What you are describing is just forums within categories.
UBB.threads News and Discussions (Category)
News (Forum in above category)
Feedback (same)
Pre-sales (same)
Affiliates (same)
Create a category called 'test' then create four forums called 1, 2, 3, 4 (assign them all to 'test'.)
...and you will see the result exactly as you describe