Scorpion

Overview

The M808 Scorpion is a armored attack vehicle that has been in service for more then 30 years, and serves as the UNSC's main anti-vehicle platform. The M808B is considered light by standard definitions but has served as the UNSC's main battle tank well before the Human-Covenant War. Its separate four track tread design allows it to traverse any terrain with little to no difficulty, this design also keeps the vehicle from being easily disabled. The rest of the body is very simple in design, with the tanks main weapon located at the back of the vehicle. The M808B only requires a crew of one, however variants of the M808B exist with a required crew of two, one to pilot and operate the main weapon, and the other to provide support with the tanks machine gun. The Scorpion's chassis is covered with heavy titanium-ceramic armor plating, making it incredibly resilient to small-arms fire; however, it's still possible for infantry-portable anti-armor weapons to inflict catastrophic damage.

The Scorpion is equipped with two weapon systems. The 90mm High Velocity Cannon is the M808B's main weapon, it fires a 90mm Tungsten Armor Piercing Ballistic Capped Round at an incredible speed, each round can be fired every three to four seconds. The M808B's second weapon system is the 7.62mm AP-T, Medium Machine Gun, used for dealing with infantry that may be out of the main cannons range, or if attempting to charge at the vehicle. The 90mm cannon although the standard weapon on the M808, could be considered "light", compared the 105mm cannon that can be mounted for greater offensive power.

Advantages

The M808B battle tank, has proven itself to be the workhorse of UNSC armored attack vehicles. Its 90mm cannon is able to deliver a devastating blow to anything it targets, infantry, or armor. Its thick titanium-ceramic armor can withstand a direct hit from a Covenant Fuel Rod Cannon and continue on with enough armor to keep fighting. Its one man crew servery limits human casualties; along with its main offensive capabilities, four Marines can sit on the tracks of the tank and fire their weapons, using the tank as a transport and jumping off the tank when reaching their destination. Along with its offensive capabilities as an anti-vehicle platform, the M808 also fulfills the role of anti-infantry; its machine gun can effectively take down heavy armored and shielded targets at medium range.

Disadvantages

The M808B is not without its weaknesses though, the main cannon on the tank must be reloaded after every shot and takes between three to four seconds, which may give the enemy enough time to react against the tank, its deep dead-zone, or the area within which fire from the tank's guns cannot hit targets, puts it at risk from enemy anti-tank infantry. Although the Scorpion can carry up to four passengers, any Marines sitting on the tread covers of the Scorpion are vulnerable to small-arms fire, and any explosions near the tank can kill all personnel riding on the treads, while leaving crew members relatively unscathed. Its slow speed also puts the Scorpion at a disadvantage as other more nimble vehicles like the Ghost can out maneuver the tank and get within its dead-zone.

Trivia

Strangely, every Halo game manual describes the tank as the M808B. This is odd since the Halo 3 Scorpion is clearly a variant from the original tank.

In every Halo game the Scorpion's serial number is the Birthdate of Marcus R. Lehto Bungie's senior art director.

In Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2, the Scorpion Tank is specifically cited in the manuals for each respective game as firing 90mm HE shells. Halo: The Flood claims that there are variants that fire 105mm shells. This is strange as the Rocket Launcher fires a 102mm shot, larger than either of those alleged HE-shots.

Underneath the turret of the Scorpion, there is a Jack-O-Lantern drawn in blood. This can be found by destroying the turret, then standing on the upside-down turret.

The Scorpion tank resembles an actual Scorpion with the front boogies being the pincers, the rear bogie's being the legs and the cannon being the tail and its stinger. However, this may refer to the FV101 Scorpion Light Tank used by the British Army in 1973. Ironically, the real-life British Scorpion tank is a light tank, compared to the Halo Scorpion heavy tank. However, later variants of the real-life Scorpion also featured a 90mm main weapon.

A popular sport in Halo 3's Forge mode is "tank dropping", in which players drop tanks on themselves seeing how far they can be propelled outside the map.

In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Scorpion tank cannon was a solid object, while in Halo 2 and Halo 3 the player will go through if they try to walk on the barrel and for an odd reason the characters legs separate from the body.

The Legendary Map Pack features the map Avalanche, a remake of the classic Sidewinder. For the remake, the M808B is adorned in full snow camouflage, along with all other UNSC vehicles. Avalanche is the first Halo 3 multiplayer map to feature a Scorpion Tank by default.

It is possible to do the turretless vehicle trick in a Scorpion. It is not possible to then attach another weapon though and still be able to drive; for some reason it automatically applies the parking brake.