The idea behind going through the gear selection thoroughly at least once is that if you do so, you'd know what is the relative importance of each piece of gear to the build. That way you'd know what to drop if you are tight on resources, and if the GM likes to set equipment limits, you'd know what you can drop and the alternatives that can replace it.

For a good role model*, check out the Transhuman book for Eclipse Phase. It has both a modular chargen, something between PACKS and Cyberpun2020 lifepath system, and a totally randomized rolling-up option. That one is hilarious to use, as you can die three times during character creation, and it doesn't really hurt the character in the end. Beat that, Traveller.


* Keep in mind that Eclipse Phase is a lot heavier rules-wise. Both because it uses a BRP-like system, and that it involves hard s-f with advanced stuff like full-fledged nanotech, post-scarcity economy with pretty much limitless fabricators, body swapping, mind editing, ubiquitous bio and cybertech, constant AR presence and implanted commlinks, and so on.