(Curious how much of this post I recycled? Can you tell which one I wrote first? Go check out the Hoggit announcement thread and say hello to the bunch over there! Also, PA? Yeah... Sorry. Hoggit already knows this about me: I don't do brevity in text... Hi!)

Important edit about Teamspeak: Hoozin points out that Teamspeak 3.0.8.1 is not compatible with ACRE. If you're using 3.0.8.1, you'll need to uninstall it and reinstall either 3.0.7 or 3.0.8 if you want to play.

TarBender included a link to The Wrecking Crew's setup guide in the comments. I should have done that from the beginning, it's an excellent resource. Please go through that as early as you can if you have any setup to do, but be mindful of anything mentioning Beta. Any discrepancies should be resolved according to our picture guide. As an example: a full retail patch (1.62) is out incorporating all the features that matter from the recent beta cycle. There are new beta versions beyond this, but they're meaningless right now for our purposes. It is much easier to run 1.62 that way you all know you're on the correct version. Note the squared "Beta" checkbox in our picture guide. This will not disrupt any other existing modlists or games you might have or play; it makes the betapatch run optionally depending on what Six sees the server running that you want to connect to. It is the one major edit I'd make to The Wrecking Crew's guide if I could. :)

/r/hoggit and /r/ProjectAwesome had our first impromptu game of ArmA last Saturday, and we had a blast. You guys were a ton of fun and a bunch of Hoggiters are itching for more, so we're thinking "Why wait till the weekend? Let's do something now!"

We've been putting together the infrastructure for a really cool monster of an event we want to run in the future (some of you know what I'm talking about) together with PA and the broader /r/arma community. But we need to get ready for it, and first we need to learn to work as a team. And we do that by gaming together. :D

The first (of hopefully many) of these will be tonight for anyone and everyone that's interested. We've got a heavily customized Takistan Domination we use as a standard stomping ground to have fun and learn to work together on, as well as our test-bed for mission editing and scripting concepts. Here is the Org Chart with the existing slot disposition if you're at all curious. Sheet two on that chart is Things You Should Know, check it out to find out what is unique to our Domi map and suggestions to help you find a role and get setup quickly. Between us, I expect we can pack a good many people in there. There are slots for nearly 70 players. Can the server handle that many? I have no idea; our largest count was in the low 20's and that was flawless. Lets find out! If we need to beef it up, better we find out now than when we start the MSO!

What kind of mods does it use? Well, much of what PA already uses. We're huge fans of ACE and ACRE (as DCS pilots, we get cranky if we can't over-complicate things and have fancy radios), and it has a few other fun extras. Like this little fella. Hoggit and PA share much the same playstyle and the Org Chart reflect that: we love a solid dose of MilSim and will design our games around it, but we never forget we're playing a computer game to have fun. That M109A6 has a Fire Control System that looks complicated initially, but it's a cinch to operate and even a single player can put a rain of shells downrange with just a little practice!

How do you get setup? Just follow this image! (The server will be sporting a new name tomorrow to reflect it's new cross-community purpose. The picture instructions will work, but rest assured the PA name will be on there when the server is next restarted!) This will create an automatically updating preset in SixUpdater; if the running modlist ever changes, your preset will update accordingly. A word of caution though: because it's a proper dedicated server expected to remain up when admins aren't around, signature checking is on. You'll get signature errors and be refused a connection if you try to join with mods not on that list. (JSRS is awesome, but a big download and totally optional. You'll need the rest.) The password? Appropriately enough: hoggitPA

Many thanks to Slick for the help setting it up, and we want you guys to feel every bit as home on it as we do. Some of PA already has admin access to it, or will shortly. We seriously hope the PA community will consider it as much PA's as Hoggit's. We have it default to our Domi practice/test mission because it makes for exciting gameplay and it's a great place to learn, but you're welcome to play the missions you like on it. Hoggit and PA have a lot in common, and share a great many readers. It stands to reason we would enjoy the same ArmA. :)

This game will be on the PA teamspeak, so no worries there. If you ever want to visit some channels smelling of jet fuel and GAU-8 smoke though, you'll find us at hoggit.us.

A number of us will be around and we'll restart the server fresh at 7pm then pile in for some good fun and teamwork. Domination is super-tolerant though of join-in-progress, so don't feel like you need to miss out if you can't make the start. Those of you I got to play with on Saturday were a fantastic crowd. I sincerely look forward to more of the same!

Humblest apologies to non-North American PA gamers. The vast majority of Hoggit is based in the NA-time zones so our weekday events are almost always around this time in (our) evening. The server remains up for you guys 24/7 though. Feel free to use it whenever. :)

And those of you that are editors/scripters and might be interested in lending a hand getting the big event mission file ready... Here are some documents you might like to look over. Send me a PM and we'll get you added to our working files and planning documents.