AT first I would have done a simple space scene, creating a couple of planets (I did) and a nebula background of some sort, but really came to my mind that I still could "import" 3ds/obj objects into this challenge... sort of workaround. Work only with TOP VIEW objects. All the starships have been separately imported into Bryce and made 2 renders with them, one rgb top view most evenly lit as possible, and one b/w heightmap. Then terrains starships (well, LATTICES, to be precise) have been created with them. I liked that stuff so much that I decided to go for it. Of course no 3ds/obj objects have been used for this render.