As you know, Elephants and Mammoths are massive vehicles. Not just massive. Friggin enormous. We know they’re stored aboard starships, but how do they get to the ground and back? An Elephant is larger than a Pelican, and let’s not even talk about how much bigger a Mammoth is. Unless there’s some massive lifting vehicle we don’t know about, then I can only conclude that these mobile bases are deployed by space magic.
The Albatross can carry an Elephant as seen on “Sandtrap”. The Pod is designed to carry entire prefabricated bases; it could do the job for sure.
Maybe they use multiple pelicans to deploy them, that’s my guess.
EDIT* Invader Kane pretty much answered your question.
Most if not all UNSC’s ships have some form of cargo elevator build similar to a Covenant gravity lift that they can use to transport vehicles of varying sizes.
You see the Forward Unto Dawn using one in Halo 3 to deliver Warthog’s and Scorpion battle tanks to the ground.
Considering the Forward Unto Dawn is only a frigate and much smaller then the Infinity or other of UNSC Carrier type ships, I’d imagine the cargo elevators these ships employ would be comparatively larger to accommodate larger types of vehicles.
Personally I think the Mammoth is a terrible design, to much of a large target from both the ground and the air and in reality I’d imagine there would be very few planets where it could be moved along the existing road system.
The Mammoth reminds me of the Landkreuzer P. 1000 Ratte, a very much failed German super-heavy tank concept from WWII. The Ratte would have weighed 980 tons (1000 tonnes), making it too heavy to use roads or bridges, to be transported by rail, or to move at all without using warship engines. The Mammoth may be built with 26th century materials but it still stretches the willing sense of disbelief. It’s hard to deny how cool the design is, though.
During the mission reclaimer it is seen that gypsy company had 1 mammoth and 3 pelican drop ships it is inferred that it takes 3 pelicans to lift 1 mammoth altho it is unknown.
With Mammoth, I’ve never really understood why the Marine Corps needed such a monstrous vehicle for “siegework.” Rarely, if ever, did it seem like the Covenant had hardened ground bases that the UNSC needed to crumble into itsy, bitsy, purple chunks. Covenant doctrine is all about the violence of action and their command facilities are either at the front of their constantly evolving lines or aboard the warships they’re detached from. In Halo 4 we certainly didn’t need Mammoth to crumble vast enemy encampments when we could have simply used Scorpions, Gauss Warthogs, with close air support from Broadswords and Pelicans. Instead we saw Mammoth tasked to destroy two enormous Forerunner anti-ship/anti-air drones.
So it gets me thinking. The Mammoth is first and foremost an anti-ship artillery platform. Every land-based Magnetic Accelerator Cannon we’ve encountered thus far has been to defend a position or facility against airborne threats and particularly those of a heavy classification. This platform is merely an autonomous platform to facilitate mobile planetary defense as a sort of futuristic “coastal artillery” against enemy vessels. It incorporates all the functions of a coastal artillery battery in an armored, self-sustaining, mobile frame to house personnel, their ordnance, and even a motorized infantry detachment for scouting and close-in defense.
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> With Mammoth, I’ve never really understood why the Marine Corps needed such a monstrous vehicle for “siegework.” Rarely, if ever, did it seem like the Covenant had hardened ground bases that the UNSC needed to crumble into itsy, bitsy, purple chunks. Covenant doctrine is all about the violence of action and their command facilities are either at the front of their constantly evolving lines or aboard the warships they’re detached from. In Halo 4 we certainly didn’t need Mammoth to crumble vast enemy encampments when we could have simply used Scorpions, Gauss Warthogs, with close air support from Broadswords and Pelicans. Instead we saw Mammoth tasked to destroy two enormous Forerunner anti-ship/anti-air drones.
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> So it gets me thinking. The Mammoth is first and foremost an anti-ship artillery platform. Every land-based Magnetic Accelerator Cannon we’ve encountered thus far has been to defend a position or facility against airborne threats and particularly those of a heavy classification. This platform is merely an autonomous platform to facilitate mobile planetary defense as a sort of futuristic “coastal artillery” against enemy vessels. It incorporates all the functions of a coastal artillery battery in an armored, self-sustaining, mobile frame to house personnel, their ordnance, and even a motorized infantry detachment for scouting and close-in defense.
Siegeworks are going to be necessary for the UNSC when they face new Insurrection forces and Covenant pirate bases.
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> Siegeworks are going to be necessary for the UNSC when they face new Insurrection forces and Covenant pirate bases.
UNSC land forces typically focus on maneuver warfare coupled with air superiority rather than protracted engagements where the line slowly moves forward inch by inch. That kind of warfare is dangerously slow which will only tie down resources, eat up your resources, and waste lives. Keep in mind that the United Rebel Front, New Colonial Alliance, and the Eridanus Cell have barely ever went toe-to-toe with the UNSC in open conflict and even more rarely came out on top. Guerrilla warfare is their key to success. Similarly, the UNSC usual employs special operations forces in similarly unconventional roles to combat the Insurrection and the Treaty-era Covenant factions.
The fragments of the Covenant are nothing like what that war machine once was. There are no vast supply lines that stretch across lightyears that are virtually impenetrable. No assembly forges are pumping out squadron after squadron of anti-gravity vehicles or fabricating custom orders for Fleetmasters wanting the latest technology for their battlecruisers. Like the various factions of anti-UEG rebels, Covenant radicals and pirates alike have to be much more covert in their movements and actions. A large fortification that would be able to counter traditional assaults from UNSC forces isn’t in their best interest. Such a facility will divert incredible amounts of people and material away from highly-mobile expeditionary forces.
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> > 2533274922786629;8:
> > Siegeworks are going to be necessary for the UNSC when they face new Insurrection forces and Covenant pirate bases.
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>
> UNSC land forces typically focus on maneuver warfare coupled with air superiority rather than protracted engagements where the line slowly moves forward inch by inch. That kind of warfare is dangerously slow which will only tie down resources, eat up your resources, and waste lives. Keep in mind that the United Rebel Front, New Colonial Alliance, and the Eridanus Cell have barely ever went toe-to-toe with the UNSC in open conflict and even more rarely came out on top. Guerrilla warfare is their key to success. Similarly, the UNSC usual employs special operations forces in similarly unconventional roles to combat the Insurrection and the Treaty-era Covenant factions.
>
> The fragments of the Covenant are nothing like what that war machine once was. There are no vast supply lines that stretch across lightyears that are virtually impenetrable. No assembly forges are pumping out squadron after squadron of anti-gravity vehicles or fabricating custom orders for Fleetmasters wanting the latest technology for their battlecruisers. Like the various factions of anti-UEG rebels, Covenant radicals and pirates alike have to be much more covert in their movements and actions. A large fortification that would be able to counter traditional assaults from UNSC forces isn’t in their best interest. Such a facility will divert incredible amounts of people and material away from highly-mobile expeditionary forces.
We see noticeable Innie structures in Halo: New Blood and the Covenant Kig Yar used large bases in Halo: Escalation. The mammoth is capable of using the mini mac to devastate armor from a distance and deploying Warthogs, Gungeese, and troops to counter threats and for infiltration. The Mammoth would basically be a UNSC base, but unlike a temporary base like http://www.halopedia.org/Galileo_Base it would be mobile and capable of self defense from most threats (even up to small cap ships like a CRS or UNSC Frigate).
Remember in the middle of the Halo 3 mission The Ark, when after you destroy the anti-air wraiths, there is a real badass moment when a frigate desends onto the surface and deploys a bunch of scorpions and warthogs? My best guess is that is how elephants are deployed. Any mammoths are deployed the same way with the UNSC Infinity. Another way is that they don’t. They are built on-site, and do not have to be deployed from dropships.
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> Remember in the middle of the Halo 3 mission The Ark, when after you destroy the anti-air wraiths, there is a real badass moment when a frigate desends onto the surface and deploys a bunch of scorpions and warthogs? My best guess is that is how elephants are deployed. Any mammoths are deployed the same way with the UNSC Infinity. Another way is that they don’t. They are built on-site, and do not have to be deployed from dropships.
Bruh they can’t be build on requiem that easily I’m pretty sure Infinity doesn’t have the resources to build mammoths and if they left the mammoths there the covenant would use them
The Albatross can carry an Elephant, but the Mammoth? Jeeeez. I have no clue.
What if one of the Infinity’s frigates goes do to the surface of a planet and uses it’s cargo elevator like we saw in the Ark in Halo 3? My only other guess is possibly a Condor if it can handle the weight.
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> > 2533274926217694;11:
> > Remember in the middle of the Halo 3 mission The Ark, when after you destroy the anti-air wraiths, there is a real badass moment when a frigate desends onto the surface and deploys a bunch of scorpions and warthogs? My best guess is that is how elephants are deployed. Any mammoths are deployed the same way with the UNSC Infinity. Another way is that they don’t. They are built on-site, and do not have to be deployed from dropships.
>
> Bruh they can’t be build on requiem that easily I’m pretty sure Infinity doesn’t have the resources to build mammoths and if they left the mammoths there the covenant would use them
First off, this is a necropost. I’d recommend checking the dates on threads before responding. This thread will likely get locked as a result.
Secondly, the Infinity is a macguffin that can be and do anything the writer wants. It’s why I don’t like the Infinity as a concept in the first place. That being said, that also means the Infinity likely can create Mammoths if it wants. It can make Spartans. So long as the materials and resources are there, the Infinity can likely make whatever anyone wants it to make.
I know it was a contentious point at the time, but in Reach, the Pillar of Autumn was seen using disposable thrusters to escape dry dock and leave the planet.
It could be possible that the Mammoth might use something similar? Simply driving out of a ship and then using the thrusters a bit like a Lunar/Mars lander, that then detach and fly off?
It would make for a speedy deployment in a crisis.