Hey .
The answer would be yes, and then again, no.
I am trying to make a semi-direct control system, yes.
No, it has nothing to do with space or underwater (which is actually a great idea for an E.V.E. clone, someone point me towards a decent venture capitalist), but rather with traditional naval combat as a corner case; but at its core is the idea of a character, instead of a spaceship, being thus controlled.
This means that EVE functionality (orbiting and waypoints) is a necessity, but not the final result.
And I rather think I’d have to design a rudimentary AI for this (different path-finding algorythms), but that’s just haf the fun. Other half comes in designing the system in such a way that it still can be played effrectively by multiple players (happily, that has mostly been pioneered).
I can talk about this at length in private or public, if you like.