How to collect water?

[HondaRadio]

I started playing recently so this might be a dumb question. I have two dew collectors I empty them regularly, I can't get enough money for more filters because my character is so thirsty all the time. I can't do many quests and I spend all of my money on water from the trader. I have been slowly walking around the base in the shade and not travelling or mining to try and reduce thirst. I reached Tier 2 but quests are too far away now he gets exhausted even with the bicycle. I am on day 19. I have to resort to allowing my character to die I lose a lot of XP.

I very rarely find any clean water in buildings even if I smash all sinks or boilers, drinks machines and toilet cisterns just have dirty water that makes me sick. I have tried to find water tanks in lofts or on farms. I have tried to locate and dig up underground water mains under city roads. I went to a bar and fought a big zombie bear and all I found was two beers.. I got one jar of clean water in an airdrop that landed on a high mountain (and 100 wooden blocks and a pair of damaged padded gloves, I was hoping for lots of water or antibiotics. It was not worth the climb, I don't bother to get them now the last one went into a lake the pilot has bad aim.)

I don't find the zombies a problem if I am careful. I have stacks of weapons and armour and just about enough food. Is there a way to collect rain in a bucket or snow with a shovel? Is it supposed to be poisoned with radiation or a virus or something? Why do the dew collectors and plants and animals not get contaminated? I am a bit stuck and out of ideas. I have tried to dig a well at the lowest point I could find, but I can't locate any underground water just dry bedrock with no water table, and I can't work out how to boil or filter lake or river water or build a solar still.

[Flakstruk]

Iron gut perk will reduce water loss

Each click/action uses a fraction of your thirst. Lots of fighting/mining will use it up

Some foods, charred meat, grilled corn, bake potatoes make you thirsty.

Most of the teas give a bigger water boost, and some meals as well

[rincewind]

You can boil the dirty water in the campfire if you have a pot.

[HondaRadio]

Originally posted by Flakstruk:

Iron gut perk will reduce water loss

Each click/action uses a fraction of your thirst. Lots of fighting/mining will use it up

Some foods, charred meat, grilled corn, bake potatoes make you thirsty.

Most of the teas give a bigger water boost, and some meals as well

I avoid those foods. I can't make teas because of no water, or most foods. I can't even boil and egg lol I have iron gut level 1, I have been avoiding jumping or fighting or sprinting any sort of resource gathering. He will still be complaining of thirst an hour or so after he drinks. If it was not an apocalypse I would be recommending he sees a doctor.

[HondaRadio]

Originally posted by rincewind:

You can boil the dirty water in the campfire if you have a pot.

I will try that, I was taking vitamins to drink it but I have run out. For some reason I could not get it to work but I was probably doing it wrong.

[JimmyIowa]

Originally posted by andycronshaw:

I very rarely find any clean water in buildings even if I smash all sinks or boilers, drinks machines and toilet cisterns just have dirty water that makes me sick.

Boil the murky water at a campfire with the iron pot. That turns it into clean water. Then for an even bigger boost, make tea from it instead of drinking plain boiled water.

also, I'm not sure if that was just an expression but...don't smash sinks and other things. Just search them. I find quite a lot of water on default loot settings. I generally have more than I need by end of day 3 or so, if I am making teas out of them to make them last longer.

Originally posted by andycronshaw:

and I can't work out how to boil or filter lake or river water or build a solar still.

You filter lake (or any other water feature on the map) water using the water filter helmet mod. It looks like a blue round object. Traders sell it quite often, or you can find it often as loot. Once you put that mod in your helmet you can drink from any lake/canal/pool.

There is no solar still, it is called a dew collector. You need a special filter to make one. It is rare as found loot, but very extremely common (almost guaranteed?) in trader inventory. They cost about 2000 dukes from the trader (don't remember the exact price offhand). By selling stuff you loot, that amount is easy to get by day 5 or so. The dew collector produces 3 clean water roughly per day. Make as many as you want/need, and poof, all water problems gone by week 2.

[carl.wear]

Originally posted by andycronshaw:

Originally posted by Flakstruk:

Iron gut perk will reduce water loss

Each click/action uses a fraction of your thirst. Lots of fighting/mining will use it up

Some foods, charred meat, grilled corn, bake potatoes make you thirsty.

Most of the teas give a bigger water boost, and some meals as well

I avoid those foods. I can't make teas because of no water, or most foods. I can't even boil and egg lol I have iron gut level 1, I have been avoiding jumping or fighting or sprinting any sort of resource gathering. He will still be complaining of thirst an hour or so after he drinks. If it was not an apocalypse I would be recommending he sees a doctor.

Any dirty water you have, boil it into fresh water and then make it into a tea.

[HondaRadio]

Originally posted by JimmyIowa:

There is no solar still, it is called a dew collector. You need a special filter to make one. It is rare as found loot, but very extremely common (almost guaranteed?) in trader inventory. They cost about 2000 dukes from the trader (don't remember the exact price offhand). By selling stuff you loot, that amount is easy to get by day 5 or so. The dew collector produces 3 clean water roughly per day.

I have two of those I thought they would solve my problems I even made a special shed for them to keep zombies from damaging them, I spent all my money on those filters. I read about the helmet mod but did not know where to find it - I think between that and boiling the murky stuff I will manage O.K I am short about 2-3 per day. I will try Jen that sounds like something she might sell.

Thank you for your help everybody.

[Shneekey]

The helmet mod renders drinks effectively obsolete, other than maybe Red Tea for the food saturation bonus. You can drink as much as you want from your local pond with it equipped.

You'll still want to boil your water for making Glue with, though.

[Saizo]

Originally posted by andycronshaw:

I don't bother to get them now the last one went into a lake the pilot has bad aim.

I think the Pilot do this on purpose.
At least that´s my experience.

[Survival Gamer]

Maybe in alpha 22 we will be able to use the dew collector to collect urine and process it to drink?

[LokitheWeaver]

Sounds like you are a new player - which is fine, but the Pimp "logic" on water is . . . well, complicated.

Raw sewage (murky water) from the toilet gives you the least hydration for a "non jar" of water.

Oddly enough when you boil it, which would logically evaporate some of the liquid, instead it gives you more hydration.

If you take that "non jar" of boiled sewage and add some flowers to it and boil it again, you get even more hydration as well as a boost (red tea is, in my opinion, the better option as red flowers are easy to find and it actually reduces your food burn rate.)

Unfortunately the only way you know this information is to have played for a couple of Alphas. Which makes a problematic system even harder on new players.

Last note for future - cooking pot is more essential than that first water filter. If you can't find a cooking pot the trader will overcharge you for one (500-600 dukes) but just being able to boil a few bottles of raw sewage from the toilet pays for itself. Your water filter for dew collector cost 2250 dukes, but also needs a few other basic materials you may not have right away. Buying water, etc. from the trader or vending machines is the "suckers bet", unless you have already bought a cooking pot / 1-2 filters and don't need the dukes for anything else. At which point you may want to consider buying a "high end" drink (yucca juice or better) to carry as emergency hydration. (Check the exact numbers on vending machine, but roughly 3 "non-jars" of raw sewage = 1 yucca juice, and then you can boil the sewage.)

[Ogami]

Originally posted by andycronshaw:

Originally posted by rincewind:

You can boil the dirty water in the campfire if you have a pot.

I will try that, I was taking vitamins to drink it but I have run out. For some reason I could not get it to work but I was probably doing it wrong.

You need to put a "cooking pot" into one of the tool slots of the campfire.
You often find them in kitchen of houses you loot.
Cant cook water without a pot.

[Ripflex]

You can Boil murky water if you add a pot to the campfire.
You can also just drink from a pond or other natural water source if you select an empty slot on your tool belt so you are not holding anything and tap E to drink from it. Just it would be at your own risk until you find a water filter Mod for your helmet slot.
putting just 1 rank in cook helps you cook faster and find more food I think. (I have to recheck that)

[HondaRadio]

Originally posted by LokitheWeaver:

Sounds like you are a new player - which is fine, but the Pimp "logic" on water is . . . well, complicated.

The red tea tip is useful I will try that thank you, I wondered what the chrysanthemums were for I keep finding them I have been throwing them away.

The system does not follow real world logic or normal computer game logic. I was playing Rust and Project Zomboid before this I found those systems intuitive and easy to understand. What is wrong with a jerry can or something to carry water? Where do these tiny jars come from? Where do they go? Why do they holds so little water? Not even enough to satisfy thirst. I should be able to create barrels of it in a day with relatively little effort. I can make a forge or machine gun in my pockets without any tools in a few minutes. I would strap barrels to the bicycle and push it, or make a little trailer, or use a wheelie bin they are great for transporting water I have found several but I can only smash them up for materials. It is not explained why the world is like this.. Is it radiation or a virus? That should contaminate everything I should not be able to grow food outside if the rain is poisoned. I tried following animals to find what they drink but they seem to move randomly, they don't as far as I can tell. I want to fight zombie hordes not slowly walk around huffing and puffing and searching for murky toilet water. It really surprises me that this is a deliberate, recent change I thought everybody else had just not noticed or got used to it.

It makes it very hard to immerse myself in the world. When it rains at night I gather no more than when it is bright sunshine in midday. 'Bad' weather should have some benefits. If it can soak me in 10 seconds it will fill a water butt in a few hours I know this from experience! Even water I use to boil eggs vanishes, I would not throw that away.

I like to play through games vanilla to the end before I use any mods but this is a real pain, I can see the very first things I would like to change with this, I hope something like this exists:

1) Have a system where I can collect rain and transport water from lakes and rivers in a variety of containers, and catch rain. Ideally would like to be able to pump it through pipes, to create a reservoir or even moat. I could build a sealed concrete reservoir underground or a tank on my roof, with filters attached to the pumps. That is what they are for.. If the developers want to enforce long term scarcity of water in a temperate/ cold climate make washing yourself and clothes essential every day or you get sick (perhaps with a buff to stamina if you use warm water and soap) this could use 50 litres a day+ easy, and make rainfall infrequent, replace with ash, dirty black snow or sand storms. Apparently my character never showers, uses a toilet or washes dishes.
2) Either get rid of the infection mechanic at least in the first couple of weeks, or make antibiotics more readily available in the early game, perhaps a quest rewards. It is just a death sentence and it happens too easily even when I wear full armour, goggles and leather trench coat and have no exposed skin. It feels very random finding honey is very hit or miss it takes a long time. Perhaps this could be tied into washing - If you don't wash you are more likely to pick up infection. I would like to turn it off completely it adds nothing there are enough ways to die already for new players.

Apart from that it is great, the combat is smooth and riding the bike would be fun if he did not get so tired it is like a weird cross between Fallout and Paperboy (you probably have to be old to remember that one! This time it is reversed, I am stealing papers from mailboxes). I enjoy the building system. The game needs optimising it runs badly, but hopefully that will come when they release properly. I would like more backstory though - what happened? How long ago? Who am I? Why am I alive? Why are the traders immune? Who is flying the aeroplane? Why do they drop such random weird stuff? Who released all the chickens? Perhaps I find out later.

[minisith]

Originally posted by andycronshaw:

Originally posted by LokitheWeaver:

Sounds like you are a new player - which is fine, but the Pimp "logic" on water is . . . well, complicated.

The red tea tip is useful I will try that thank you, I wondered what the chrysanthemums were for I keep finding them I have been throwing them away.

The system does not follow real world logic or normal computer game logic. I was playing Rust and Project Zomboid before this I found those systems intuitive and easy to understand. What is wrong with a jerry can or something to carry water? Where do these tiny jars come from? Where do they go? Why do they holds so little water? Not even enough to satisfy thirst. I should be able to create barrels of it in a day with relatively little effort. I can make a forge or machine gun in my pockets without any tools in a few minutes. I would strap barrels to the bicycle and push it, or make a little trailer, or use a wheelie bin they are great for transporting water I have found several but I can only smash them up for materials. It is not explained why the world is like this.. Is it radiation or a virus? That should contaminate everything I should not be able to grow food outside if the rain is poisoned. I tried following animals to find what they drink but they seem to move randomly, they don't as far as I can tell. I want to fight zombie hordes not slowly walk around huffing and puffing and searching for murky toilet water. It really surprises me that this is a deliberate, recent change I thought everybody else had just not noticed or got used to it.

It makes it very hard to immerse myself in the world. When it rains at night I gather no more than when it is bright sunshine in midday. 'Bad' weather should have some benefits. If it can soak me in 10 seconds it will fill a water butt in a few hours I know this from experience! Even water I use to boil eggs vanishes, I would not throw that away.

I like to play through games vanilla to the end before I use any mods but this is a real pain, I can see the very first things I would like to change with this, I hope something like this exists:

1) Have a system where I can collect rain and transport water from lakes and rivers in a variety of containers, and catch rain. Ideally would like to be able to pump it through pipes, to create a reservoir or even moat. I could build a sealed concrete reservoir underground or a tank on my roof, with filters attached to the pumps. That is what they are for.. If the developers want to enforce long term scarcity of water in a temperate/ cold climate make washing yourself and clothes essential every day or you get sick (perhaps with a buff to stamina if you use warm water and soap) this could use 50 litres a day+ easy, and make rainfall infrequent, replace with ash, dirty black snow or sand storms. Apparently my character never showers, uses a toilet or washes dishes.
2) Either get rid of the infection mechanic at least in the first couple of weeks, or make antibiotics more readily available in the early game, perhaps a quest rewards. It is just a death sentence and it happens too easily even when I wear full armour, goggles and leather trench coat and have no exposed skin. It feels very random finding honey is very hit or miss it takes a long time. Perhaps this could be tied into washing - If you don't wash you are more likely to pick up infection. I would like to turn it off completely it adds nothing there are enough ways to die already for new players.

Apart from that it is great, the combat is smooth and riding the bike would be fun if he did not get so tired it is like a weird cross between Fallout and Paperboy (you probably have to be old to remember that one! This time it is reversed, I am stealing papers from mailboxes). I enjoy the building system. The game needs optimising it runs badly, but hopefully that will come when they release properly. I would like more backstory though - what happened? How long ago? Who am I? Why am I alive? Why are the traders immune? Who is flying the aeroplane? Why do they drop such random weird stuff? Who released all the chickens? Perhaps I find out later.

We all have asked these questions on immersion. How can I fit an engine in my backpack? How did I cut down a tree with a stone ax? How did I destroy that metal pole with a stone ax?