SAND: Raiders of Sophie Beginner Guide
SAND is an extraction game: you ride out onto a hostile desert, grab loot, and the run only counts if you make it back. Here's everything a first-timer needs to survive run one.
- You crew a Trampler — a giant walking machine that is your ride, storage and gun platform.
- Pick a mode: Voyage to learn the ropes, Storm Dive for high-risk, high-reward.
- Loot goes into a green box, then you must rack the box onto the Trampler — unracked loot does not extract.
- Turn the engine off while looting to stay hidden and save fuel.
- Extract before you lose everything. A smaller run you keep beats a huge run you die on.
- You sell what you bring home for Crowns, the game's currency.
Your Trampler is the walking machine you pilot across the sands. It's your vehicle, your mobile storage, and your weapons platform all in one. Everything you loot has to physically ride home on it, so protecting the Trampler is protecting your payday.
You can rebuild and re-spec what your Trampler is made of — try combinations in the Trampler Planner before you commit parts on a run.
Two ways to head out. As of Early Access, think of them as difficulty-with-reward dials:
The steadier expedition. Best for your first runs — learn the controls, learn what loot looks like, and practice racking and extracting without immediately losing a fully loaded Trampler.
The high-risk, high-reward option. Bigger threats, better hauls, and a much harsher price for dying. Bring it here once you trust yourself to extract on time.
Exact rules of each mode can change during Early Access — treat the split as risk vs reward.
This is the single rule that catches new players. When you grab loot in the world, it collects into a green box. That box is not automatically yours — you have to rack the box onto your Trampler. Loot that never gets racked does not come home with you, even if you extract successfully.
So the loop is: fill the green box → rack it → repeat → extract. If you're about to make a run for the exit, make sure everything valuable is racked first.
Not sure what's worth the space? See What to Loot & Extract, ranked by real datamined sell value.
When you stop to loot, turn the engine off. A running engine is loud and thirsty: it makes you easier to notice and it burns fuel you'd rather spend getting home. Cut the engine, load up, then fire back up when you're ready to move.
Nothing you loot is really yours until you extract. The core tension of an extraction game is greed vs safety — one more crate is tempting, but a run you die on pays zero. A modest haul you actually bring home beats a legendary haul you lose.
Rule of thumb as of Early Access: rack what you've got, watch your fuel and your health, and leave before you're forced to.
Back at safety, you sell your haul for Crowns — the money you spend on better gear, parts and supplies. Everything in the item database lists its Crown sell value, so you can plan a run around what actually pays.
- Data source
- Game files (datamine)
- Confidence
- mechanics: general (Early Access) · data: exact
- Game build
- Early Access · 814facfc
- Last verified
- 2026-07-07
- Known limits
- Mode rules and looting details may change during Early Access. Sell values and item data are datamined and exact. How we source data →