Mechanical Parts are the resource that keeps your Trampler on the dunes. Run out of them and you literally cannot deploy into a raid, which turns SAND: Raiders of Sophie from a tense extraction shooter into a lobby simulator. The good news is that Parts Crates are scattered across every major landmark on the map. The bad news is that a single Trampler build costs around 295 Mechanical Parts, and that number climbs fast once you start customizing. Here is everything you need to know to stay stocked.
Where do Mechanical Parts come from?
There are two ways to get Mechanical Parts: looting them from Parts Crates during a raid, and buying them directly from the shop in the lobby. The loot route should be your default. The shop option exists for emergencies and costs 2 Crowns per part, with a purchase cap of 10,000 before the store refreshes. At that price, buying in bulk adds up fast, so treat it as a last resort rather than a farming strategy.
Parts Crate cogwheel identifier
What are Parts Crates and how do you spot them?
Parts Crates are cube-shaped containers with a cogwheel symbol stamped on the side. They come in three rarities:
- Brown Parts Crate (Common): lowest yield, drops Mechanical Parts alongside basic scrap
- Green Parts Crate (Rare): mid-tier yield with a better mix of crafting components
- Red Parts Crate (Very Rare): highest yield and the best additional crafting materials
Higher rarity crates are more likely to appear behind key-locked or red doors inside monuments, so bring the right keys if you want the good stuff.
How to find the best farming locations
Not every point of interest on the map is worth your time. Shipwrecks lean heavily toward weapon and cannon crates rather than Parts Crates, so they are a poor choice when Mechanical Parts are your goal. The reliable spots are non-fort monuments: any named location on the map that does not begin with the word "Fort."
Named industrial locations like Bismarck and Black Key are among the densest sources. These areas pack enough Parts Crates per run to make a meaningful dent in your Trampler budget. Scattered generic POIs such as small islands and isolated shipwrecks can supplement early-game gathering, but they will not produce the volume you need for expensive builds.
Bismarck industrial POI farming
Which game mode is best for farming?
If your sole objective is stocking up on Mechanical Parts rather than fighting other players, Voyage mode is the smarter choice. The player population in Voyage tends toward less aggressive behavior, which means fewer interruptions while you clear monument after monument. Solo players especially benefit from the reduced PvP pressure when they just need to fill their inventory with crates.
How many Mechanical Parts does a Trampler actually cost?
A bare-bones Trampler build costs 295 Mechanical Parts. That covers the base chassis with no extras. The moment you open the Trampler Editor and start adding cabins, additional facilities, or upgraded components unlocked through the Tech Tree, that number climbs into the 300-plus range. Aggressive players who risk losing their Trampler in combat will burn through parts quickly, since every destroyed Trampler means building a replacement from scratch.
For context on how the Tech Tree feeds into those costs, the full Tech Tree upgrade breakdown covers every faction's unlock requirements so you can plan your parts budget before committing to a build.
What should you do if you run completely out of Mechanical Parts?
This is where the game's steep learning curve can genuinely soft-lock a new player. Without enough Mechanical Parts to build a Trampler, and without enough Crowns to buy parts from the shop, you cannot deploy into a raid at all. The cycle becomes impossible to break from within that character.
The solution is to create a new character. From the lobby, navigate to the "Change Character" menu and start fresh. A new character comes with starting supplies, including enough resources to get back into the game. Before you do this, delete your old character. An unused character slot takes approximately 17 hours to free up after deletion, so act early. You can maintain up to three characters simultaneously, which gives you a practical safety net if one run goes badly wrong.
For players who want to convert extracted loot into Crowns before attempting a fresh build, the buying and selling items guide walks through the full shop interface.
Change Character menu in lobby
Quick-reference farming checklist
- Target non-fort named monuments, especially Bismarck and Black Key
- Look for cube-shaped crates with a cogwheel symbol
- Unlock key and red doors inside monuments for higher-rarity crates
- Use Voyage mode for low-pressure farming sessions
- Buy from the shop at 2 Crowns per part only when critically short
- Keep a backup character ready to avoid the Trampler soft-lock
For a complete look at what else you can build and craft once your parts stockpile is healthy, browse the full SAND: Raiders of Sophie strategy guides collection covering weapons, ammo recipes, Red Box items, and performance settings.