M808 Scorpion

"Tank beats Ghost! Tank beats Hunter! Tank beats everything! Oh, man, I could do this all day!"

- An anonymous Marine's remark of the M808 Scorpion during the Battle of Installation 00

The M808 Main Battle Tank, commonly known as the Scorpion, is the United Nations Space Command's mainline armored mobile weapons platform. The tank was originally manufactured by Chalybs Defense Solutions, until Acheron Security took claim following the Human-Covenant War and the destruction of numerous CDS facilities on Meridian.

The Scorpion has remained in service for centuries due to its combination of affordability, simplicity, and versatility and its rugged, adaptable design, features that cannot be matched by any "superior" main battle tank design. Additionally, the Scorpion's functional uses are numerous and widely varied—although the UNSC predominantly uses the tank for direct engagements, local defense, and anti-armor operations. A result of the tank's effectiveness and practicality, the M808 Scorpion has become the UNSC's template for all modern main battle tank designs.

The M808 has proven itself to be the workhorse of UNSC armored attack vehicles. The tank's 90mm cannon can deliver a devastating blow to all targets—infantry or armor. The M808's thick ceramic-titanium armor can withstand a direct hit from a Covenant fuel rod cannon and survive with enough armor to keep fighting. The Scorpion's one man crew severely limits human casualties; along with its main offensive capabilities, one other man can man the tank's turret as a gunner, and four infantrymen can sit on the tread pods of the tank, providing supporting fire while using the tank as a transport.

Design details
"I don't know if you've ever operated one of those babies, but it beats the hell out of just about any other mode of transportation on a battlefield."

- Spartan Edward Buck, referring to a M808 Scorpion

The M808 Scorpion is the UNSC's lead armored vehicle, having served for over three centuries. Its four-track nacelles design, with each track mounted on an independent computer-controlled suspension system, allows the M808 Scorpion to traverse, climb over, or maneuver around large debris or other battlefield obstacles, and prevents the vehicle from being easily disabled. The Scorpion is not the most powerful or quickest UNSC main battle tank, but it is often considered to be the best marriage between those two qualities.

The central chassis is simple in design containing the main armament at the stern of the hull, a pintle-mounted machine gun, and the crew compartment forward of it. The chassis is covered with heavy ceramic-titanium armor plating, making it incredibly resilient to damage from small-arms and ordinary plasma weapons; however, it is still possible for infantry-portable anti-armor weapons to inflict catastrophic damage. The M808 Scorpion only requires two people to fulfill its effective role; the driver operates the vehicle and has complete control of the main armament while the gunner would man the machine gun. Typically, only two personnel operate a M808 Scorpion. However, if both individuals lack neural interfaces, an additional gunner may be required to assist. Up to four additional passengers may safely ride on—and fire from—the vehicle's "jumpseats", though doing so would put them at great risk of enemy counter-attack. If necessary, VIPs and sensitive material can be safely crammed inside the tank's main cabin.

The Scorpion's efficient engine allows it to travel up to 750 kilometers (466 miles) before needing to be refueled. Along with its weapons system, the Scorpion is equipped with anti-mine detecting software and electronics to help increase safety while in use.

Armaments
The M808 Scorpion is equipped with a two-tier weapon system. The tank's primary armament is the M512 smooth-bore high-velocity cannon, a gun capable of firing 90mm tungsten shells and canister rounds with a three-to-four-second interval between each firing session. The primary weapon is also equipped with an autoload feed system, requiring no manual loading from the armor's personnel. The tank can also be outfitted with a 105mm gun for greater offensive power. The M512 cannon is very powerful and can destroy a Covenant Type-26 Wraith in two to three shots. The main cannon is discernibly devastating to infantry targets at any range, instantly killing targets at the impact zone and severely injuring those close by. The M850 Grizzly is the only human tank capable of outgunning a Scorpion.

The Scorpion's secondary armament is a mounted M247T machine gun, capable of firing 7.62mm armor-piercing rounds at a very high rate. 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 heavily armored and shielded targets at medium range. The machine gun is either co-axial or pintle-mounted. The variants of the M808 Scorpion have varying armaments, in both cannon and machine gun type.

Variants
The M808 Scorpion has more than a half-dozen variants over its many years of service, each with minor adjustments depending on its role. The physiological aspect and versatility of the main battle tank remains unchanged with each variant.
 * M808B Scorpion – An older variant with a coaxial M231 machine gun.
 * M808B2 Sun Devil – An anti-aircraft "B" variant with two twin-linked 40mm autocannons that lacks the 90mm cannon.
 * M808B3 Tarantula – A "B" variant with its two mounted pods on either side of the turret can fire clusters of hypervelocity Scimitar rockets.

Operational history
"Hey, How does 90 millimeters of tungsten strike you?"

- Gunnery Sergeant Marcus Stacker's remark of the M808 Scorpion's main cannon during the Battle of Installation 00

The M808 Scorpion was first manufactured in 2218. During the Insurrection, rebels would utilize stolen Scorpions against the UNSC. The M808 Scorpion was still in service with the UNSC during the events of the Human-Covenant War, serving alongside the M808B Scorpion and the M850 Grizzly.

During the Fall of Reach in 2552, Scorpions were dispatched around the continent of Eposz, battling the Covenant invaders, particularly during the Battle at Szurdok Ridge. As the invasion drew to the end, a Scorpion was abandoned near the Covenant-occupied Farragut Station, near the ONI facility SWORD Base. It was recovered by SPARTAN-B312 and the ODST squad accompanying the Spartan, and used to destroy the nearby Covenant anti-air cannons and pave the team's way to SWORD Base's gate. More Scorpions saw action during the Battle of Aszod, but most of them were destroyed under the overwhelming Covenant forces.

Numerous Scorpions were utilized by the UNSC Marines during the Battle of Mombasa, but most of them, again, were destroyed by the Covenant, especially because the diminishing number of Marines in the city. As the battle drew to an end, three ODSTs from squad Alpha-Nine commandeered a Scorpion during their escape on the city's Waterfront Highway while escorting an important asset. During the later parts of the Battle of Earth, the military base Crow's Nest was used as a storage for UNSC vehicles, including Scorpions, some of which were destroyed when the Covenant assaulted the base.

Near the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, particularly throughout the Battle of Installation 00, three Scorpions, one of them commandeered by John-117, were deployed from near Installation 00's Cartographer to punch through the Covenant defense to get to the Cartographer. In the ending hour of the war, a Scorpion, dropped from a D77H-TCI Pelican was utilized in the Battle of the Citadel, in which it played a vital role to eliminate the two Covenant Type-47 Scarab walkers.

Following the end of the war, M808 Scorpions were popular during War Games matches aboard Anvil Station and the. In 2554, Scorpions were a part of the UNSC garrison on Draetheus V. Many were assigned to the 23rd Armored Cavalry and operated during the battle for the planet. Infinity carried several M808s during her operations in both Battle of Requiem, two of which were commandeered once again by John-117, the first being used to clear a path to the grounded Infinity, and the second to punch through the Covenant defenses around the gravity well generator holding the ship within Requiem. At the Battle of Installation 03, a Scorpion was used to eliminate Covenant and Promethean opposition at the Altar.

Upon her return to the planet six months later during the Requiem Campaign, Infinity again deployed Scorpions to assist in ground operations, including another two that were assigned to Spartan Fireteam Crimson during their mission to the site codenamed Apex.

Changes from Halo 3/Halo 3: ODST to Halo: Reach

 * The tank has considerably less armor than its earlier counterparts, making it somewhat more balanced with the Wraith.
 * The tank visually recoils when firing the main gun. Shell casings are released out the back of the turret when it is fired.
 * The cockpit now has a translucent canopy, which reveals the driver.
 * The main gun is more powerful, with a larger blast radius; it has the ability to destroy a Wraith with two shots.
 * The main gun can be blasted off, rendering the tank ineffective in assaulting.
 * The velocity of the main cannon fire has been slightly decreased.
 * The reticule of the main gun now has vertical bars on its sides that fill as the the cannon is reloaded.
 * The secondary turret now overheats after continuous fire, much like the Wraith's turret.
 * The turret now slows down to a stop after rotating, it also turns slower than in Halo 3 and the Scorpion's rotating speed is also slower.
 * The tread coverings may be destroyed, which prevents the ODSTs on the level The Package from riding on them.

Changes from Halo: Reach to Halo 4

 * The velocity of the main cannon has been drastically reduced, now traveling at a fraction of the speed seen in any other game. The shot also arcs visibly at long range.
 * Along with other UNSC vehicles, a heavily damaged Scorpion will emit a siren.
 * The tank's speed has once again been decreased.
 * The pintle-mounted machine gun has been given more accuracy and now behaves more similarly to the Warthog's machine gun turret.
 * The tank's reticule has been changed to a more closed design with a circle at the centre.

General

 * A scorpion is a predatory arthropod, in keeping with the UNSC's tradition of naming atmospheric vehicles after real animals, with the exceptions of the Cyclops and Gremlin, which are named after mythical creatures, and starfighters, which are named after bladed weapons.
 * The Scorpion tank resembles an actual scorpion with the front body being the pincers, the rear body being the legs and the cannon being the tail and its stinger.
 * The Legendary Map Pack features the map Avalanche, a remake of the classic Sidewinder. For the remake, the Scorpion tank is adorned in full snow camouflage, along with all other UNSC vehicles. Avalanche is also the first Halo 3 multiplayer map to have a Scorpion placed in it by default.
 * In Halo: Reach Multiplayer Beta, the Scorpion had the word "MARINES" marked on its armor. This is not present in the final game.
 * In Halo: Reach, the achievement "Tank Beats Everything" is earned by keeping the tank intact during the ninth mission on Legendary difficulty.
 * A Scorpion tank is on display in the Museum of Humanity. A small model of the tank is also on display in the museum.

Easter eggs

 * In Halo: Reach, the code "S-052" is painted on the side of the Scorpion. This is a reference to Spartan Jorge-052, as well as a reference to Bungie's obsession with the number seven (0+5+2=7).
 * In Halo 4 several different warning labels are present on the Scorpion. They read:
 * "DANGER! STRONG MAGNETIC FIELD; NO METALLIC IMPLANTS; NO NEURO STIMULATORS; SERIOUS INJURY MAY RESULT"
 * "DANGER: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF MOVING MACHINERY"
 * "DANGER: ELECTRIC SHOCK RISK 121 GW"
 * "ELECTRICAL CONNECTION PORT; CONTAINS HIGH VOLTAGE: RISK OF ELECTRICAL SHOCK; CAN CAUSE INJURY OR DEATH; DISCONNECT ALL REMOTE ELECTRICAL POWER SUPPLIES BEFORE SERVICING"
 * "INVISIBLE LASER RADIATION: AVOID EYE OR SKIN EXPOSURE TO DIRECT OR SCATTER RADIATION LASER TYPE UNSC HIGHVOL WAVELENGTH 343NM, 1024NM; OUTPUT POWER: CLASS IV LASER".
 * One of the labels appears backwards.
 * All of the Scorpions in Halo 4 bear the number 0383, a reference to the number seven (0+3+8+3=14, 14/2=7). They also bear two skull decals; one on the left front tread and another on the left side of the main gun's barrel.

Glitches

 * It is possible to perform the turretless vehicle glitch on a Scorpion. It is not possible, however, to then attach another weapon and still be able to drive; for some reason, the Scorpion automatically applies the parking brake.
 * In Halo 3, if you melee off the machine gun turret, it will still fire with the bullets appearing to be coming out of where the turret barrel would have been.

List of appearances

 * Believe
 * Diorama
 * Halo 3
 * Halo 3: ODST
 * Halo: Reach
 * Halo 4
 * Spartan Ops
 * Halo: Spartan Assault
 * Halo: New Blood
 * Halo: Spartan Strike
 * Halo 5: Guardians
 * Halo Online