The Warthog has exhisted since the original Halo and is one of the most durable vehicles ever designed. It is very tough and designed around a sort of roll cage that allows it to be knocked sideways by powerful blows rather than simply being destroyed. It seems to have been specifically designed to be weighted on the bottom so that it is more likely to land on its wheels after such a roll.
There are almost always three positions in a warthog, though there are similar transportation vehicles capable of carrying a driver, passanger, and up to four non-spartan infantry.
The Driver has control of the vehicle and has the ability to lock the breaks to execute power slides and have full control of the vehicle. There is a passenger seat right beside the driver which is capable of using melee attacks and any weapons or grenades they may have brought with them including objective items like flags and bombs. Unfortunately, the passenger has a limited effective field and can turn no more than 90 degrees in either direction. Behind these two is usually a gun emplacement. The gun can vary but this is the main method of dealing damage and protecting the warthog. Because of the passenger's limited field of visibility, the gunner has to balance watching the back of the vehicle where the passenger can't see and bringing what is almost always superior firepower to bear on targets blocking the vehicle's path.
There are three main types of Warthogs which all only deviate in the form of turret that it supports. The standard Warthog sports a rapid fire chain gun which generally doesn't overheat or require reloading. It is a fantastic vehicle for mid-large maps where it is primarily light vehicles and infantry traffic.
The Gausshog and Rockethogs are similar to this but sport much more powerful cannons. The Rockethog is a simple rocket pod that can store a certain number of rockets (usually six), fires them all at once and then has to reload. The Gausshog is a very rare sight but has a Gauss cannon mounted to it which is closer to a Rail Gun than a rocket launcher. It fires large metalic slugs using magnets to propel the slug without friction at a high speed towards it's target. These slugs don't inherently have explosives in them (though they can potentially) but appear to explode because of the force with which they hit objects. Because of the force of the projectile and the speed with which it can fire, it's possible to hit a target and cause it to tumble almost indefinitely until it is beyond the range of the cannon.
