Building Even Bigger - Crazy Diameters and their Would-Have-Been Concepts

[JMBuilder]

Being able to build and launch unbuilt or uncompleted rocket concepts is the bread and butter of KSP. With this in mind, I believe there's room to add even bigger construction options with unique quirks (everything scaled down by about half). I'm just going to jump right into this with the help of Hazegrayart's wonderful animations...

 

Nova - 6m diameter

Probably the most straightforward design of the bunch. 6-meter diameter parts would be pretty standard as far as fuel tanks and engines go, but there's plenty of room for new and creative engine types.

 

Sea Dragon - 10m diameter

My personal favorite. A rocket so large that it would have needed to be built and launched at sea. This scale of construction would require a new launch zone in the water offshore from KSC (possibly even a new "Shipyard" construction facility) since the huge engines would damage the launchpad and fragile Kerbal eardrums (possible new career mode feature). It is oriented upward by flooding the gantry at the base of the first stage, something that would open the door to proper submarines in the game. As evident in the video, 10-meter parts would have some of the most unique functions of the bunch. The massive engines are referred to as "big dumb boosters," designed to be as simple as possible with pressurized fuel. As such, they have no options between "full throttle" and "off" (they would still be bound by throttle controls, but there's no point in any fine adjustments; just use the keys for full throttle or no throttle). The second stage engine bell is folded around the first stage's fuel tank, unfolding after staging. Of course, you could always opt out of the giant throttle-less bell nozzles in favor of a bunch of smaller engines... Nah. Giant rocket go fwoosh.

 

Nexus - 30m diameter

Based around a girthy and fully reusable aerospike engine, designed for those who want to put an apartment building or small island into orbit without any orbital clutter or wasted material. This one might be a bit much... Not really. More boosters.

Too much? Too vague? Please discuss.

Edited July 1, 2020 by JMBuilder

[The Aziz]

Few things.

What for? We have 5m parts, for most purposes they're already overkill.

And yeah you can send an Eeloo lander on 1.25m rocket with some planning.

[swjr-swis]

First, let me say that this isn't even a question in my mind. All of them, we need all of them, for reasons. So I'm not even going to bother reacting to each one specifically.

I do have some comments about this one though:

10 hours ago, JMBuilder said:

Nexus - 30m diameter

Dude, HUGE opportunity missed by not letting the rocket launch out of the friggin' volcano in the center of that island!! What were you thinking??

As for

11 hours ago, JMBuilder said:

without any orbital clutter or wasted material

I'd hate to see what a launch looks like with cluttering. That's a whole lot of fairing material.

Back to topic though: 30m parts. Yes. For 1.11 please.

[JMBuilder]

3 hours ago, The Aziz said:

Few things.

What for? We have 5m parts, for most purposes they're already overkill.

And yeah you can send an Eeloo lander on 1.25m rocket with some planning.

Imagine being able to launch a huge space station or massive interplanetary vessel in a single launch, all stored in a perfectly flush fairing. No need for orbital rendezvous. Little to no need to find a way to pack it all into a cautiously narrow package.

Also, giant rockets, because "rule of cool." 

[JMBuilder]

Two more rocket concepts:

 

Chrysler SERV - 15m diameter

To be fair, this one could probably be made by simply mashing fuselage pieces together, but it would be a lot smoother as dedicated parts.

 

Boeing LMLV - 10m diameter

Using the same diameter parts as Sea Dragon (I think), this would provide a more conventional method of throttle control and stability. It's technically designed to be launched offshore, but from a more standard launchpad as opposed to a submersible gantry. In addition, its 5-meter-diameter SRBs fit the "more boosters" mentality to an extreme.

Edited July 1, 2020 by JMBuilder

[kerbiloid]

In the stock gane it would be an overkill, while for the fans there are/were mods.

https://spacedock.info/profile/NecroBones

***

 

[JMBuilder]

17 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

In the stock gane it would be an overkill, while for the fans there are/were mods.

The mods don't follow the half-scale rule, and I'm always an advocate for stock updates.

It is a bit overkill as far as sandbox goes; you could easily put gigantic things into orbit with some fancy construction. However, a large part of these concepts would be career mode challenges and workarounds. The Sea Dragon would be amazingly cheap for its immense size.

And, of course, I always go back to the "rule of cool." I mainly want to see these in the game because they're so darn cool. 

Edited July 1, 2020 by JMBuilder