Mechanical Parts are the resource that gates almost every Trampler you build in SAND: Raiders of Sophie. They are a loot drop, not something you cobble together at a workbench, so the speed of your progression comes down to where you raid and which crates you crack open. Get the routing right and you stop wandering the dunes for parts you never find.
Quick answer: Raid non-fort named monuments and open the cube-shaped Parts Crates marked with a cogwheel (brown, green, and red rarity). Higher rarities hold more parts, and the densest industrial spots like Bismarck and Black Key give the best yield per run.
Where Mechanical Parts drop
Parts Crates are the main source. They appear as cube-shaped containers with a cogwheel symbol on them, and they come in three rarities. Brown holds the least, green sits in the middle, and red gives you the largest stack per crate. The crate rarity matters far more than the number of crates you open, so chasing red containers is the fastest way to fill out a build.
Location choice decides how many of these crates you actually see. Shipwrecks tend to spawn weapon and cannon crates instead, so they are a poor target for parts. Head to non-fort monuments instead, which is any named location on the map that does not begin with the word “Fort”. These industrial points of interest are where Parts Crates cluster.
The richest red crates often sit behind locked or red doors inside those monuments. Pushing into those gated rooms is the difference between a handful of parts and a meaningful haul, but other players raid the same rooms, so expect contact while you loot.
| Source | What to look for | Yield |
|---|---|---|
| Named industrial POIs (Bismarck, Black Key) | Scrap-dense, non-fort monuments | High; most reliable farming spots |
| Red-rarity Parts Crate | Cogwheel crate behind key or red doors | High; largest part stack |
| Green-rarity Parts Crate | Cogwheel crate in monuments | Moderate |
| Brown-rarity Parts Crate | Cogwheel crate, common spawn | Low; early-game only |
| Shipwrecks and scattered islands | Mostly weapon and cannon crates | Low; inefficient for parts |
If your only goal for a run is parts, Voyage mode is the calmer option. You tend to meet more cooperative players and fight fewer battles there, which matters a lot when you are running solo and just want to extract a full load.
Buying Mechanical Parts at the storage store
There is a second source. In the lobby, open the storage section and use the store on the right side to buy Mechanical Parts directly. Each part costs two crowns, which adds up fast against the hundreds a build needs, so buying is best treated as a top-up rather than your main supply. For most players, raiding stays cheaper.
How Mechanical Parts are used in the Trampler Editor
Mechanical Parts have essentially one job, and it is a big one. They are spent in the Trampler Editor whenever you build or upgrade a walker from a blueprint. The amount you owe scales with how much you customize, so the number climbs steeply as you add armor and weapons.
A pre-made blueprint costs roughly 300 parts. A combat-ready Trampler lands near 285, and heavily armored builds push the requirement into the 200 to 300+ range and beyond. Because your Trampler is also your exploration tool, your shield in fights, and your mobile loot storage, you cannot skip it, and the requirement only grows as you unlock new parts in the Tech Tree.
Note: If you play aggressively and lose Tramplers often, plan for a much larger stockpile. Every wreck you leave behind is a rebuild that costs another few hundred parts.
Common mistakes to avoid
The biggest error is starting an expensive build before you have a few hundred parts banked. Without that buffer, your progression stalls the moment you commit to a blueprint. Skip the low-tier shipwreck loops and bring your stockpile up first by farming scrap-dense monuments.
Do not assume there is a refiner recipe or a cheap vendor for Mechanical Parts in this game. They are loot-driven, and the only purchase route is the storage store at two crowns each. Whether dismantling Trampler components refunds parts is inconsistent, so treat any refund as a bonus rather than a plan. The game is in Early Access, so these specifics can change with updates.
You can confirm a run paid off the moment you extract successfully and see your Mechanical Parts total rise in storage. From there, the count drops by the exact build cost when you commit a blueprint in the Trampler Editor. If the editor blocks the build, you are simply short on parts and need another raid before it will let you continue. The game is available on the Steam store page.
