M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tank

Scorpion "This here is 66 tons of straight-up, HE-spewin', divine intervention!"

- Avery J. Johnson

The M808B Scorpion Main Battle Tank  (abbreviated M808B MBT), commonly shortened to simply the Scorpion or Scorp, is a UNSC tank. It has one large cannon, significant armor, and can carry a compliment of five troops: four passengers and one marines who operates the mounted machine gun.

Overview
" Hey!, how does 90 millimeters of Tungsten strike ya? " - Gunnery Sergeant Stacker, Halo 3, The Ark

The sturdy M808B Scorpion MBT (MBT: Main Battle Tank) is an armored track vehicle used during planetary combat. It can seat a driver, a gunner (Spartans do not require a gunner because of their neural implants, but it is unknown how Covenant Elites pilot it) and four passengers.

Its main function is to provide anti-vehicular support. The Scorpion is equipped with two weapon systems. It has a short-to-medium-range coaxial machine gun and an extremely powerful main cannon. While the main cannon can only shoot one round every few seconds, the machine gun has unlimited ammunition and can fire even when the cannon is reloading. The Scorpion has a ceramic-titanium armor which makes it invulnerable to small-arms fire, but it is at risk from enemy anti-tank infantry from within which fire from its guns cannot hit targets.

The Scorpion has a blind spot around it because the turret is mounted far back and elevated on a pedestal. The tank houses an interesting track assembly, made of four bogies, or tread assemblies, with two on each flank of the vehicle, front-to-back. This makes the Scorpion a rather broad target and presumably easy to spot from the air.

Compared to modern tanks it appears as more of a light tank, being substantially smaller than modern tanks. it uses a smaller crew of two to three, a rather unconventional layout, (where the gun turret does not house a gunner and/or tank commander) and the cupola on Halo 3 is somewhat unconventionally placed. It's 90mm gun seems small compared to modern tanks that use the 120mm gun and is more likely to be seen on a light tank or a heavy armored car. However due to more advanced technology it could be just as, if not more so, effective than a 120mm gun. Alternatively, the 90mm cannon could be the "light" variant of the M808, while a 105mm cannon can be mounted for greater offensive power, which would be more in keeping with Main Battle Tank armaments.

Its light and crew-efficient design could be down to the requirements of a tank to be used by the UNSC Marines as a heavy tank would prove useless in their mobile warfare style and be difficult to drop close or into combat zones. Marines can sometimes hitch a ride on the sides of the Scorpion, they employ their own weapons and engage nearby infantry though incoming heavy fire can be fatal to your allies. The real weakness of the Scorpion is that it is quite slow and, if enemies are too close to the tank, the driver is unable to get a clear shot and it would be quite difficult to run the enemies over as the driver would need a considerable amount of speed.

If the Scorpion is enemy-controlled, you will need more powerful and heavier armaments to eliminate it such us a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher. You could also sneak up on the armored adversary and jump on the tank and attack the driver with melee attacks and/or plant a grenade inside the tank. The enemy would then have the only option to leave the vehicle and defend himself in person.

Halo: Combat Evolved
The Halo: Combat Evolved version features the standard cannon and machine gun found on all Scorpion Tanks. However, the main cannon requires four seconds to reload, leaving the tank highly vulnerable to enemy fire. The main cannon appears to be less accurate than the Halo 2 and 3 version. The machine gun is also very inaccurate, reliably hitting only the closest enemies. However, the Scorpion tank is fairly fast and maneuverable, not to mention heavy. Thus, it is an effective assault transport. For balance during multi player, the closed roof is replaced with a roll cage with the driver elevated a bit, so that the tank driver would be easier to kill, as the UNSC vehicles in Halo: Combat Evolved were indestructible. Also in The First Halo, you could only shoot straight in front of you while moving.

One feature unique to this version is the ability to ride on one of the four tread covers in multi player. Riding this way is similar to riding in the passenger seat of the Warthog but riders are much more vulnerable. Also, the tank is only drivable in Campaign in the level Assault on the Control Room and appears in the cut scene of the Pillar of Autumn.

Halo 2
The Scorpion Tank had a massive overhaul in Halo 2. The most noticeable differences are the way the tank drives, the slightly downgraded main cannon, and the removal of the antennas. Instead of driving in the direction the turret is facing, the body and the turret are controlled independently by the left and right thumb stick, respectively. This means that you are able to drive in one direction and shoot in another. The main cannon's reload time has been noticeably shortened and the machine gun is now much more accurate. However, the Scorpion's speed has been reduced to balance game play.

The option to ride on the tread covers has been removed in Halo 2. However, you can still stand on the tread covers in front of the cannon. It could be a good transport and if the tank is hijacked, the one standing on it can get it back for their team. AI characters, such as Marines, can still sit and ride on the canopy, however.

The tank is impervious to sniper rifle fire in Halo 2 when it is not damaged, but if the canopy takes enough damage, it will fall off, exposing the driver's head.

During the Halo 2 Campaign, the first level you get to operate a Scorpion tank is on Metropolis, where Sergeant Johnson drops off the tank to go over the bridge. Unlike Halo: Combat Evolved, the Scorpion is available in three levels, Metropolis, Delta Halo, and Quarantine Zone.

AI players may now pilot the tank. However, just like the player and the Wraith's plasma cannons, AI players cannot use the machine gun on the Scorpion. Only player-controlled characters can use the guns, for example, the Master Chief, the Arbiter, Elite-modeled players in multi player, etc.

Halo 3
The Halo 3 era Scorpion Tank's controls are the same as Halo 2, with the exception or the Left Trigger, which doesn't fire the secondary machine gun (which is now on the gunner turret). The speed of the vehicle has been adjusted so that it is about as fast as its first iteration in Halo, but it does take a few seconds to get up to full speed.

In Halo 3, the Scorpion's main gun was confirmed to use a tungsten-based projectile. Tungsten is a very dense metal that is extremely resistant to physical impact and heat. It is also very heavy, and these factors make it ideal for use in a cannon. A muzzle brake was also added to the barrel of the gun, which is a device that diverts excess muzzle blast sideways reducing recoil of the gun. A similar piece of equipment on an infantry-sized weapon can be seen on the barrel of the SRS-99 Sniper Rifle Series. The main gun also has a fair amount of recoil, pushing the tank backwards slightly with each shot.

Like the new Wraith, the Scorpion has a secondary position for the turret gunner. The turret makes boarding much harder, but the gunner is highly exposed to enemy fire. Appearance wise, the Scorpion has more detail and the antennas have returned. Also there is apparantly a small missle rack next to the cannon. The tank is drivable in the levels The Ark and The Covenant.

However, due to balance problems, the Scorpion does not appear by default in any Halo 3 maps, and can only appear in multi player in a forged map.

Countermeasures

 * Firing a Rocket Launcher or a Fuel Rod Cannon at the Scorpion generally inflicts damage or kills the driver.
 * Sniper Rifles: Snipe the Driver or the Gunner. Note: Sniping the driver is only really possible in Halo: Combat Evolved/Halo PC, because in Halo 2 and Halo 3, the driver's compartment is covered over.
 * Board the Tank, either punching it repeatedly in the back or planting a grenade into it. Be warned though, with the new gunner feature, this makes it an excellent tactic in conjunction with a Sniper.
 * Using another Tank or Anti-Tank Vehicle such as the Wraith or Gauss Warthog.
 * Using a Power Drain will disable the movement of the tank, also decreasing the enemy's shield. This also proved to be quite risky as the Scorpion will still be able to fire its cannon.
 * Although risky, it is possible to take out a tank using two plasma grenades in Halo: Combat Evolved/Halo PC, as they are significantly stronger than in Halo 2/Halo 3. This tactic is especially useful if you have unlimited grenades.

Multi player Use
The Scorpion, being one of the most powerful vehicles in multiplayer, is used mainly for large assaults and infantry cover as other players can hide behind it. A popular tactic in multiplayer is to use a Sniper in conjunction with the tank to spot out targets that the tank can't see. Then, the tank bombards said targets acting as a sort of "mobile artillery". The artillery role is better filled by the Wraith though, seeing as how the Wraith fires a mortar.

Character Compatibility

 * Spartans
 * Elites (Halo 2 and 3. Can only can ride as passengers in Halo 3)
 * Flood Combat Form (Halo 2)
 * Marines (can ride as passengers, but can also drive in Halo 2 and Halo 3)

Halo Wars Stats

 * Air Damage: 22
 * Vehicle Damage: 93
 * Infantry Damage: 40
 * Structure Damage: 51
 * Defense: 34

Known Scorpion Tanks

 * 12-9F5
 * 957-A3
 * UE8-14
 * TB-SB-1
 * HJ3-213

Trivia

 * On the Turret of the Tank, there is an image of a Scorpion. In Halo 3, an image of a scorpion lies on the front bogies. See picture to right.
 * On the backside of the Turret, there are three pipes that look like the number 117, the Master Chief's designation.
 * 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.
 * 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 bogies being the pincers, the rear bogies 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.
 * In Red vs. Blue, the AI Sheila (whose name was originally Phyllis) originated in a Scorpion tank(which kept getting blown up). She was later transferred into a ship, leaving the AI Gary to take control of the tank.  The tank was soon abandoned, as Gary was transferred into the same computer as Sheila, where she promptly placed him behind a firewall to prevent him from further aiding Wyoming.
 * In Halo: Combat Evolved, the Scorpion tank cannon was a solid object, while in Halo 2 and Halo 3 the player will fall through if they try to walk on the barrel.
 * In Halo 2 if you enter the Scorpion but move the control stick up the Scorpion will still move forward even though your character is not technically in the tank.
 * In the Legendary Map Pack, one of the maps will feature a snow camoflauged Scorpion.

Related Articles

 * Wraith - The Covenant equivalent of the Scorpion MBT
 * Rhino - The UNSC's Self-Propelled Artillery Vehicle or Heavy Tank