"I was astonished at what they are going through to just inverse between points in C3D."
It's actually not to bad once you let go of the idea of working between numbered points. First, you dock the inversing toolbar button to the "Quick Access Toolbar" . You have lines drawn between your points and click on the line and BOOM! Inverse with two clicks, more inverses with every click.
Nevertheless, I have to agree that inversing between points by using their numbers, while possible, is a PIA in C3d.
I just started running Carlson civil survey on top of civil 3d. So far Carlson has made my limited cad experience much easier. It is way more intuitive for me. We do the f2f in Carlson but they have civil 3d set up so they do the final mapping in civil 3d. All the deed comps etc are done in Carlson which for me is much easier. All the drawing templates have been set up to match in both platforms. Bring all the raw data into Carlson get everything checked drawn labeled roughly and export ascii file along with the dog is right there for the drafters to xref and see any notes or comps etc for final work to be completed. I am still learning so only 4 weeks into it but I have no complaints really. I do miss having TBC though. That complete chain back to raw data and all information from file job to time stamp etc at any point is priceless. Managing that with points is not as efficient but Carlson is a great tool for surveying for sure.
I was originally going to let slide the comment about how difficult it is to inverse between points in C3D, but since several people have chimed in lately, I'll add my two cents. Inversing is not hard. People have offered suggestions, and there's nothing wrong with any of their suggestions, but I think the easiest way is to just use the Inquiry palette. I'm going from memory, and will correct if wrong, but the palette is found on the Analyze ribbon, toward the right side. I keep this palette open all the time. At the top of the palette is a Point Inverse routine. You can plug in point numbers, plug in coordinates, or just select a point on the screen to get your inverse. I don't remember what it was like to inverse using DCA, or Softdesk, or LDD, or Carlson, but I would guess that doing it in C3D is just as easy, if not easier, than any of those other programs.
I will edit this to say that officially it is called the Inquiry Tool on the ribbon, and that you can also select points by point object, the same as using 'po as a transparent command.