Navigation mesh is what xycaleth showed yes. I would say it's more optimal than waypoints because it's not as rigid. Plus if you think it's unnecessary why it basically the standard of most major engines? Ue3 and 4 use a form of navigation meshes. As does newer versions of source for l4d, cs bots and tf2 bots. Other engines use it too I'm sure. The point is, you can have it be done in a simple command and it wouldn't necessarily be manually placed. Fine tuning will always be something you may have to do it just depends.
The A* path system can be used with waypoints and navigation meshes. It's just an algorithm to find the fastest route.