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. 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 1 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 2 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. This is information from a modded Elephant and it cannot be confirmed without mods. In another variant of Sandtrap, called Sand Tarp, Bungie used a special Forge tool to remove the Elephants from the map. In mods featuring more than ten Elephants, the game is prone to intense lag, and nearing the limit of Elephants can cause the game to crash.

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 it looks ill suited to repair and recovery as it now mounts three M41 LAAG weapons, one on the top of the drivers 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 on the first. to become the barracks it 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 persons 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 Stat

 * Costs: 400 Resource units and requires 2 Population Cap. and 0 energy units
 * Is capable of building SPARTAN II's and other infantry.

Strategies
An Elephant is a prime method to perform 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 base 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 are researched (note that it also may help to upgrade the supply pads as well). When done, 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. Another tactic is to press 'Y' to lock the elephant and bring the main turret out which is almost twice as powerful as the MG turrets. While the Elephant's five turrets (if you have the upgrades to them) demolish the enemy, have your Spartans jack the surrounding vehicles. (if they are present, which is unlikely). It may be more useful sometimes to only build 10-15 marine squads, as it costs less resources and is faster. however both strategies are equally as useful. Another tactic is to use it as a Barracks. Build a normal Barracks and upgrade the normal Marine (or flamethrowers, whatever you want to use). then park a Elephant next to your base. This way you have a barracks without using up space on your base for it. Another strategy is to get two elephants near the enemy base but not visible to his forces and keep spamming marines to his base.

Quotes

 * "Elephant ready." - When constructed.
 * "Moving out." - Moving somewhere.
 * "Right away." - Moving somewhere.
 * "Deploying." - Deploying somewhere.
 * "Firing!" - When ordered to attack an enemy.

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.

Elephant Flight
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. The second, is another well known method, which is exemplified in "The Mammoth", a fan-made multiplayer variation of Sandtrap. By connecting the "wings" of a Hornet to an Elephant, the player can lift the Elephant off of the ground with the propulsion system of a hornet. By this method, the player can control the flight of the Elephant by assuming command of the hornet which is lifting it off of the ground, albeit with some difficulty. The third method is by putting two closed drop pods under the walkway and putting a grav lift under them. See "Flying Elephant" for full information on how to do this. There is also another way which requires the use of modded elephants. Some modded elephants can be picked up in Forge and therefore be dragged or tossed around. There is another method in which you go into forge mode and place a scorpion under the clamps and then try to lift the scorpion up. you can control the flight but its very common for the tank to slip off.

Another way is to spawn a wraith. Destroy it, and clear any debris. Move the elephant to the spawn point. When the wraith respawns, it will be "inside" the elephant. Destroy it again, and the Elephant will fly.

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 only part of the Elephant that can be visibly damaged is the shield for the M41 LAAG Machine Gun Turret.
 * Machine Gun Turrets that are placed on the Elephant are not fully solid on the Elephants. One can simply walk through the turret compared to a turret on the ground where if you try to walk through it, it will block you.
 * Weapon Holders will not work on the Elephant. Why they can't hold weapons on the Elephant is unknown but it is probably because weapon holders simply don't work on moving objects.
 * If by some chance you do manage to flip over an Elephant, the usual "Hold RB to flip &lt;vehicle name&gt;" 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. (See Elephant Flipping)
 * The Elephant is the only drivable vehicle in Halo 3 that is unaffected by Power Drains.
 * 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. Leviathan is aquatic and the Behemoth is terrestrial.[[Image:Leviathan.jpg|thumb|Leviathan cartoon]][[Image:Beh.jpg|thumb|Behemoth cartoon]]
 * 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 without it moving.
 * Gears of War 2's Derrick looks a lot like the Elephant. Similarly, it bears a slight resemblance to the Jawa Sand crawler from Star Wars.
 * The Elephant is the slowest drivable vehicle in the Halo series, moving only slightly slower than normal Spartan/Elite running speed.
 * The seemingly glass windshield in front of the driver actually is able to protect 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 an Armored Personnel Carrier.
 * Flipping an Elephant can be accomplished if you put every explosive you have into it in Forge, save it, then use it in regular Multiplayer.
 * You can honk the horn by pressing RT. It sounds like the sounds emitted from the Tripods seen in the movie, War of the Worlds, a low honking that resembles that of a foghorn.
 * 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.
 * If the game is laggy, getting out of the elephants driver seat will make you appear in front of the elephant.
 * It is possible to lock onto several places of the elephant with a missile pod, including the cockpit and both turrets.
 * If you get a splatter kill with an Elephant and look on Bungie.net, it will say you were killed by a traffic cone.
 * The Elephant is subject to numerous amounts of glitches when a game is laggy. These glitches range from the Elephant sinking into the ground to flying across the map instantly without any explosions or Forge. It appears that the more objects or people that are on the Elephant, the more likely it is to glitch. Also if you were to drive the Elephant onto the Phantom debris near the Banshee spawn on Sandtrap the game will become laggy and if you were to then remove it the game smooths out.
 * It is a little ironic in that the Elephant is referred as a "Heavy Recon Vehicle", emphesis on Recon, as it is loud, huge, and the horn sounds like a foghorn.

Related Pages

 * Shadow- Covenant equivalent in Halo 2.