Poor Bill is stranded in the ocean... How do I save him?

[2TheMun]

Hello, I made an account to ask this question. I was testing a ship, and it just started to get into orbit when I knew it wouldn't make it on fuel. I turned back to Kerbin but I missed the station and landed a few kilometers out in the ocean! Bill is standing on top of the floating fuel tank, but I have no idea how to rescue him. My game is vanilla as far as I know.

Any help is appreciated... I don't want him to die!

[Chozo Nomad]

Hello, I made an account to ask this question. I was testing a ship, and it just started to get into orbit when I knew it wouldn't make it on fuel. I turned back to Kerbin but I missed the station and landed a few kilometers out in the ocean! Bill is standing on top of the floating fuel tank, but I have no idea how to rescue him. My game is vanilla as far as I know.

Any help is appreciated... I don't want him to die!

You could make a boat? ;b

Actually, if you go to the tracking station, Find bill in your list of active flights (If you have a bunch, right click the Kerbal looking icon along the top), then click recover and/or terminate.

[Capt. Hunt]

by the way, Kerbals don't die of starvation, they can only die of being crushed or smashed into things at high velocities, even if they do, they will magically reappear in your astronaut list after a short time.

[Mach_XXII]

Tracking station, click on bill then recover vessel

[ScottyDoesKnow]

When you're on Kerbin (land or water), you can mouse over the altimeter at the top and a recover button will come down.

[Rus-Evo]

These suggestions are all terrible!!

What you do is build a vertical launch, vertical landing (but horizontal flying) Rapier engined jet craft. It should have enough aero things on it so it can float. On my craft the back of the engines are in water when it lands but they still work for take off. Decent is handled by parachute (or jet if you forget to repack them).

The only tricky part is the final maneuver where you sweep very low towards the target, then 800m out pull up into a vertical climb, when you start falling back deploy the chutes.

I can put up pics of mine if your interested.

[Superfluous J]

These suggestions are all terrible!!

While your idea is awesome, calling the correct solutions "terrible" could be confusing to an obviously new player.

2TheMun, the other 2 suggestions are the typical way we recover vessels and kerbals (and debris, even). Rus-Evo's way is just a fun alternate that would take a ton of time, effort and skill to perform.

[Rus-Evo]

Well my smiley says I was joking!

The thing is the guy said "I don't want him to die", but all the solutions were "so this is how you kill that Kerbal"..... which I thought was kinda funny.

I think wanting to bring Kerbals back home before ending flights is a VERY common self-imposed rule. The whole thing about this game is making craft to achieve missions we set ourselves.

A project like that will teach 2TheMun all sorts of cool skills!

[Superfluous J]

"recovering" kills the Kerbal? Since when?

[GoatRider]

"Bring Kerbals back home" means "Somewhere on Kerbin so they can be picked up" to me.

[Demon_82]

Build a jet powered amphibious vehicle, and go rescue him (I did this once by boredom). It'll be funnier than just recovering him from the tracking center.

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[2TheMun]

I'm sad to say that so far, eleven Kerbals have died in their efforts to rescue Jebediah, not Bill. My ship won't take off for some reason, and I can't figure out why. It just won't lift. Maybe the flaps are put on incorrectly. I eventually decided to try the stock planes... I was able to reach Jeb, but I couldn't successfully land on the water. The one time my plane didn't break, it landed upside down. The air intake vents wouldn't function underwater.

Thanks for the help. I will continue trying to save him tomorrow.

No wings. Oops!

Posed for a picture and the plane rolled away. Who forgot the parking brake??

"That'll buff out!"

To answer what somebody said earlier, I'm not new to the game, but I don't know very much about it. I've only played for a few hours.

Any advice to make this easier? Thanks.

[Superfluous J]

To answer what somebody said earlier, I'm not new to the game, but I don't know very much about it. I've only played for a few hours.

Any advice to make this easier? Thanks.

Just to confirm, you are trying to role-play a rescue mission on Kerbin, correct?

You are not just simply trying to find out how everybody else in the world recovers their people and ships?

[2TheMun]

Just to confirm, you are trying to role-play a rescue mission on Kerbin, correct?

You are not just simply trying to find out how everybody else in the world recovers their people and ships?

Yes. I'm trying as hard as I can to not just click the recover button.

[Superfluous J]

Gotcha. That was by no means clear until just now

Carry on.

[Starwhip]

"eleven Kerbals have died"

Totally acceptable ratio, 11:1.

[Spyritdragon]

Yes. I'm trying as hard as I can to not just click the recover button.

I suggest you build a vertically oriented ship - something rocket-based, or a jet that can land facing up. Im thinking something VTOL might work nice too. Apply a radial intake or two to the top and bottom to ensure you'll always have sufficient air input. Just add a ladder, gently dip it in the ocean while avoiding it pitching over (so you might want to keep it small), and have your kerbal swim over :-).

[Random Tank]

Tips for a Jet-Boat-Thing:

Use powered wheels to drive off the runway, don't use the jets as you'll crash or take off (saying taking off is a bad thing... Weird). When you get in the water, then use your jets. Ones technique I heard of is to use girders with structural panels on the end as improvised water skis. Use a couple of raidal intakes on the top of the jet-thing to stop water getting in them, and use the basic jet, not the turbo jet. Try to keep the CoM low in the design, and try to keep the CoT slightly above the CoM to give you some downforce.

Also, don't go too fast. Bad things happen.

Edited April 8, 2014 by Random Tank
Forgot title

[Red Iron Crown]

Skycrane + downward facing Claw should make recovery possible without having to switch to Bill to have him grab a ladder. Pluck him out of the drink and drop him on land.

[Random Tank]

Actually, better idea:

Download the Pirated Weaponry Mod, launch a Orbital Strike Station into space, then nuke the entire site from orbit. Bill (or Jeb) respawns back at the KSC, and all the debris is destroyed. NO LOOSE ENDS!

[Rus-Evo]

Edited April 8, 2014 by Rus-Evo

[Sirrobert]

If all else fails, you could just tell him to swim to shore.

That might take awhile though