4X: Paths to Victory

I would like each path to be supported by it's own research deck, to be mixed and matched. If I could have 5 of these paths, I could make correspond with a section of the player's ship, and adding another section as the bridge/life support, determine combat results with a die roll. I already talked about Combat, which could correspond with a fire control or gun bay section of the ship. With that disabled, a ship could no longer attack others, and its damage dealing cards would be ignored. It could still be attacked by others. Another path would be research/computers/information. This deck would allow a player to draw more cards from the decks, perhaps draw two, returning one to the bottom of the deck, the ability to choose an extra card from a different deck for the rest of the game, or drawing 5 cards from a single deck, keeping one and returning the rest in any order. Combat wise, a player could build smart weapons, which could modify the combat dice. I would have a politics deck, which will include cards allowing you to steal research from other players (as spies) or make allies to share technology, use their colonies to repair, or combine forces in combat. A construction deck to improve the sections of the player's ship and colonies. Again, this could have combat deck potential. (I could have a number of cards set aside, that would be added to the combat deck once a player uncovers the correct card.) Still thinking about my final deck.