object collisions in space - suggestions

Game Play & Game Design
#1

My space trader game is LWJGL 3D, 3rd persion in view (link below or think early Star Trek Starship Battles, camera is up and behind your ship, all ships stay at Y = 0). When it comes to ship to ship, I currently let them pass through each other. As for approaching large items (capital ships, star ports, planets, moons, asteroids, etc.) what would you guys suggest as a way to handle when the players ship should stop?

My thoughts:
1 - When approaching, cause ship to stop at a calculated distance from target.
2 - Alert ship it is getting close, provide range countdown betwen binding spheres and if they collide, do damage.
3 - Cause players ship to “float” up on Y so he is above target, then as you pass binding sphere on other side, lower the ship
4 - ??

Thanks!

#2

Option 3 makes the most sense to me. Space is a 3d environment where it’s very easy to dodge other objects. Your game just happens to take place in a (mostly) flat 2d slice of it.
You might get some issues if several ships pass over the same object, though…

Out of #1 and #2, it depends on how much player skill you want there to be in the game. Avoiding collisions near cluttered star bases might be a very exciting experience. I’d suggest adding a purchasable auto pilots that tries to keep you away from other objects. =)