Elite Dangerous is getting paid-for cosmetic ship nameplates

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But you can name your ship free-of-charge.

While it seems the alien Thargoids who turned up in Elite Dangerous might be more hostile than first thought, it looks like you'll at least have the chance to look good before they lash out. That's because the space adventure sim will soon let you name your spaceship and buy cosmetic ship name plates. 

Taking to its official forums, senior community manager Edward Lewis sought to lay bare exactly how ship naming and nameplate purchasing will play out. "When you have named your ship in-game, your ship name will appear in multicrew grouping and in your HUD," explains Lewis. "In addition to this, in beta 5, when other people scan you, or target you in space they will be able to see your ship name in their UI."

Lewis suggests premium ship nameplates will allow players an extra layer of customisation in-line with the paint jobs and add-ons already present in the game's store. 

Available in themed packs, nameplates will be grouped in designs of three available in black, white and grey—a total of nine nameplates per pack. Lewis continues: "After purchase, each pack will be available for use across all of your ships (Ship launched fighters and SRVs don’t have name plates) and each pack of nine variant plates will be coming into store at just £2/€2.5/$3. 

"This means that purchasing one pack of name plates will allow you to use that style across all of your current and future ships, at the same time and rename each individual ship as many times as you like. We believe this flexibility offers Commanders great value and is a great way to help support the continued development of Elite Dangerous."

Thanks, Eurogamer. 

Joe Donnelly
Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show