Survival needs

Your body keeps its own books, and it doesn't forgive for long. Watch the HUD, and open Medical with H whenever you're unsure how you are.

Food and water

A full stomach lasts a bit over an hour of play, and a full canteen about three quarters of an hour. Sprinting burns both twice as fast. Once either runs out you start losing health, so eat and drink before you have to.

• Dirty water from rivers, ponds and faucets makes you ill. Boil it at a fire, or use purification tablets, a filter straw or a solar still.
• Raw meat and fish need cooking. Spoiled or rotten food can make you sick and adds to your infection.
• Food spoils over time. Coolers, ice and a powered fridge slow it down, and cans and dry goods keep longest.
• Hunting and fishing are the long-term answer. See Hunting and fishing.

Rest and sleep

You get tired the longer you stay awake, faster at night and when you run and fight. A normal session won't get you there; a long raid or a night out will. Past about twenty hours awake your first shot comes a beat late, your breath comes back slower and the edges of your sight close in; worse than that and you nod off on your feet and start hearing things. Sleep in a bed, a bedroll, a car or on the ground: the night goes by in a couple of minutes for you while the world carries on. See Sleep and exhaustion.

Temperature

The weather is regional, and the air, the wind and the water all pull heat out of you. Cold makes you shiver, which burns food, and hypothermia takes your sprint and then your health. Heat drains water and can put you on the ground with heat stroke.

• Get indoors, into a running vehicle, under a camp shelter or next to a fire.
• Wear clothing that suits the region. The north is much colder than the desert, and the mountain can snow while the coast rains.
• Gloves and dry boots matter in a hard frost. Bare hands or wet feet in a bitter wind can give you frostbite.
• In the heat, find shade, drink, and don't sprint at noon.

Wet clothes

Rain, snow, wading and swimming soak you, and soaked clothes keep only about half their warmth. Wind makes it worse. You dry off slowly with warmth and wind, and quickly next to a fire. Cold water is dangerous: a swim in the Pacific can bring on hypothermia in about ten minutes.