Ship-Measuring Contest

[Shadowcatbot]

Lasers only a few cm wide? What are you doing, hosting a presentation? Lasers that small wouldn't do anything of use.

[Solar112]

It's the future m8. These are megawatt lasers. and by few I mean 10-20...

[Error]

So don't do the math and reduce the normal ship sizes by 50%. Blam, automated ships.

[Solar112]

... I'd still have to do math... How do you think I'm getting my construction rates?

[Error]

...just play it by ear. This isn't a numbers game, much as you seem to want it to be.

[Shadowcatbot]

^^^
This is a story, not a travelers game.

Now if you per say wanted a travelers game I wouldn't object…

[Solar112]

I've already taken the math part out of the actual RP part, but I like having the numbers in the event that I'm questioned.

[Vinyl]

I've already taken the math part out of the actual RP part, but I like having the numbers in the event that I'm questioned.

You're being questioned right now. Because of your numbers. How exactly did you plan for this to go.

[Solar112]

It horribly failed. So I'm probably going to explain my numbers using more numbers. later.

[Professor Fenway]

What if I told you the numbers don't matter, it's the story and heart? We don't want numbers, we want realistic approximations.

...because we can't define everything perfectly while remaining completely realistic.

[Ivan2006]

It's the future m8. These are megawatt lasers. and by few I mean 10-20...

10-20 centimeter-wide megawatt lasers? On a 2x1m fighter? And you're going to still fit a mass-energy converter, an autonomous drone computer and engines on that?
Okay, firstly, I get the point of being able to get the core, power and engines on that space.
However, the lasers are a different story...
Just pointing out that the rule of thumb for a decent anti-strikecraft weapon (aka what you'd put on a fighter) is the size of a modern-day autocannon. And "futuristic" is not a valid argument if your dimensions make the weapon 10x more futuristic than competing technology of the same time in the same universe. Anti-fighter laser? The smallest you'd possibly get with AI-made blueprints would be M2 Browning-sized without being OP. We don't use measures like "megawatt" or "gigawatt", we just say "anti-fighter weapon". Several centimeters? That's a heavy anti-infantry weapon, but it would be useless against fighters with futuristic hull materials and possibly even shields.
Litterally, the weapon you need for a decent fighter is the SIZE of YOUR fighter.
Also I'd like to know where you keep the fuel for the engine. You know, EM drives may not need fuel, but they kinda are a nightmare in terms of energy efficiency compared to, well, any reaction-based engine. Which does need fuel. And no, your tiny ME-reactor can not supply enough power for an EM drive that gives you fighter maneuverability. Not to mention such a powerful EM drive simply doesn't exist, they just don't have enough thrust relative to their mass to be used as anything other than maybe maneuvering thrusters.

In conclusion, your 1x2m fighter either has no weapons and relies on ramming, or it has two or less lasers, which are bigger than what you estimated for them, and has the maneuverability to be called a "Self-propelling space turret" or something instead of a fighter. And that is assuming it's 1x1x2m cuboid-shaped. I highly suggest making them bigger.

[Error]

TL;DR good story > hard realism.