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Seeing a number of people mention that the starfinder mech math is only meant to be done infrequently or that it isn't THAT hard to do but that sort of misses the point imo, the question isn't even "can someone do this math," the question is "why SHOULD someone do this math?"
What is the benefit of an attack roll that starts with "1d20+8" then adds a half dozen modifiers? Is there an actual reason for that? Does it intersect with the rest of the system in an interesting way that generates meaningful outcomes? Or is it just busy work?
Just because you aren't asking people to do advanced calculus doesn't mean that you aren't wasting their time, especially if there isn't a clearly identifiable reason WHY your game mechanics ask players and/or GMs to do that shit in the first place
I really wish that "crunch" was not somehow bound up inexorably with "lots of pointless fiddly busywork math on par with doing your taxes" when it comes to game design, speaking as someone who likes crunchy games more than rules light fare
Lancer is not some rules light handwavey thing in the slightest, Blades in the Dark is not rules light either, when I sit down to play a board game I vastly prefer Kemet or Argent or Gloomhaven to something like Random Licensed Property Roll-And-Move Extravaganza
Shadowrun isn't a bad game because it's crunchy, it's a bad game because its crunch is bad, it's bad because you spend all your time adding dice pools from fiddly modifiers and poring over dozens of pages of gear and in the end the underlying system just completely shits the bed
The question is never "is this too crunchy," the question is "does this crunch actually add to the game, is it well designed, is it engaging, does it fuckin DO anything, or are you just adding numbers together to go through the motions?"
Crunchy game enjoyers should be more willing to demand better crunch from their games, imo
