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Crews and Teams
July 22, 2026 at 02:22 PM
Add the developers' matchmaking clarification: no separate duo queues, and same-size teams are grouped onto a server where possible
SAND: Raiders of Sophie can be played entirely solo or in a crew. The developers have said the game is designed and balanced so a single player can enjoy it as well as a full team, so grouping up is a choice rather than a requirement. At the Early Access launch a known issue could still place solo players into larger crews; the developers acknowledged it on June 26, 2026 and, in early July 2026, said the fix was proving more complex than anticipated but remained one of their highest priorities.
You can play alone or in teams of two to six players. The maximum crew size is six. If you want to run a larger crew, your Trampler needs enough crew rooms to house everyone, so team size and Trampler design are linked: a six-person crew has to build for the extra occupants.
A crew shares one Trampler and divides the work. Different players can take specialized roles such as piloting the machine, manning weapon stations, or managing the storage and loot. A coordinated crew makes a Trampler far more effective in both exploration and combat than one person juggling every task at once.
Matchmaking is based on the size of your crew, and the number of players you share a server with scales with that size. The confirmed launch caps are below.
Crew Type | Players per Server (max) |
|---|---|
Solos | 15 |
Small teams (2 to 3 players) | 36 |
Large teams (4 to 6 players) | 45 |
The developers have said they do not plan to add separate duo or small-group queues, because splitting matchmaking further would leave too few players to fill matches quickly. Instead they try to place teams of the same size together on a server whenever possible, so encounters with larger teams should be less common and stay within your queue's size band.
For the technical side of the online experience, including anti-cheat and supported languages, see Servers and Online. For how losing a crew's Trampler and resources works, see Getting Started.
The developers have also announced a planned gear-based matchmaking system, not yet live, intended mainly to give new players a gentler introduction while keeping most of the community in the same queue. See Early Access for what they have described.
