M312 Heavy Recovery Vehicle

Elephant

The M312 Elephant HRV, otherwise known as the Elephant, is a heavy UNSC Marine Corps Mobile Assault, Support, and Recovery Platform. It appears in Halo 3 on the multiplayer map "Sandtrap" and as a unit in Halo Wars. At least a few wrecked Elephants can be found in Halo 3: ODST. The Elephant has two turrets, a detachable one on the side and one that is similar to the LRV Warthog's stationary M41 Light Anti-Aircraft Gun that cannot be detached from its position. The Behemoth-class also houses a Mongoose in its lower bay, but can be made to hold three Mongooses in the front with two in the back with two Warthogs. The Elephant seems to serve a similar role to the Shadow of Halo 2, albeit much slower, sturdier, larger, damage resistant, and less maneuverable.

Specifications
The Elephant is a mobile command base and repair vehicle and is able to pull an entire Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine by itself. It can hold as many soldiers as you want to ride in it, and a Mongoose spawns in its forward hold. It is armed with a forward M41 LAAG on the top right and a AIE-486H Heavy Machine Gun on the mid left. It is a three-story vehicle with the bottom story, the respawn locale that opens out into the rear cargo tray, the second story, a walkway around the cargo ramp and leads onto the driver's cabin then a small, elevated third story where the M41 LAAG is assembled. It features a crane, numerous firing ports and elevated positions for defending it. It has four tracks set up on each side of the chassis. Its chassis is as high as they are wide, providing stability. An IGN video shows its top speed, driver's cabin and turrets. Its maximum speed is 2.24 MPH (Based on the one meter/second figure).

In multiplayer, it can spawn troops, and holds crucial points of objective gametypes. Therefore, in CTF you can actually bring the Capture Point to the enemy flag, although this makes it easier for the enemy to steal yours. The Elephant is one of the best weapons on huge battles, since it is basically a drivable fortress, though it is not very effective with only a few people. The Elephant cannot be destroyed, however it can be flipped if one places enough explosives underneath the vehicle or crash two into each other and go full speed and eventually one will flip. In addition to the Elephant's indestructibility, it also grants the driver a few advantages. Due to the indestructible nature of the Elephant, the driver is immune to damage from frontal fire, though rarely Spartan Laser blasts may penetrate the driver's window and kill him. However, the pilot is not immune to damage and any shots from behind will hurt him as they would normally, and he can be easily assassinated. The pilot is however, still immune to any explosion attacks such as rockets or grenades regardless of what position he/she is attacked from. In Forge, the Elephant cannot be picked up, removed or spawned by the Monitor. However, through modding, one can pick up the Elephant and read the information on the vehicle. By doing this, it shows that there is a limit of 255 Elephants and the cost of each is $255 Forge dollars. In another variant of "Sandtrap", called "Sand Tarp", Bungie removed the Elephants from the map.

Halo Wars
The Elephant also appears in Halo Wars as an Armored Personnel Carrier and mobile infantry barracks, capable of creating troops in the field and/or deploying them while defending itself. The Elephant still has a crane, though the vehicle looks ill suited for repair and recovery as it now mounts three M41 LAAG weapons, one on the top of the driver's cabin and two at the rear on each side of the troop bay. These appear to be remotely operated. The troop bay is enclosed and features a rear dropping ramp. The front also has an enclosed ramp along with deployable support struts. To operate as a barracks, the vehicle must first deploy. It will also, if upgraded, sport a roof mounted cannon. Like other Halo Wars units this vehicle has been dimensionally altered, particularly as the bay on the rear has been shrunk (two people high to one person high) and the bogeys are now the same size. This unit can be only used when the player chooses Captain Cutter as their Leader Character in online play or skirmish.

Note that after the "defense turret" upgrade, quotes by the Elephant are removed, save for "right away" (when moving or deploying), and "firing" (when ordered to attack an enemy).

Halo Wars Stats
Upgrades:
 * Costs: 400 Resource units and requires two Population Cap. and zero energy units
 * Capable of building SPARTAN-II's and other infantry.
 * "Twin Engine": Increases the Elephant's speed.
 * "Defense Turret": Adds a M247 GPMGT Autocannon defending the Elephant in deploy mode.
 * "Ceramic Armor": The Elephant can now take 25% more damage.

Strategies
An Elephant is a prime tool to use in performing the rush technique commonly used in real-time strategy games. Rushing is the act of using weak and cheap units to cripple an enemy early in the game. What one must do is build 1-2 reactors and devote the rest of their building slots to supply pads. The next step is to build turrets and an Elephant, it generally helps to research the upgrades for the elephant and lock the base first, so the Elephant is garrisoned inside and will be safe until needed. When the upgrades have been researched, unlock the base and lock the elephant down next to the base, then train three Spartans and fill the rest of your army with Marines and Hellbringers. After the units have trained and you have sufficient defense to protect the base while you are gone, order the troops to attack the enemy base (the destruction of the base will go faster if you spam the Marines' Grenade ability). If this is all done correctly, and the Station is not destroyed while you attack, a win should be guaranteed.

Halo 3: ODST
The Olifant is a civilian version of the Elephant that has been modified for the purposes of waste management. New Mombasa Waste Management owned and operated these vehicles, using them as garbage trucks. In the meta-game Sadie's Story, Vergil used one to save Sadie Endesha from Police Commissioner Kinsler by slamming it into his Pelican, then proceeding to dump its payload of garbage on him. The Olifant was then used by Sadie and Mike Branley to move through Covenant-occupied New Mombasa, in an attempt to rescue Sadie's father. It was later destroyed by a Wraith after a salesman, who was also hiding in the Olifant, opened the top hatch and attempted to surrender. Olifants are seen several times in "Mombasa Streets". Veronica Dare and Vergil use an Olifant as an APC in the level "Coastal Highway". This particular Olifant moves very fast and features shields, unlike other Elephants/Olifants, because of Vergil's modifications. Olifant is the Dutch and Afrikaans word for Elephant. The name is also similar to the word "Oliphant", a creature similar to (though larger than) an elephant in The Lord of the Rings

Known Elephants

 * E-2073 46833-S  - UNSC Elephant stationed on "Sandtrap" (it is interesting to note that both Elephants on the level "Sandtrap" are almost completely identical, including having the same identification numbers). They both have nicknames: one is called the "Behemoth", while the other is called the "Leviathan", and they both have different insignias painted on their sides. Another means of identification is that below the M41 turret at the front is the number 3 for the Behemoth and a number 5 for the Leviathan, also on the Leviathan is another number 5 on one of the panels at the top of the outer left hand side of the cargo tray.


 * Recon Team Lima - Commanded by Sergeant Forge in 2531, took part in the Battle of the Flood-controlled Shield World.


 * Recon Team India - Accompanied Lima onto the surface of the Flood-controlled Shield World, before being captured by the Flood and rescued by Forge and Red Team.


 * Recon Team Echo - Accompanied Lima onto the surface of the Flood-controlled Shield World, before being captured by the Flood and rescued by Forge and Red Team.

Easter Eggs

 * If by some chance you do manage to flip over an Elephant, the usual "Hold RB to flip [vehicle name}]" script dialog is replaced with "Hold RB to flip...wait, what? How did you do that?", referencing the fact that it is the biggest vehicle in the game and that it is seemingly impossible for it to be flipped, even by SPARTAN-IIs, or Elites, but when you press RB the Elephant is flipped over to it's normal state. For more information, see Elephant Flipping.


 * On the left hand side of the Red Team's Elephant there is a spray-paint graffiti with text that reads "BEHEMOTH" and a red cartoon picture of a woolly mammoth. On the Blue Team's Elephant it says "LEVIATHAN" and has a picture of a blue, whale-like sea creature sporting a mean grimace and wearing a comically tiny golden crown. The Behemoth and Leviathan are two scriptural creatures that are enormous in stature and girth. The Elephant's size is probably what gave them these call signs.

Glitches

 * There are many methods of achieving the flight of an Elephant on the mutiplayer map "Sandtrap" in Halo 3. The first, is the well known technique of filling the hull with explosives, set to instant respawn, and setting them off. This is a trial and error method, and achieves minimal Elephant flight, in which the player lacks control of the flight and trajectory of the vehicle. For more information, see Flying Elephant.
 * If you place a Covenant hover vehicle like a Ghost or Prowler on top of the cockpit, and then drive to the center of the Elephant, the vehicle will stay floating as if there were an invisible floor on top of the Elephant. This same glitch (or a similar one) is present in Halo 2, although with the Scarab instead of the Elephant.
 * Despite being a vehicle, the Elephant is not powered down by the effects of the Plasma Pistol, for obvious reasons.
 * Lag from standbying can allow a player to directly manipulate an Elephant in Forge. In some cases, lag on map variants with a lot of Elephants can have the same effect.
 * Even though the Elephant is indestructible, a spike grenade can and will penetrate the cockpit and kill the driver if thrown in just the right way from the front.
 * If you put objects into the elephant near the shorter dunes and then go to a free-for-all match they will spawn in the center of the map. This is because that elephant does not spawn in free-for-all matches so the game puts them somewhere else.

Trivia

 * If you go to the bottom level of the Elephant, there is a screen which details about the vehicle's specification such as Mobile Assault Support and Recovery Platform Statistics and Environmental Analysts. It is interesting to note that it says there are two mobile turrets (that you can rip off) while there is actually only one. Perhaps one was removed for balance issues as there is a vacant spot opposite of the other.
 * The name "Elephant" is a possible reference to Fred Saberhagen's classic science fiction book Empire of the East, in which the protagonist defeats an oppressive empire in a post-apocalyptic future using a giant nuclear-powered tank known as the Elephant.
 * The Elephants are capable of fitting a single Scorpion inside when the tank is being carried in Forge. This can allow you to wedge the tank inside and pick up the Elephant - unfortunately a little less gracefully than most vehicles.
 * The Elephant is the only drivable vehicle where you can place turrets on it without them moving when you drive off. If you placed a crate or two in the cargo bay of the Elephant and place a turret on top of them and then delete the crates, then you can drive the Elephant with the turret keeping place over the Elephant.
 * Gears of War 2's Derrick looks a lot like the Elephant. Similarly, it bears a slight resemblance to the Jawa Sandcrawler from Star Wars.
 * The windshield in front of the driver is capable of protecting him from any kind of attack (except Spartan Lasers) without damage; this is probably a balancing action, because the Elephant is so slow. In addition, the driver can only be attacked from the back; all other sides are completely protected.
 * In Halo Wars, the Elephant serves as a mobile barracks; however it appears to have a closed roof with indoor lighting, and a larger ramp. In a way it is similar to Armored Personnel Carriers.
 * The Olifant that is driven by Vergil on the level "Coastal Highway" in Halo 3:ODST (along with all others in the game) have the number 49 printed on their sides. This is another reference to Bungie's favorite number, as the square root of 49 is seven.
 * An Elephant can produce infantry by itself, instead of a barracks. However, the upgrades for the infantry have to be done at a barracks and can not be done within the elephant itself. For example, upgrading the marine infantry to RPG ability.
 * Soda God from Machinima stated that the only amazing thing about the Elephant is the amount of other vehicles it can hold.
 * The Halo Wars variant looks very similar to an Amphibious Personnel Carrier.
 * In the movie Avatar, the demolition machines appear similar to the Elephant, except they are remote controlled and yellow colored.
 * If you can somehow get the Elephant on its side, it will begin to drive very quickly (Relativly), about as fast as a Scorpian tank. This may be caused by the tread guards not hindering it anymore. It will slow down to its original speed when it returns to its four-wheeled (Treaded?) position.

Internal

 * Shadow - Covenant equivalent in Halo 2.