Here are the printed rules for the card:

When attacking a ship inside your firing arc, at the start of the "Compare Results" step, you may discard this card to cancel 1 of the defender's (evade) results.

My typical faux pas when using this card is that I play it before they are "done" modifying their dice. The issue is that it is to your advantage if they don't spend their focus or evade because they THINK they avoided all of your attack dice naturally. The problem is that I've had people kinda start to move on with the game after naturally rolling enough evades and then say "Oh, I wasn't done" when I try and use Crack Shot.

The issue is, during a normal passage of play, players don't typically look one another in the eye and verbally confirm (in unison) "and now we enter the compare results step."

Any suggestions from the community?

UPDATE 4/2/2018

I have applied some of the suggestions from the community to my use of the card. In particular, I played a match vs. a friend who was using an X/7 defender with a stealth device. He quickly realized that my 1 point card could shut down his 3 point card and would over spend on tokens every time the Crack Shot! ship would fire at him.

So, yeah. Keeping the Crack Shot! as a persistent threat that your opponent knows about is also a very good use of the card.

Thanks, InterWebs!

Best thing to do is remind your opponent you have Crackshot at the beginning of the game.

Agree with Innese

They know you have crackshot. If they forget about it, thats their fault. Same goes for evade tokens, ive destroyed people that technically evaded everything and had an evade token so they didnt spend it. Crackshot, dead, "Oh well i'll just spend the ev-" "Compare results is after spending tokens, you knew i had crackshot still"

There really is no "not being a jerk" to such a card. Its a one shot card, im not going to use it unless it WILL do something, be it at my opponent's forgetfulness or not. Either you discard it and do damage, or you discard it and he gets an opportunity to evade that one-shot card anyway via tokens you get every turn.

This is why crackshot was considered pretty crap until it was ruled to happen in the compare results step.

Game are won on missplay, not just chance... If all dice are thrown, they look at result and say, Well I evade all result, and you say fine I use crackshot, too late for them...

Forgetting about Crack shot is the same thing as planning a red maneuver when stressed... or taking a bad Barrel Roll.

Would they let you rewind these after it is done, no, then same thing here, they made a bad choice...

Edit: Sure, if you too are waiting there without saying a word, you have to ask, are you done, you can't just say: Crackshot, gotcha... He is the one that must modify last, you confirm and then say Crackshot... I did this in the past... The guy was at 2 hull, I rolled HIT HIT on Crackshot Tomax Bren. He rolled EVADE EYE EYE, and paused to think. At some point I said are you using evade or keeping it for attack. He thought more and said, nah keep it. I said fine Crackshot from Tomas. Was it mind trick? kind of, but at the same time, I always ask that every time, not just with Tomax.

The thing here is, this is Tomax, I used Crackshot two time previously... that he forget this time was not me being a jerk...

So you could declare you are using it to nullify the future crack shot then?

5 minutes ago, MRCWING said:

So you could declare you are using it to nullify the future crack shot then?

Yup.

One of the big benefits of Crack Shot is that it has effects even if you don't use it - forcing people to overspend on their evades to avoid you crack shotting them.

Welcome to another example of why confirmation should be given and acknowledged before play proceeds even when it may look like nothing it happening but something COULD happen or depends on that transition.

You shouldn't play Crack Shot "early" to lock a player out of defense modification and if they have a modification they COULD make but aren't you really should make sure they are passing on that opportunity before moving onto the Compare Results step. Although you may not want to I also recommend you makes sure they know what you can do after the play is passed to avoid something like "I thought you'd already spend CS with that ship instead of the other ship."

Having learned from playing on Vassal, I'll usually ask if they're set if I have any triggers that rely on them being finished with whatever.

4 hours ago, BDrafty said:

Here are the printed rules for the card:

When attacking a ship inside your firing arc, at the start of the "Compare Results" step, you may discard this card to cancel 1 of the defender's (evade) results.

My typical faux pas when using this card is that I play it before they are "done" modifying their dice. The issue is that it is to your advantage if they don't spend their focus or evade because they THINK they avoided all of your attack dice naturally. The problem is that I've had people kinda start to move on with the game after naturally rolling enough evades and then say "Oh, I wasn't done" when I try and use Crack Shot.

The issue is, during a normal passage of play, players don't typically look one another in the eye and verbally confirm (in unison) "and now we enter the compare results step."

Any suggestions from the community?

I am not trying to be rude or harsh, but I would simply say this... play it the right way. The biggest problem I have seen in situations like this is that players do not read what the other player brought so they have no idea what can happen. Lord knows I have done this from time to time. Missed opportunities are the bane of existence to this game. Its not being a jerk if you are doing what your cards say you can do. Now, if you start bragging about it or trying to exploit of loop hole, that's on you, but if you put your cards out and you have or offered your opponent a chance to review them and they don't pay attention, let them learn.

Before your opponent finishes modifying his defence roll, there’s nothing stopping him asking if the attacker has Crackshot. I’ve done it plenty of times. Confirm if Craclshot could come into effect and then make the necessary decision regarding your defence.

When I usually bring crack shot I always ask a player "are you done (modifying your dice)?". If they say yes, then I drop the crack shot. No need to spell out that you have a crack shot they forgot about. The confirmation should be a enough of a warning by itself.

42 minutes ago, tsondaboy said:

When I usually bring crack shot I always ask a player "are you done (modifying your dice)?". If they say yes, then I drop the crack shot. No need to spell out that you have a crack shot they forgot about. The confirmation should be a enough of a warning by itself.

+1 to this. "Any other mods?" is my typical question. Sometimes, the real Jedi Mind Trick is not getting them to forget to account for Crack Shot... it's getting them to overspend tokens or abilities (like Palpatine), as mentioned above, letting your Crack Shot work like a bargain Hot Shot Co-Pilot.

Personally I find the best trick to be forgetting I have it too. Then remembering at a crucial moment when they have 1hp left and itbcqn kill them.

7 hours ago, tsondaboy said:

When I usually bring crack shot I always ask a player "are you done (modifying your dice)?". If they say yes, then I drop the crack shot. No need to spell out that you have a crack shot they forgot about. The confirmation should be a enough of a warning by itself.

Exactly. This doesn't just apply for crack shot, but for any other stage; always ask and wait for a nod from your opponent before proceeding with anything that could dramatically change the game state - flipping a dial, rolling green dice against an incoming attack, you name it.

If they forget a trigger, it's a missed opportunity, and their fault, but if you don't give them a chance to say they're going to use it and just plow on with the game, it's yours.

If my opponent is allowed to retroactivley use a focus or evade token after I declare CS, I'm going to demand I be allowed to retroactivley "un-use" my CS in responce.

Good manners just solve this.

Are you done? Yes. Crack Shot!

Are you done? Do you have Crack Shot? Yes I do. Do you intend to use it? I don't know, depends if you're done or not... Evil grin.

The will they/won't they mind games are fun. Personally, I'd much rather they know I have it and may/may not use it.

11 hours ago, tsondaboy said:

When I usually bring crack shot I always ask a player "are you done (modifying your dice)?". If they say yes, then I drop the crack shot. No need to spell out that you have a crack shot they forgot about. The confirmation should be a enough of a warning by itself.

I think this is the way to go in the future. You are still mildly telegraphing that you have the crack shot, but it's the best you can do.

I'll usually wait till they call out the results, reach to remove their dice or something of the like that is clearly passed the modified dice step then say "crackshot!" as quickly as I can in a gotcha! kinda way. Always in a casual game anyway. :-)

7 hours ago, Cuz05 said:

Good manners just solve this.

Are you done? Yes. Crack Shot!

Are you done? Do you have Crack Shot? Yes I do. Do you intend to use it? I don't know, depends if you're done or not... Evil grin.

The will they/won't they mind games are fun. Personally, I'd much rather they know I have it and may/may not use it.

Although some may call it "playing the game for your opponent" I'd suggest simply modifying that second line to "Are you done yet so I can determine if I wish to use Crack Shot or not?" The follow up to when you get a "yes" would then be "Are you using Crack Shot or not?" and then move on to actually comparing the results.

That you have Crack Shot available or not is public information so you should make sure they are aware of that information.

45 minutes ago, StevenO said:

That you have Crack Shot available or not is public information so you should make sure they are aware of that information.

Are you remembering your opponent to not forget their stress each maneuver planning phase ?

Are you letting them know they have a crit they should flip down with an action each time they can take an action ?

Do you let the opponent know they should plan a none white maneuver when they have the crit that give a stress on white maneuver ?

7 minutes ago, muribundi said:

Are you remembering your opponent to not forget their stress each maneuver planning phase ?

Are you letting them know they have a crit they should flip down with an action each time they can take an action ?

Do you let the opponent know they should plan a none white maneuver when they have the crit that give a stress on white maneuver ?

Point taken although depending on the situation I certainly may remind them of what could happen as the result of each of those things.

I have no idea what maneuvers they are planning so pointing out the "what ifs" for planning doesn't do much good. Besides that there ARE times someone will deliberately dial in some maneuver despite being stressed (maybe the 2 straight is what they want if they don't choose to use some possible Stress Remover although if that's what they want dialing it in may be better) and expecting them not to do a white maneuver just because it causes stress is like expecting someone to never perform a red maneuver to begin with.

When it comes to Actions I certainly will confirm my opponent is passing on taking any action when the opportunity is presented. If there is a trigger of any kind that trigger should be acknowledged by both before play continues which greatly cuts down on "missed opportunities" especially when they shouldn't exist to begin with.

19 minutes ago, muribundi said:

Are you remembering your opponent to not forget their stress each maneuver planning phase ?

Are you letting them know they have a crit they should flip down with an action each time they can take an action ?

Do you let the opponent know they should plan a none white maneuver when they have the crit that give a stress on white maneuver ?

Making sure someone is aware you could pull a crack shot on their dice is just good sportsmanship to me. You let them know they have the chance to make a decision before you make yours.

All the examples you give are decisions they make for themself, regardless of what you do.

3 hours ago, PanchoX1 said:

I'll usually wait till they call out the results, reach to remove their dice or something of the like that is clearly passed the modified dice step then say "crackshot!" as quickly as I can in a gotcha! kinda way. Always in a casual game anyway. :-)

I find that the louder I verbalize the "CRACK SHOT!", the more effective it is.

54 minutes ago, Cuz05 said:

Making sure someone is aware you could pull a crack shot on their dice is just good sportsmanship to me. You let them know they have the chance to make a decision before you make yours.

All the examples you give are decisions they make for themself, regardless of what you do.

Are you reminding them to plan their move so they don't got catch by one of your Bomb...

Do you remind them to not go close to the edge of the map because you have ion weapon...

There is sportmanship and there is playing for the opponent. The fact Crackshot is right after a decision they make instead of a couple of minute later does not make it more "sportman" for annoucement. This is a game of skill, not a game of who will throw better dice only.

I'll ask my opponent if he is done before rushing, whatever I have Crackshot or not or before using any other trick I have. But too bad for them if they forget something.

1 hour ago, StevenO said:

When it comes to Actions I certainly will confirm my opponent is passing on taking any action when the opportunity is presented.

Yes, I always ask my opponent which action he is doing, but I don't point to him: "Here you have this action that all damage card are now crit, you should maybe turn it down..."

Also, all of this is tournament talk.

I'm not a jerk in casual play, I always remind everything to my opponent. I even let them do take back when they are total blunder...