New projector project planning

Hi everyone! I'm starting to dream about building my next RGB, all diode projector (my first build is a little less than 1W of single mode diodes from DTR). It was an awesome and rewarding build and I enjoy it a lot for indoor events. I have taken it outdoors a few times, but at only a watt, it's not quite enough for beams even with fog. Although it does well for graphics so long as there isn't too much ambient light and I keep the projection area to about 10'x10'

Anyway...

I'd like to start planning and budgeting for my "next step" laser project and would love to build a projector that can perform outdoors. I'm not looking to build anything REALLY big, but enough to have visible beams outdoors with either minimal fog/haze or none at all. Obviously ambient light is a huge factor, but for the sake of discussion, lets just say that there would be little to no ambient light pollution (just starlight, no moonlight, streetlights, etc) This isn't for a professional event or anything like that, just me and my friends having parties in the woods. and we won't be near any controlled airspace *retardo

Is there a general rule of thumb for the lower threshold of power where beams become visible without fog/haze? Obviously there are a TON of factors that go into this, but I'm just looking for a ballpark to shoot for. 2-3watts? 3-5watts? 5-10watts? I feel like I'm shooting in the dark. I know more power is always better, but I've gotta start somewhere. Supposedly this is 2watts - https://youtu.be/w_IcKEIzQu4 - there looks like there's a lot of ambient light here also. Then this is 15watts! I don't think I need that much! lol https://youtu.be/eRLaaiGikM4

Once I settle on a total power to shoot for, my next question is what do you guys think about the different methods for combining diodes? I love the tight beam on my single mode projector and was wondering what the pros and cons are between knife edging a bunch of single mode diodes verses using beam combiners with 2 multimode diodes and then adding all of the lenses for correction. I've seen some bigger projectors that use a combination of these methods too. What is the methodology behind choosing beam paths, optics, diodes, etc when building multi-diode-per-color projectors?

I was thinking that you might spend more for 5 watts of single mode diodes, but you wouldn't need all of the correction lenses and you also wouldn't loose as much power going through all of those optics. Does anyone out there have experience with the variety of methods for combing diodes in higher power projectors? Thanks!!