SAND: Raiders of Sophie Update #8 Adds Gear-Based Matchmaking and New Shells

The live update also adds three Trampler armor sets, reworks reactors, and fixes several anti-cheat false positives and duplication exploits.

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SAND: Raiders of Sophie Update #8 Out Now graphic over a desert scene with a Trampler

SAND: Raiders of Sophie Update #8 is live, giving crews a new way to find opponents with similar Trampler setups while adding three armor sets, three shell types, and a long list of fixes.

Hologryph and tinyBuild detailed the update in their Steam announcement. The new Gear-based matchmaking beta calculates a gear score from installed Trampler compartments and items placed in outfitting. If the system cannot find enough players at the same level, it widens the search. Matchmaking can take slightly longer, but players will eventually be placed into the general queue regardless of Gear Score.

That follows Update #7’s ping system, which gave crews another way to communicate during expeditions. Update #8 moves the focus toward vehicle builds, ammunition behavior, and the systems that keep matches fair.

New Trampler gear and ammunition

Three new Trampler armor sets are now available through the Tech Tree. The update also adds armor-piercing and shrapnel ammunition, a subcaliber shell that can pass through multiple compartments, and a low-heat shell that cuts Autocannon overheat buildup in half.

Reactor behavior has been reworked as well. Reactors now show their health and boost state more clearly, have 50% more health, and take critical damage when hit from behind. Their smoke effects also react to gear, boosts, and the reactor’s condition.

Anti-cheat corrections and moderation plans

Several false-positive cases have been addressed, including situations involving jumps toward an island, parkour starts during those jumps, and turret fire triggering a “Suspicious Activity” message. The update also fixes multiple duplication exploits, an exploit that could change default ammunition into special ammunition, and other problems involving Trampler collisions, legs, weapon animations, and Upiors positions.

Hologryph also said pre-teaming and queue sniping are prohibited in SAND and can result in a ban. The team has added administrators to review reports more often, plans to introduce a code of conduct, and is working on queue delays and checks for players who repeatedly appear together. An in-game admin system for real-time report review and spectating is still in its early stages, while bans are now being processed daily instead of in large waves.

Players can share feedback about the update through the game’s Steam Forums.

SAND: Raiders of Sophie Update #8 Patch Notes

The changelog covers matchmaking, Trampler equipment, shell behavior, reactor durability, anti-cheat corrections, item handling, exploit fixes, and known issues.

Changelog

Gear-based matchmaking BETA
- Matchmaking will now consider the gear score that is combined from the trampler compartments installed and the items placed into the outfitting
- If matchmaking fails to find enough players at the matching player level, it will widen the search range.
- This system is in BETA, and changes to the matchmaking might be made based on your feedback and information that we’ll see on our backend
- These changes to matchmaking might also slightly increase the time required to find a match
  - BUT even during the least player-saturated hours, you will get matched eventually because the Matchmaker will throw everyone into the general queue no matter the Gear Score at a certain point, so you won’t be stuck because of it
3 new armor sets for the trampler
- Can be unlocked in the Tech Tree
3 new types of shells
- 70mm Armor-Piercing / Shrapnel Shell – Shot as a singular projectile. Penetrates the Armor and creates a burst of shrapnel on the other side
- 80mm Subcaliber Shell – Has 100% Penetration Chance – Can penetrate multiple compartments in a row
- 40mm Low Heat-Optimized Shells – Reduces the Overheat Buildup while shooting Autocannons by 50%
There are 4 types of shell hits:
- Hit – the projectile hit, dealt damage, and was destroyed
- Ricochet – Shell deals 20% of its damage and gets deflected into the other direction from the compartment that it hit. The deflected shell can still deal its full damage if it hits something else on its way
- Penetrate – Shell deals 50% of its damage to a compartment and keeps flying until it hits another obstacle (Basically you can deal 150% of shell’s damage in one shot)
- Clean Through – can be seen when the shell passes through a destroyed compartment. It Doesn’t deal damage to it and doesn’t get destroyed. It just goes cleanly through it. (This mechanic was always there; we just added a notification to make it less confusing when the shell flies through the trampler.
Trampler Reactor changes
- Reactor now visually show their health status and boost effects
  - It reddens when it loses HP
- All reactors now have 50% more HP
- Shooting at the back of the reactor will deal critical damage
- Reactor smoke VFX reacts to gear, boost, and reactor state
Anti-cheat false positive fixes:
- Fixed when driving towards the island and grabbing the ladder during the jump
- Fixed when driving towards the island and starting parkour during the jump
- Fixed issue with turret shooting giving “Suspicious Activity” message
Item changes
- “The Great Silence” is now a large item and can’t be stored in the character’s inventory
- Repair Kit can now be reloaded, so it no longer is destroyed after being fully used
- Fuel for the Repair Kit is dropped from the ironclads
- Empty Repair Kit can be purchased in the Storage
- Repair kit taken to the expedition now starts with 0 fuel
- Repair kit extracted from the expedition gets automatically unloaded, and its unloaded fuel gets extracted separately
Refactored Trampler Editor to support new armor types
Additional VFX improvements
Updated model of the energy rods
Possibly fixed an exploit when a cheater could steal items from the box in your hands remotely
Fixed a number of duplication exploits
Fixed an exploit where default ammo could be changed into special ammo type
Possibly fixed situations when a trampler can move through another trampler on collision
Fixed the issue where trampler legs would be in incorrect position after reentering the game
Fixed the issue that the weapon didn’t have animation and recoil while shooting and activating the flashlight simultaneously
Fixed the issue when Upiors positions could be different between client and server

Known Issues

Trampler reactor might not be turned on while having a weapon in hip mode
The character cannot enter the Expedition if the Invite has been accepted at the Tutorial pop-up background
Items may be displayed inside the character’s body in some cases
Large items may float around the character
Character may become invulnerable to melee damage while interacting with turrets or the steering wheel
Bullets can pass through the character on speed-boosted trampler
Shotgun might not deal damage at close range distance
Ironclads can be triggered multiple times by reentering the trigger area
Item prompt in Storage has too many hotkey options
Blueprint can’t be deleted
Character can become occluded in some cases
Character might get broken animations on turrets and steering wheel after using Orbital Strike on Smuggler control scheme
- Walkaround: get any tool or weapon in hands or respawn
3440×1440 resolution is not available
Character hands are “broken” when they carry energy rods

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In an alternate 1910, scavenge the sands of Sophie in towering Tramplers. Build your highly customizable walking base. Squad up or go solo. Gather loot, weapons, precious artifacts. Clash with other players in a brutal procedurally generated desert forged by history and chaos.