An exploration of adaptive micro-poly displacement as applied to procedural asteroids.
Several extremely simple shapes were generated and grouped - then each had the adaptive micro-polygon displacement material applied before being distributed via particle system.
The advantage of adaptive micro-poly is in the saving of vram. Objects further away from the camera acquire less subdivision - saving space on the GPU for the objects that take up more room in the image.
I've found this technique to be useful for both asteroid-like situations, and terrain. And indeed it is extremely similar to the LOD system found in games.