Pemmican Bar	Minor	14	224	31.1
Rose Hip Tea	Minor	13	130	130
Condensed Milk	Minor	12	48	16
Coho Salmon (Raw) 1kg	Minor	12	12	7.27
Cup of Herbal Tea	Minor	11	110	110
Smallmouth Bass (Raw) 1kg	Minor	11	11	7.33
Carrot	Minor	9	90	51.43
Coho Salmon (Cooked) 1kg	Minor	9	9	5.45
Prepared Burdock	Minor	8	80	29.09
Smallmouth Bass (Cooked) 1kg	Minor	8	8	5.33
Burdock Tea	Minor	7	70	70
Birch Bark Tea	Minor	6	60	60
Rose Hip Pie	Minor	6	60	26.67
Ketchup Chips	Minor	5	50	16.67
Reishi Tea	Minor	5	50	50
Energy Bar	Minor	4	40	8
Dried Apples	Minor	4	26	10
Tin of Sardines	Minor	3	30	10
Granola Bar	Minor	2	20	6.67
Pork and Beans	Minor	2	8	3.33
Cat Tail Stalk	Minor	1	20	6.67

Trivia

• Scurvy was originally 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." The ability to enable it on older saves was eventually added in the Part Five update however.
• Scurvy is a real-world affliction caused by a severe Vitamin-C deficiency, usually caused by a diet lacking fruits or vegetables. It is most commonly associated with 17th- and 18th-century sailors who could be at sea for months without access to fruits or vegetables.
• 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) and poor healing. 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 regions, such as the indigenous peoples of Alaska, Canada and northern Russia, primarily receive their Vitamin-C from eating fish, as depicted in-game.

Update history

v • d • e TLD Afflictions
Positive	Clothing  Armoured  Sure Footing Food and Drink  Energy Boost  Fatigue Reduced  Heat Pack  Improved Rest  Nourished  Restore Condition  Unburdened  Warming Up  Well Fed
Negative	Injury Risk  Chemical Poisoning Risk  Frostbite Risk  Sprain Risk  Suffocation Risk Affliction  Blood Loss  Broken Ribs  Burdened  Burns  Chemical Poisoning  Frostbite  Gorged  Headache  Laceration  Major Bruising  Minor Bruising  Pain  Severe Lacerations  Sprained Ankle  Sprained Wrist  Suffocation  Torn Clothing Disease Risk  Cabin Fever  Hypothermia  Infection  Insomnia  Intestinal Parasites  Scurvy Affliction  Cabin Fever  Dysentery  Food Poisoning  Hypothermia  Infection  Insomnia  Intestinal Parasites  Scurvy Darkwalker Risk  Anxiety Affliction  Fear  Toxic Fog Misery Mode  Broken Body  Diminished Form  Frigid Bones  Haunted Mind  Rheumatic Joints  Sour Stomach Cheat Death  Cheated Death Penalty  Weakened State Wintermute Risk  Hyperglycemic  Dehydration Affliction  Dehydrated  Concussion Removed  Plane Crash Injuries