Your Trampler in SAND: Raiders of Sophie does not roll into the desert with guns already bolted on. It is a walking mobile base that you arm yourself, so every cannon and its shells have to be packed before you leave the lobby, then installed and loaded by hand once you drop in. Skip any part of that chain and your turret slots sit empty when a hostile crew opens fire.
Quick answer: Add cannon kits and matching ammo to your Trampler in the loadout screen, start the run, then board the Trampler, grab each cannon kit off the item shelf, press F on an empty mount to install it, and reload it with shells by facing the cannon and pressing Tab. A cannon is only ready once it has ammo loaded.
Why your Trampler spawns without cannons
The Trampler is a customizable fortress, not a pre-armed vehicle. Its firepower is decided entirely by what you choose to carry from the hangar. If you do not load cannon kits and their ammunition into the cargo hold before departing, you arrive with no working weapons and no way to build them mid-run. The hardware has to physically travel with you.
When you spawn, nothing is mounted or loaded. Everything you packed appears as kits inside green boxes on the racks, and your first job on every single drop is to set those guns up before you start driving. Even cannons or ammo you pick up later as loot, or craft at the Fort workshop, still have to be installed and fed the same way.
Cannon types and what each one does
Three cannon types are currently available, each built for a different range and rhythm. Pick based on how you plan to fight rather than raw numbers, since balance figures are still settling in early access.
| Cannon | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|
| 40MM (Auto Cannon) | Fires several shots in a row with no reload between them, good for sustained pressure. | High recoil, smaller shell drop-off, and it overheats after continuous fire, forcing a cooldown. |
| 70MM (Shotgun Cannon) | High burst damage that scatters pellets and can hit multiple enemy components at once. | Close range only, and you reload after every shot. |
| 80MM (Naval Cannon) | Highest single-shot damage and area of effect, strong for heavy hits. | Reload after each shot, larger bullet drop over distance, and likely to miss while your Trampler moves sideways. |
How many cannon slots you get
The loadout gives you three cannon slots, but you should not fill all three with guns. Dedicate one slot to ammo and supplies, and use the other two for cannons. Playing solo, one or two cannons is plenty, because juggling the wheel, repairs, and multiple turrets alone gets unmanageable fast.
On the default blueprints, you typically get one mount at the front next to the steering wheel and one at the back. A common setup puts a 40MM up front for quick bursts and an 80MM at the rear for heavy single blows.
Install and arm cannons on your Trampler
Loading from the box this way fills an entire shell slot at once. That is far faster than picking up rounds one at a time into your backpack and feeding them in individually, which wastes time you usually do not have.
How to confirm a cannon is ready
A cannon counts as battle-ready only when it is both mounted and loaded. After installing the kit, the button prompts on the cannon tell you it can accept ammo, and once shells are in, it will fire. The most common reason a turret refuses to shoot is missing ammo. An installed cannon with no shells linked is just dead weight in a slot.
Two more pitfalls trip up new crews. Forgetting to pack the ammo box in the lobby leaves you with guns you can mount but never fire, so always bring the matching shells. And overfilling the cargo decks with loot at the expense of weapon and ammo crates leaves you under-armed, so balance space between firepower and what you plan to extract.
Recommended cannon setups
For relaxed Voyage runs, a 40MM Auto Cannon for suppression paired with an 80MM Naval Cannon for heavy targets covers most situations. For PvP loot raids where fights happen up close, high-burst options like the 70MM Shotgun Cannon or the 80MM Naval Cannon hit hardest in ship-to-ship trades.
Cannons are not your only line of defense. When enemy crews try to board, you fight them off on deck with handheld weapons, so a well-armed Trampler still falls if you cannot repel boarders. Mount your guns, feed them shells, keep the decks walkable around each turret, and you head into the sand ready to both attack and hold your ground.
