Livery

Livery refers to ship cosmetics and can be changed via the Outfitting menu of Station Services. Currently ships can be equipped with decals, paintjobs, dashboard ornaments, external kits, weapon colours, name plates, and thrust colours. Paintjobs are also available for ship-launched fighters and SRV. These items do not alter the performance in any way.

There are no in-game options for users to create their own custom paintjobs, decals, etc, nor are there any third-party tools for this. Except certain decals, all items must be purchased at the Official Store. (The Outfitting menu provides direct links to the store.) Prices vary, and reduced sale prices are occasionally offered and announced in the newsletter. Combo packs are available for some items.

Decals

Decals are icons / logos that can be placed on 3 pre-determined spots on a ship (front, left, and right). A different decal can be placed in each spot. The decal colours automatically vary to suit the ship's paintjob.

Only the Pilots Federation rank decals and the Powerplay decals are freely available to all players. The remainder either must be purchased at the Official Store or are limited-access as described below.

Pilots Federation ranks

The Pilots Federation decals^[1] are earned through gameplay. There are 3 types: Combat, Trade, and Exploration. As a CMDR earns higher rank in one of the three lines they will earn a new decal for that line. There are 8 decals in each line (there are no decals for the beginner rank in each).

Combat

Horizontal lines are displayed behind the Pilots Federation rank icon.

Trade

A wreath like half circle cradles the base of the Pilots Federation rank icon.

Exploration

What appears to be a crescent moon resides behind the Pilots Federation rank icon.

Powerplay

The Powerplay decals are available for free on the Frontier Store.^[2] There are 10 decals to represent 10 of the 11 Powers. The 11th decal for Felicia Winters was accidentally left out of the pack, and will be added to it at a later date.^[3]

Official Store

The following decals are available for purchase at the Official Store.

Commercial decal packs

Four generic decal packs, each containing three decals. Prices are currently £1 ($1.75) per set.

Onionhead

The Onionhead paintjob for the Cobra Mk III is bundled with 3 decals that may be used on any ship type: "Oh" and 2 smiley faces. This bundle is currently priced at $7.

Kickstarter Backer Rewards

The following decals were offered as backer rewards during the Kickstarter campaign^[4].

Ringed Planet

Provided to all players who ordered a Kickstarter tier of £5 or above (allows access to Founders World).^[5]^[6]

Skull 3

Provided to "day one" Kickstarter backers. It was also made available later on the Official Store to all players that purchased the Mercenary Edition of Elite: Dangerous (this skull is not to be confused with the large skulls that are part of the Pirate Faction paintjobs).^[5]

Founding Members of the Elite

Golden Elite Pilots symbol with the word FOUNDER across the centre. Available only to Kickstarter pledgees who pledged 150 GBP or above.

Upgrade Decals

For Kickstarter backers who pledged a tier of at least £30, any of these additional 10 upgrade decals were available for £5 each. They include a skull with mohawk, a bird of prey, a tiger, a scorpion, a fist, a bat, a skull with chemical mask, a moon, a shark, and a snake (cobra).

Promotional Events

These decals were obtained by redemption of special promotional codes distributed during certain major events.

PAX Prime

A 4-pointed star given to players who filled out this on-line form during or following the 2016 PAX South gaming festival.

EGX "X"

A large bold "X" given to players who redeemed a promotional code from the 2015 EGX gaming trade show.

Lavescon "phoenix"

A flaming bird given to players who redeemed a promotional code from Lavecon 2015 or 2016.

Gamescon bullseye

A bullseye icon given to players who who redeemed a promotional code from Gameson 2015.

Elite Community

The Elite Community decal features a handshake in a triangle with wings, and was given to players who attended Elite:Meet 2015.

Dangerous Games factions

Players who supported a player faction(s) in the Dangerous Games have access to that faction's decal. The player factions are:

Adle's Armada
Alliance Elite Diplomatic Corps (uses the insignia of the Alliance)
Blackbird Squadron
Border Coalition
EG Pilots
GalCop
Interstellar Communist Union
Social Eliu Progressive Party
United German Commanders
Wolves of Jonai

Other player groups

Decals have been granted by Frontier Developments to other groups of players:

Distant Worlds Expedition 3302 participants
Fuel Rats
The Canonn Interstellar Research Group

Paint

A paintjob can only be applied to the specific ship, SRV, or ship-launched fighter for which it was created and thus cannot be equipped on any other type. If the painted ship is destroyed the player can re-apply it to the replacement ship any time they are docked at a station with an "Outfitting" facility.

Paint degrades by wear over time, which can be seen in the external camera view. If a new paintjob is applied to the ship, the wear remains. Paint wear can only be removed by specifically repairing the paint in the ship maintenance facility at a station (Station Services > Advanced Maintenance > Repair > Paintwork). Note the "repair all" option does not repair paint wear.

Prices currently range $1.75 to $3 for single paintjobs, and $3 to $12 for packs of multiple paintjobs. Generally higher-priced paintjobs and packs are more stylized, and some paint packs are bundled with other store items.

Limited edition paintjobs

Some paintjobs are made available only during limited-time offers.

Black midnight

Black midnight paintjobs for all ships were provided to all users who pre-ordered the Horizons season pass before Dec 1, 2015^[7] as part of the "Black Friday" sale. These paintjobs were later made available for individual purchase for a limited time one year later during the official store's 2016 "Black Friday / Cyber Monday" sale^[8].

Chrome and black wireframe

Chrome and black wireframe paintjobs for 13 ships were available for purchase during the Dec 2016 "Festive Countdown" (13 Dec 2016 to 3 Jan 2017):

Chrome

Wireframe

Dashboard Ornaments / "Bobbleheads"

Dash ornaments are small objects placed on the cockpit dashboard and wobble as the ship moves. Current offerings include "bobblehead" figures, miniature ships, and number / letter characters. Up to 10 can be placed on the dashboard at once, but no duplicates. Prices currently range from $4 to $8.

Ship Kits

Ship kits are cosmetic modifications that alter the exterior appearance of a ship, such as fins, winglets, fenders, etc. Each kit has multiple pieces (currently 12 to 16) that can be added in multiple combinations to create a variety of individual looks. Prices currently range from $10 to $12.

Current ship kits include:

Weapon Colours

Weapon colour sets change a ship's weapons fire from the default colours. Each set is a single colour and changes all weapons on the ship to that colour. Combining multiple colours on a ship is not possible. Prices are currently $1.75 per colour set.

Name Plates

As of The Commanders v2.3 update, users can specify names and ID numbers for their ships.^{^[9]} To make these appear on the ship's hull, stylized plates must be purchased from the Official Store. Plate packs include 9 plates (3 designs in 3 shades each) and are currently $3. Plates can be used on any ship the player owns.

Plates with ship names can be placed in 2 positions on the forward hull. Plates with ship ID numbers can be placed in 2 positions on the aft hull, as well as in place of the 2 ship name positions on the forward hull (4 positions total).

Engine Thruster Colours

Introduced the same week as the v2.3.10 update^{^[10]}, colours can be purchased for the engine thrusters and their contrails. Each colour can be used on any ship the player owns (cannot be used on ship-launched fighters or SRV). Prices are currently $1.75 per colour.

Videos

Elite Dangerous Creepy Emissive Decals (many ships)

Gallery

References

[pilots_fed_ranks-1] Michael Brooks announcement on Official Forums

[2] ttps://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/330329-Newsletter-162

[3] Frontier Developments Forums - Thread: Get Your Free Powerplay Decal Pack on Our Store Now

[4] ttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1461411552/elite-dangerous

[mercenary_and_kickstarter_decal-5] 5.0 ^5.1 Michael Brooks on the Official Forums

[ringed_planet_and_pilots_fed_logo-6] Michael Brooks on the Official Forums

[7] ttps://community.elitedangerous.com/en/node/344

[8] ttps://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/311811-Newsletter-152

[9] ttps://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/341916-2-3-The-Commanders-Changelog

[10] ttps://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php/361168-Newsletter-181

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