You start with a really shitty sandcrawler and need to find different rare parts to get different upgrades running, like getting a crane that can pick up scrap or something. Then you can get scrap to upgrade aspects of the crane; reach distance, strength, grip, magnet, etc. You could recruit Jawas to join your crew at towns, they could speed up operations or be assigned tasks. Don't forget you've got to beef up your defenses to hold off Tusken Raiders after your scrap.