I'm kinda like you in that I have a few class paths planned out and I stick religiously to those. This was the original reason I began altering the Long War perk trees - so that I could just go straight down a line of perks rather than have to keep checking my Excel spreadsheet. Of course, once I got started with your builder I found myself tweaking and then completely changing the trees to better fit my ideas of how to play... and now I have 16 classes very different from the Long War originals. I haven't had a chance to play test them properly yet and so can't be sure that they aren't over- or under-powered, but as a thought exercise they seem like they would work fairly well in heterogenous groups, and different mission types would seem best attempted by different class combinations. FWIW, here're my 16 classes:
http://hem.bredband.net/bertrich/XCOM/ExtendedPerkGenv097.htm?seed=00,03,23,00,10,0f,5f,08,05,0b,21,1f,0a,32,23,05,2f,5b,02,11,20,01,22,0a,36,0e,0d,17,00,1b,12,00,15,01,1d,2f,2f,5b,16,05,21,20,14,10,2b,11,5d,11,25,5e,5e,2b,19,24,19,36,00,06,22,00,20,23,05,06,32,1f,28,27,2f,31,20,23,21,05,11,29,2b,29,0a,01,1a,24,36,0e,00,30,18,00,35,13,2d,67,1f,2c,35,11,38,5c,25,08,23,38,52,2b,21,34,05,22,37,31,5e,0d,00,45,00,46,00,47,48,00,49,00,4a,00
And here are the changes that have to be made to XComStrategyGame.upk: For the Sniper/Scout, the perk1 and perk2 choices are meant to go with Squad Sight. The other groups are split down the middle, with the 2 leftmost paths for one sub-class and the 2 right-side trees for a second sub-class. To explicate, my 16 classes are as follows: Assault 3: The Berserker is an alpha-strike soldier with little defence meant to eliminate a cluster of enemies in one breath. Assault 2: The Ironwall is a defensive unit that prevents the enemy from advancing towards your rear line. Assault 1: The Flanker can hit fairly hard if allowed to circle around and expose a target. Assault 0: The Rifleman is made to exchange medium-range fire with entrenched foes. Heavy 3: The Reaction Tank is primarily an overwatch machine but also has a single rocket to fall back on for one big attack. Heavy 2: The Rocketeer has limited combat ability but can deliver powerful explosive payloads from long range, Heavy 1: The Heavy Gunner is a damage dealer with some survivability. Heavy 0: The Suppression Tank is meant to lock down a tight group of enemies. Sniper 3: The Scout's role is to locate and pin down enemy forces. Sniper 2: (Squad Sight rather than Lightning Reflexes) The Gunslinger stays in the thick of the action and uses a pistol as primary weapon; the sniper rifle is an auxilliary. Sniper 1: The High Ground Sniper is meant to multi-kill from the edges of the battlefield. Sniper 0: The Mobile Sniper travels a few tiles behind the rest of the team and provides fire support. Support 3: The Engineer is primarily useful only for capturing aliens and supporting SHIVs. Support 2: The Grenadier is good for destroying enemy cover and Flushing targets from hiding. Support 1: The Guardian is a proactive medic, with smoke, suppression, and holo-targeting as primary tools. Support 0: The Healer is a reactive medic who is able to quickly and safely dash to the side of an injured team member. I should also note that I have made several major changes to my weapons that should greatly affect how these 12 classes play. Notably: Laser weapons have +15 Aim, -15 Crit chance, unlimited ammo. Plasma weapons have -10 Aim, +15 Crit chance, less ammo. The AR, heavy cannon, and sniper rifle (and alien analogues) do splash damage. LMGs do splash damage.While some classes prefer plasma weapons, others do better sticking with lasers. Dunno at the moment if these changes are too drastic. Will need to play more to find out.