How to survive the quick timers of hunger and thirst

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

So, to start off, I just want to say that I was initially heavily in favor of the rates at which you have to eat and drink being decreased, however, I've recently realized that staying alive from food and thirst is much easier than I originally thought. (However, I do agree it could use a little tweaking still)

I was reading through some of the other threads on here and saw some comments that didn't get too much attention, so I thought i'd make a thread for this, since this seems to be a major problem right now with most Xbox players. 

Apparently, (according to some comments from people that obviously know more about this game than me) the hunger and thirst in Dayz have max values of say, 20,000 for hunger, and 5,000 for thirst. The problem is that when you spawn in you have around maybe.... 500 hunger and 200 thirst. (Not sure) So basically when your hunger and thirst indicators reach white that just means you're at the Minimum amount of being "not hungry", or "not thirsty". You can continue to eat after that and it will keep going up.

The way I've realized you can survive easily with hunger is to literally eat everything you come across, as soon as you find it. Even when you're in the white, just eat it all up. Don't stop eating just because you're in the white. It's worked for me and on my first character I did this with, not once did I go back into the yellow. 

The way thirst works is even easier. At this point in time on Xbox you cannot get diseases and cannot get sick from drinking dirty water (You can throw up though, but it seems to lead to nothing else) So literally find anything that can hold water, A cooking pot (My personal favorite), A water bottle, canteen, etc, and find a water pump or lake source and just continue to fill up whatever you're using and just keep drinking for 2 to 3 minutes. 

 

Most of the food I've found has been in one story wooden buildings/houses or residential buildings, I seem to find no food when searching through large industrial/hotel type buildings, so your best bet is to find a residential type area with lots of houses. Apple trees are really good for food too (When they actually drop apples!) once you're fully geared finding things like tactical bacon and skinning animals with a knife (machete, kitchen knife, etc) such as cows, chickens, deer, and cooking the food or just eating it raw since there's no sickness seems to be your best bet. (also just a little tidbit if you didn't know, you need a sharp object, an axe, shovel, machete, etc, to open most canned items) You can do this by the easiest way, having the canned food in your hand and pressing B on the axe or other sharp object, and then holding down RT to open the can. You can also drop the can of food on the ground, equip the sharp object in hand, and look at the can on the ground, then hold RT. However, the latter usually takes longer.

For finding things like water pumps and lakes, you can use an online map and looking at sign posts in game to figure out where you are, there's also apparently apps, but I don't use those. The website I use is https://survivethis.news/en/dayz-map/ , You can find almost anything water related on there, as well as places for apple trees etc. You can also make a group with your friends and set markers on the website to find each other which I find intriguing. Anyways, that's just my two cents. Good luck everyone! 

 

Edit: After receiving some good tips from a few comments I decided to update the OP with some more information 

Digging up worms is one of the most basic ways to survive if you have no other way or are in dire need. All you have to do is find yourself a shovel put it in your hand and stare at the ground while holding RT.  I have not tested it to see if you can cook these worms on a stick, but I'm assuming you can. You can put food items on a stick by holding the stick in your hand and pressing B while hovering over the food item to combine the items. This seems to be a good way to increase your food levels even more than just eating items raw.

 

The way you open the canned food you find greatly determines the outcome of how much food will stay in the can when it is open. Lets say you find some canned peaches unopened with 100% food inside of it. You can open that can with a shovel, or you can open it with a machete. The shovel will spill more of the food than the machete will. Therefore, if you opened the can with the shovel, you will have less food to eat.  You can also find a can opener, which is the best item available for can opening (obviously)... But you do not lose any food if you use the can opener. I can't find the numbers on exactly how good each different sharp object is, but you can use common sense or just trial and error to figure out which ones are the best. 

 

Thanks to @verbz  and @ApexOutlaw for the extra tips. :)

If you have any other questions feel free to leave a comment or message me on Xbox

GT: EnforcingSkulls

Edited September 5, 2018 by EnforcingSkullsX

[verbz 3]

Just thought i would drop a little mention on here for you, if you have a shovel you can dig for worms and eat them for a bit of sustenance 

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

16 hours ago, verbz said:

Just thought i would drop a little mention on here for you, if you have a shovel you can dig for worms and eat them for a bit of sustenance 

This was such a good food source for me and my bud when we were in dire need. I'd highly recommend shooting your friend and eating them doing this method if you have no other way, dig away at those worms. (yum)

I was also wondering if you could throw them on a stick and cook them, therefore making it boost your food up a lot more than just eating it raw.

Edited September 5, 2018 by EnforcingSkullsX

[ApexOutlaw 13]

Very nice! Didn’t know about the worms either!

Another thing that’s good to know is that when you open cans, you can loose some of the food depending on what you use to open it.

For example: Got a can of tactical bacon, if you open it up with a 2 handed axe you’ll loose close to 50% of the food in the can. Open it with a knife and you loose about 15-20%, but when you open it with a can opener you retain 100% of the food. Good to know if you want to be efficient with your food supply.

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

3 minutes ago, ApexOutlaw said:

Very nice! Didn’t know about the worms either!

Another thing that’s good to know is that when you open cans, you can loose some of the food depending on what you use to open it.

For example: Got a can of tactical bacon, if you open it up with a 2 handed axe you’ll loose close to 50% of the food in the can. Open it with a knife and you loose about 15-20%, but when you open it with a can opener you retain 100% of the food. Good to know if you want to be efficient with your food supply.

So that's why I keep only eating the food halfway! I was wondering what was up with that. Great tip!

Do you know if there is a website I can find or even a guide here on the forums where I can see the different percentages it takes away with each item? I may even go test it out myself and see how each one performs. 

[ApexOutlaw 13]

Just now, EnforcingSkullsX said:

So that's why I keep only eating the food halfway! I was wondering what was up with that. Great tip!

Do you know if there is a website I can find or even a guide here on the forums where I can see the different percentages it takes away with each item? I may even go test it out myself and see how each one performs. 

I’m pretty sure that the DayZ wiki site has all the information on that, also has all the information on stats and conditions in the game. Lots of useful stuff on there but some parts of it are a little dated (0.61-0.62 patches.)

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

I couldn't seem to find any wiki info on which ones give what percentages, oh well :)

[Maytrix001 9]

By the time I've found a shovel lately, I've got plenty of food :)

[TheYetiBum 790]

Also when joining a new server always walk around see if you're getting three downward arrows (bottom one red coloured) for food and/or water consumption even when not sprinting. I've noticed this occurs more frequently on full servers and is a bug. Walking should not consume water and calories that fast ingame, if you come across this log and find a fresh server. This bug will cost you a lot of food and water 

[Baroni88 23]

Wish they would show a meter for food and drink so you know where you are at instead of colors

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

13 hours ago, TheYetiBum said:

Also when joining a new server always walk around see if you're getting three downward arrows (bottom one red coloured) for food and/or water consumption even when not sprinting. I've noticed this occurs more frequently on full servers and is a bug. Walking should not consume water and calories that fast ingame, if you come across this log and find a fresh server. This bug will cost you a lot of food and water 

The problem I have with this idea is that I can't actually see some of the screen. I can't see the third arrow down, and also can't even see the thirst icon at all. I know they are working on a fix for this it's just a matter of time. :)

[TheYetiBum 790]

I feel your pain

[pilgrim* 3514]

On 9/5/2018 at 8:49 AM, ApexOutlaw said:

..//..
For example: Got a can of tactical bacon, if you open it up with a 2 handed axe you’ll loose close to 50% of the food in the can.
..//..

that's why its called "tactical" ..

[droefheid 53]

5 minutes ago, pilgrim* said:

that's why its called "tactical" ..

you really have got 'your fingers in all the pies' around here haven't you..

[pilgrim* 3514]

1 hour ago, droefheid said:

you really have got 'your fingers in all the pies' around here haven't you..

Worms are poisonous. Eating them will make you sick, but not (yet) in Xbox, I think. Blue berries are no longer poisonous when raw (even on PC.. wow, I didn't know that!)
- say droefheid dude, are you following me around ? -
You can open a can of tactical bacon with e.g. a Sledgehammer, a Crowbar, a Pipe Wrench or a Flanged Mace if you really NEED to (pretty much anything you can hit a zombie with) .. otherwise find something  more like a can opener for better results.

Some of the info on Player Stats on the Dayz Wiki might not be up to date OK? : here's the link: 

https://dayz.gamepedia.com/Character_Status

but it's worth a look - whole other bunch of stuff on the Wiki too, on weapons and crafting & etc. I don't know how much has changed (maybe raw worms don't risk giving even PC players food poisoning anymore? - that would be a PITY) and don't know how much real stuff has been implemented in Xbox.. but its a valuable resource.  

Edited September 7, 2018 by pilgrim*

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

2 minutes ago, pilgrim* said:

Worms are poisonous. Eating them will make you sick, but not (yet) in Xbox, I think. Blue berries are no longer poisonous when raw (even on PC.. wow, I didn't know that

Worms cannot make you sick on Xbox yet as there has been no sickness added. No diseases, etc. I haven't happened to come across a blueberry yet, so I have no idea about that.

[EnforcingSkullsX 13]

On 9/6/2018 at 8:58 AM, Baroni88 said:

Wish they would show a meter for food and drink so you know where you are at instead of colors

I do think this would be cool, although I'm not sure if that will ever happen.