SAND: Raiders of Sophie is a PvPvE extraction shooter from Hologryph and TowerHaus, and the whole point of a run is leaving with more than you came in with. The desert is stuffed with loot, but a lot of it is easy to walk straight past, and knowing what's actually worth your time (and your money) is what turns a scrappy run into a profitable one.
This guide is about what to grab and how to get paid for it. We'll assume you already know the green-box looting basics from our beginner's guide - here we're focused on value.
For surviving the fights that break out over the good stuff, see our combat guide.
Loot mostly comes in coloured crates, and the colour tells you the quality. Brown is common, green is a step up, and red is the good stuff - rare weapons, tools and utility parts. The crates also carry a little drawing on top: a cogwheel for utility parts, a weapon, or a cannon, so you can tell what's inside at a glance and beeline the ones you need.
Crates aren't the only source, though. Cabinets tend to hold medical items, and safes hold valuables and coins. Some of the best rooms are sealed behind broken or locked doors - lob a grenade or stick a time bomb on them to blow them open and help yourself to whatever's inside.
The Big Earners
A few items are worth chasing specifically because they pay out. Black boxes come off wrecked reactors, so every trampler you destroy leaves one behind - they sell for a tidy sum and feed your progression, making them a great reason to take a fight even against a weak opponent.
The real prize is the radio beacon box: if you spot a green box icon on the map, that's a player carrying one, and extracting with it in the time limit pays out handsomely. Beyond those, the safes and assorted valuables you hoover up all sell back in the lobby for a steady income.
Always Extract Mechanical Parts
If there's one thing you should never leave behind, it's mechanical parts - the orange, scrap-metal-looking bits. They're what let you rebuild a basic trampler dirt cheap after a bad run, so even if you lose everything else, a stash of these keeps you in the game. Treat hauling them out as a habit, not an afterthought; the players who progress are the ones who can always bounce back equipped.
Loot Smart, Not Greedy
Where you loot matters as much as what. Early on, efficiency beats ambition: hit the small points of interest - the lone wrecks and boats with light PvE - and move boat to boat. You expose yourself less, you loot faster, and the haul adds up surprisingly quickly.
The big, named points of interest are tempting because they look richer, but they're magnets for players, and someone better equipped or rolling in a squad will often turn up. If you specifically need the rare loot a big POI holds, the move is to let others clear it and then fight them for it, rather than parking there and becoming the target yourself. And if you're solo, don't get greedy - once you've got what you came for, extract.
The Shovel and Buried Bones
One mechanic that's easy to miss but well worth it: keep an eye out for buried bones scattered across the desert, off the obvious routes. Some of them mark a sand pile you can dig up with a shovel for buried treasure. The shovel's a one-time use, but the payoff makes it worthwhile, and because most players run straight between the main points, it's loot hardly anyone bothers with.
Craft to Consolidate
Get a workbench onto your trampler as early as you can. It lets you craft extra ammo and upgraded gear mid-run, which means you can turn a pile of raw loot into exactly what you need on the spot rather than waiting until you're back in the menu (you can't craft there). It's a great way to consolidate a messy haul, too. When you're eyeing the tech tree, hover over the upgrades you're working towards even if they're a way off - that tells you which resources to start hoarding with purpose, so you're not grabbing everything blindly. The tree runs on the coins and silver you pull in, and your black boxes and beacon boxes are the fast track through it.
Quick Tips
Red crates are the rare ones; check the cogwheel/weapon/cannon symbol to grab what you need.
Cabinets hold meds, safes hold valuables - and blow open locked doors with grenades or time bombs.
Black boxes off every wrecked reactor sell well; radio beacon boxes pay out big if you extract in time.
Always extract mechanical parts so you can rebuild cheap.
Hit small wrecks boat-to-boat; avoid big POIs early.
Dig buried bones with a shovel for hidden treasure.
Get a workbench on board and craft mid-run.
Loot with a bit of discipline and you'll fund a far better trampler far faster than the players smashing into every big POI on the map. For holding onto your haul when someone comes to take it, our combat guide is next. Happy raiding.
