Should I go 2x?

[Benji13]

So I'm planning on starting a new career game soon with KCT, OPM and NFT being the main mods. I was thinking about also playing with Sigma Dimensions to make the entire game 2x as big. Is this a good idea? What sort of DV do you need to orbit? Should I get any other part mods to go along with it too? I'm looking for advice from people who have done this before. Thanks,

Benji13. 

[Palaceviking]

31 minutes ago, Benji13 said:

So I'm planning on starting a new career game soon with KCT, OPM and NFT being the main mods. I was thinking about also playing with Sigma Dimensions to make the entire game 2x as big. Is this a good idea? What sort of DV do you need to orbit? Should I get any other part mods to go along with it too? I'm looking for advice from people who have done this before. Thanks,

Benji13. 

Not done it myself but the math says you won't need 2x the delta v because the increase in fuel needed with mass is non scalar.

I would strongly recommend space y lifting parts though as this will help keep your part count down, the parts are a little overpowered yet expensive. 

[Streetwind]

I've played in a 2x size system before, and I liked it a lot. I was never one for RSS - everything just takes too long for my tastes - but 2x, I personally enjoyed it more than stock size

Most speeds involved are increased by somewhere around 50%: you'll need 3300 m/s for low Kerbin orbit instead of 2200 m/s. Going to the Mun takes 1250 instead of 850. And so on. Unless you go and double the atmosphere to 140km as well, but I don't recommend that. Just leave it at 70km even under 2x planet scales. It's actually more realistic that way, not less

The thing that impressed me most, though, was how well the stock game mechanics responded to the changed scales. Specifically, the career progression. You now bump against the limits of your launch infrastructure at progression points that feel far more relevant than those in stock size KSP. For example, with the tier 1 launchpad and VAB, you can just barely put a manned craft into orbit with starter technology. Then you upgrade the launchpad. Now you're free to operate in the LKO theater, flying rescue missions and whatnot, and even orbiting Mun and Minmus. A complex mission like a land-and-return requires more parts though, so you upgrade the VAB. With both facilities at level 2, you can go everywhere in Kerbin's SOI. And for the last step - going interplanetary and building large stations - you finally upgrade the launchpad to level 3.

In a stock game, you can do the above and it technically makes sense, but you don't have to. You can get away with skipping upgrades. In a 2x scale game, you'll find that trying to defer updates further than that is really gosh darn hard! Suddenly building levels are meaningful and actually limit you when you expect them to - whenever you want to take a significant step forward, beyond what you were doing before.

[Benji13]

8 hours ago, Streetwind said:

I've played in a 2x size system before, and I liked it a lot. I was never one for RSS - everything just takes too long for my tastes - but 2x, I personally enjoyed it more than stock size

Most speeds involved are increased by somewhere around 50%: you'll need 3300 m/s for low Kerbin orbit instead of 2200 m/s. Going to the Mun takes 1250 instead of 850. And so on. Unless you go and double the atmosphere to 140km as well, but I don't recommend that. Just leave it at 70km even under 2x planet scales. It's actually more realistic that way, not less

The thing that impressed me most, though, was how well the stock game mechanics responded to the changed scales. Specifically, the career progression. You now bump against the limits of your launch infrastructure at progression points that feel far more relevant than those in stock size KSP. For example, with the tier 1 launchpad and VAB, you can just barely put a manned craft into orbit with starter technology. Then you upgrade the launchpad. Now you're free to operate in the LKO theater, flying rescue missions and whatnot, and even orbiting Mun and Minmus. A complex mission like a land-and-return requires more parts though, so you upgrade the VAB. With both facilities at level 2, you can go everywhere in Kerbin's SOI. And for the last step - going interplanetary and building large stations - you finally upgrade the launchpad to level 3.

In a stock game, you can do the above and it technically makes sense, but you don't have to. You can get away with skipping upgrades. In a 2x scale game, you'll find that trying to defer updates further than that is really gosh darn hard! Suddenly building levels are meaningful and actually limit you when you expect them to - whenever you want to take a significant step forward, beyond what you were doing before.

Thanks, that was really helpful! I like to play with Tealistic Atmospheres too which extends some of the atmos anyway. Thanks again,

Benji13.