perhaps a system where i select an object and hit a 'path object' button, a line pops up from the center of that object to a point in space. you can rotate this line around the object with the arrows and shorten/lengthen the path with pgup/pgdn keys. maybe you can make the mouse do it too, scroll wheel handeling the length. space creates a new point and you can then edit that line, enter completes the path. maybe it can be smart, and enter all the other infor for you depending on the object type you pathed. say you pathed a turret, it would fill in all the turret specific path info. if you path a subsystem named fighterbay it creates a fiterbay path and sets that up for you. if you path the hull it sets up a dock point as well (baced on the normal of the nearest polygon). this aproach would et you set up a path fairly quickly. you could path a whole juggernaught in only a few minutes.
perhaps make it so you could use the fast pathing controls to edit normals (for anything) as well.