SAND: Raiders of Sophie is a PvPvE extraction shooter from Hologryph and TowerHaus, and its trampler fights are the thing that sets it apart. These are slow, grinding brawls where you pummel another walking fortress into scrap, then loot the wreck.
Winning these trampler battles is your ticket to big loot, losing them is, well, the opposite.
This guide covers how to actually win these battles.
You've got three trampler cannons to work with, and they do very different jobs.
80mm - the heavy hitter. One big slow round that deals serious damage, but it sits empty by default and takes a moment to reload between shots.
40mm - the workhorse. It fires continuously, keeps decent range, and doesn't stop to reload, though it overheats if you hold the trigger down, so fire in short controlled bursts.
70mm - the shotgun cannon. Weak against tramplers, but its wide spread makes it the best tool for actually killing the enemy crew up close.
A popular all-rounder setup is a 40mm for sustained pressure and an 80mm for the finishing blow, mounted front and back so you've always got a weapon facing the threat. Which goes where is down to preference. For your personal sidearms, a pair of grey revolvers is a reliable PvP pick - six rounds each, quick to reload, and if you're caught mid-reload you just swap to the second one.
The Target Priority That Wins Fights
This is the heart of it, and most new players get it wrong by just blasting away at the whole ship. There's an order, and it decides fights.
Go for the legs first. Cripple their mobility and half the threat is gone - they can't flank you, can't escape, and become a slow predictable target.
Next, take out their cannons, so even though they're stuck, they can't punish you back.
To actually finish a trampler, you destroy its reactor - that wrecks the ship and stops the enemy respawning. But that's only half the kill: the captain is still alive and can run for an extraction or try to steal your ship, so you have to put them down too. Meanwhile, protect your own reactor by steering it away from the enemy's guns.
Repair or Die
Defence wins these brawls as much as offence. The second your trampler takes damage, get on the multi-tool and patch it up - the pipes, plates and circuit boxes dotted around the captain's quarters, crew rooms and the reactor itself. Damaged legs slow you down, so keep those mended too. The longer your trampler stays healthy, the longer you last, and these fights are often won by attrition. A classic Sand standoff is two crippled tramplers slowly circling each other, and the one who kept repairing is the one that limps away.
Boarding and Stealing Ships
Once you've weakened an enemy, the boldest play is to stop trading shots and physically push your trampler into theirs. Breach into their captain's cabin and interact with the terminal on the table - that hands you their ship and all its cargo, and instantly denies them the ability to respawn or open doors. From there you only need to kill them once and the fight's over. Time bombs and C4 are brilliant here for blowing open doors, wheels or cannons and clearing a path. And don't forget to grab the black box off any wrecked reactor on your way out - it's worth a tidy sum!
Build for How You Play
Your trampler defines your whole approach, so match it to your style. Solo, go small and fast: mobility is your best defence, a booster paired with a 40mm or 80mm gives you hit-and-run flexibility, and you'll want your wheel, reactor and cannons clustered close together so one person can manage them all. You move in, deal damage, grab what you can, and vanish before you become a target.
In a squad the trampler becomes a mobile base: load up on armour, crew rooms and turrets to make it a nightmare to bring down, and tuck the reactor away where it's hard to hit, because experienced players will aim straight for it. Then split the roles - one or two players boarding and invading while another works the cannons. That simple coordination wins fights before they start.
Use the Terrain
The dunes aren't just scenery. Position well and you can trap bigger tramplers by forcing them to climb at an awkward angle, which turns them into a slow, exposed target while you control the fight. Drive too fast into a steep hill or a rock yourself, though, and you'll take damage and stall, so read the ground.
The PvE Fights
Not every fight is a player. NPC tramplers go down in roughly four or five 80mm hits and drop a crate of useful bits like fuel rods, alloys and the occasional repair kit. The Ironclad robots spawn when one of those "eye" beacons appears on the map - they're hard to outrun, so either stay out of range or take the fight, and since they're a bit clumsy on the spawn you can land a few free shots before they wake up. And watch the wrecks: some of the zombies out here carry guns and shoot back, with surprisingly good aim.
Quick Tips
Legs first, then cannons, then the reactor.
Fire the 40mm in short bursts so it doesn't overheat.
Repair constantly - attrition wins these brawls.
Steal a ship by taking the terminal in the captain's cabin; it kills their respawn.
Grab the black box from every wrecked reactor.
Solo: small and fast. Squad: a heavy mobile base with a hidden reactor.
Use dunes to force enemies into bad, slow angles.
Master the target priority and the boarding game and you'll go from getting chased across the desert to being the thing other players are running from. Good hunting.
