M313 Elephant

Elephant

The Behemoth-class Troop Transport is a heavy UNSC Marine Corps Mobile Assault, Support, and Recovery Platform.

It is better known as the "Elephant".

Specifications
The Elephant is a mobile base and repair vehicle. Twelve soldiers can ride in it and a Mongoose respawns 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 storied vehicle with the bottom story, the respawn area 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 mounted. It features a crane, numerous firing ports and elevated positions for defending it. . It shares the same track set-up as the Scorpion Tank, with a set of four tracked bogies along its chassis. Its chassis is as high as it is long, providing stability. An IGN video shows its top speed, driver's cabin and turrets. In multiplayer, it can respawn troops, and holds both the flag and the capture point for certain multiplayer maps on Capture The Flag mode. The elephant is one of the best weapons on huge battles. These mobile command bases can spawn troops and vehicles into battle quickly. These beasts must be controlled if you intend to win the battle.

Known Elephants

 * E-2073 46833-S - UNSCMC Elephant stationed on Sandtrap

Trivia

 * If you go to the bottom level of the elephant, there is a screen. If you look at the screen (zoom required) it will say in the top left corner Mobile Assault Support and Recovery Platform Statistics.
 * If by some chance you do manage to flip over an Elephant (try it on forge it is easy there), the usual "Hold RB to flip " 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 impossible for it to be flipped even by Spartans or Elites. That means that probably only heavy cranes or bigger machines could flip it. Also if you hold the RB button while the message is displayed the Elephant will still flip to its regular position.
 * On the left hand side of the red team's Elephant there is a spray-paint graffiti that shows an Elephant with text underneath that reads "BEHEMOTH" and has a picture of a woolly mammoth, the evolutionary predecessor of the animal that is the vehicle's namesake. 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 2 mythological creatures that are enormous in stature and girth. it is said that when the world ends, it is because these 2 creatures are fighting. the elephant's size is probably what got them these call signs, and that is another refrence to mythology that bungie uses. the behemoth is more hipo-like, while the leviathan is more serpent-like. leviathan is aquatic and the behemoth is terrestrial.
 * The Elephant by default spawns a Mongoose at the front, but can hold more vehicles.
 * The easiest way to flip an Elephant is to spawn a closed drop pod in the cockpit and throw down a grav lift right near it.
 * It appears to be impossible to drive the Elephant into the minefield, either due to an invisible wall or perhaps the flashing stakes that mark its edge.
 * It is possible to make the Elephant fly or flip with Halo 3's Forge option. To do this, all of the Fusion Cores and Plasma Batteries need to be placed into the back of the Elephant. Next, adjust the settings of the Fusion Cores so that all of the numbers are 16, then do the same for the Plasma Batteries (only set the numbers to 8). Adjusting the numbers makes it so that there are ALWAYS 16 FCs and 8 PBs on the Elephant. Finally, detonate one of the explosives (driving the Elephant over a Trip Mine works well) and watch it fly.
 * 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.

Related Links
Videos
 * http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DzsNrfrBvCs