Shua'ee-pattern Locust

Locust

The Locust is a Covenant quadraped walking ground combat vehicle featured in Halo Wars. It is used and described as a "building killer" and takes most of it's design from the Scarab. However unlike the Scarab it is capable of being hijacked.

Appearance
The Locust is a smaller version of the Scarab walker, with only one rotating turret which hosts a single large cannon. It does not however share the Scarabs spiked "feet", Its four legs may allow it to kneel down or climb over obstacles, like its larger cousin. Its central turret looks similar to a Banshee cockpit. It fires a straight purple-pink beam, useful against ground and air targets, however, it is used primarily to destroy buildings. In large numbers they can destroy buildings and bases in a matter of seconds. The vehicle itself is roughly similar to the Scorpion in size.

Combat and Tactics
The Locust, like the Scarab, is a mining unit refitted for combat, probably the top-long-range Covenant ground unit, and, for this reason, a quite slow one. Specifically designed to take down static targets, it can be upgraded to have the "Overdrive" special attack, which allows it to divert energy from its shield generator to the main cannon increasing its damage, and to have a "Shield amplifier" which makes the Locust shield regenerate at a much faster rate. The Locust is known to open fire only when stationary.

As a long-range "building killer," Locusts are largely used to take out turrets from a safe distance to reduce casualties in a player's main army. A few can also give solid building-destroying capability to an army that would otherwise be without, such as one consisting only of Jackals. In larger groups, a surprise attack can level a base in under 30 seconds, often before the defender can make it back, although the inherent vulnerability of the unit makes this a gamble.

Against other targets, the Locust is fairly weak. Though able to do significant damage, it is brittle, and falls quickly to concentrated fire. However,its beam is long range and can lure enemy units towards you.

Upgrades:
 * 1.Overdrive- enables overdrive special attack which drains shield to boost power.
 * 2.Shield amplifier- increases shield regeneration rate. Useful for using the overdrive ability repeatedly. Also stacks with the "shield of the forerunners" upgrade from the temple, allowing an even quicker recharge rate.

Resource: 300

Minimum Tech Level: 2

Population Count: 3

Trivia

 * The Locust follows the naming scheme used on Covenant walkers, starting with the Scarab, where the vehicle is named after an insect.
 * The Locust is the Covenant's equivalent to the Cobra's special (single) cannon and the Cyclops.
 * It is possible that that the Locusts are the insect-like mining vehicles seen at the Battle of Reach, as mentioned in Halo: First Strike attempting to break into CASTLE Base. These vehicles were previously believed to be an early version of the Scarab, which used to be a mining device.
 * Locust's are very fragile vehicles, even with full shields and all upgrades, one can be taken out by a few Rebel Squads at full power, which is unusual seeing how they are walkers, it may be possible that being mining equipment that they were not given strong enough armour, or they are just simply weak.
 * Locusts are real-life insects that fall into the grasshopper family. They are mostly known to strip fields of their crops, referencing to the Locust's role as a building killer.
 * It, and the Scarab, were most likely given their names because they walk instead of using any form of anti-gravity to move.
 * It is probably piloted by Lekgolo, like it's counterpart, the Scarab, but then again, seeing how the Spartans can hijack a Locust, it may have a pilot but this remains a mystery.