A little bit ago, I had an idea for another game. Box comes with a bunch of cards. Players draft cards from box to make a ship, and hire a crew. Once everyone is done, players reveal their ships, and then commence combat. Most combat actually revolves around using your crew to either board other players ships or to defend your own, and using a few ship weapons to bombard other players ships. The ships would be large, and act like a gameboard, rather than a ship piece that you move around.
I have two ideas for themes. Either pirate boats, and you board the opposing players boats, using cannons etc. to support. The other idea for a theme are Flying Fortress type planes, and instead of pirates, you have WW2 action heroes.
Whatever the theme, gameplay revolves around your crew, and your ship SUPPORTING, not ship combat/flying/sailing/etc. You'd move your crew around the enemy ship, blowing it up, and combating the enemy crew. Last player alive wins. Maybe objectives, or point based?
Anyways, does that sound unique/workable? What theme would be unique/interesting?
Spot on with the ships essentially being terrain. Also, you're correct that crew combat is more like your second point. There aren't necessarily going to be individual spaces, rather you move your crew around from card to card. Ships will have, besides weapons, special rooms. You could essentially liken this to building a castle, and then attacking someone else.
The reason I didn't bring up the space theme isn't because I didn't think of it, it's because I'm worried that the theme is so overdone. I want to make a unique game, and I agree that spaceships would probably work a lot better. What would be some cool themes? Maybe it doesn't have to be a ship, rather you're drafting cards to build a base?
My biggest concern is keeping this simple enough. I don't want this to end up as a big meaty game, but more along the lines of grabbing the box, drafting the cards, putting together your ship, and then attacking/defending. How to I keep all this workable...