4X Board Game - First thoughts

I am a gamer. Video are my entertainment, inspiration, and I hope that someday soon I can make a career out of creating art for games. About a year ago I was introduced to Settlers of Catan, and I feel in love. It was such a different experience than the Monopolies, Trivial Pursuits and other Ameritrash and I started looking for more of these experiences wherever I went. Snakes and Lattes was practically the only thing I went out for when I last visited my family in Thornhill, ON for 10 days. As someone who enjoys these forms of entertainment so much, I have my own ideas on what I would like to experience, and rather than keep it to myself, I figured it couldn't hurt to write it somewhere, even if no one is likely to see it, judging from my main art blog with it's 19 subscribers. ;) The latest idea floating in my head is about translating the 4X in space computer game experience into a board game. Conquering space is nothing new to board games, and I've played a few: Eclipse, Ad Astra, Galactic Encounters and Star Trek: Fleet Commanders come to mind. None of these, or others I've heard of, have a satisfying research system (with Eclipse being the closest) so I started thinking on how I could do it. Down to business: I think cards would give me the best solution for research. There would be several stacks to choose from, representing different fields of research with a general idea of what advantages these cards would have for the rest of the game. The game would have different victory conditions, such as focusing on combat or research, and these could be mixed and matched to adapt to other players or the cards you have been dealt.