'real' CF Roux

If you're a fan of 2x2 and Roux read on...

I quite enjoy playing around with Guimond and often use it to solve my 3x3, finishing up with edge insertion. The problem is that my current edge insertion method is very slow, boring and monotonous. I thought a more fun way to do it might be to do a Roux style finish. It may not be the fastest method in the world but I find its good fun

It goes as follows:

1. Solve the corners using Guimond (or your favourite 2x2 method) and align the L/R centres with the L/R corners.
2. Complete the L/R 1x2x3 blocks using Pochmann style M2 to fill in the six edges. I do it as follows:
   • Find an edge to insert in the M slice and rotate it to the DF position using an M-slice move.
   • Rotate edge slot into either UF or UB depending on orientation of 'buffer piece' (setup move)
   • Insert with an M-slice move
   • Undo setup move.
   I find this system for filling edges slightly easier than M2 because I'm free to use both D-face edge positions for the buffer and both U-face positions to shoot the edge to.
3. Finish up with Roux step 4

The move count isn't great, but not drastic either. My last solve was fairly standard and took 65 moves (STM): 15 for Guimond, 25 for edge insertion , 25 for Roux step 4. My Roux is very n00bish tho, I'm sure its possible to do it in less

I do this for fun

Lol I do this a lot, I'm used this to bridge the gap from CF to Roux.

[offtopic]I just got my first sub-20 solve, YAY!![/offtopic]

Yes, the Roux finish can be a nice addition to Guimond (or any CF method. Note that Roux is nothing else than an advanced CF, even if it doesn't look that much like an CF anymore.) The only drawback is that in CF, your 7th and 8th edge don't necessarily match (when I'm solving, they can be random edges from their respective layers, even edges from the same layer sometimes), which makes recognition more difficult for the Roux edge orientation step...

TMOY said:

Yes, the Roux finish can be a nice addition to Guimond (or any CF method. Note that Roux is nothing else than an advanced CF, even if it doesn't look that much like an CF anymore.) The only drawback is that in CF, your 7th and 8th edge don't necessarily match (when I'm solving, they can be random edges from their respective layers, even edges from the same layer sometimes), which makes recognition more difficult for the Roux edge orientation step...

Click to expand...

Roux is a mixture between blockbuilding and corners first. How could you call something "Corners First" when you start with 3 edges, 2 corners, 1 center and then again? After the first 2 blocks you have solved half of the edges (6) and half of the corners (4)

TMOY said:

Yes, the Roux finish can be a nice addition to Guimond (or any CF method. Note that Roux is nothing else than an advanced CF, even if it doesn't look that much like an CF anymore.) The only drawback is that in CF, your 7th and 8th edge don't necessarily match (when I'm solving, they can be random edges from their respective layers, even edges from the same layer sometimes), which makes recognition more difficult for the Roux edge orientation step...

Click to expand...

My old 'beginner' CF method was to pair opposite U/D layer edges in the E-slice and use moves like F E2 F' to insert them. The recognition was very slow and move count wasn't great. The worst thing was leaving the final edge orientation to the end. It means the possibility of having to use the horrible: M' U M' U M' U2 M U M U M U2 alg! Roux does EO in a much more elegant way

One thing I find with it tho, is that the 4th step has a lot of sub-steps (or looks). One for EO, another for UR/UL placement, and a third for final EP (kindof like a 3LLL). As TMOY says: because the pieces involved in this stage can be anywhere in the M-slice I find myself looking around the cube quite a bit and it feels very stop-start-ish. Is it possible to blend these sub-steps into two or even one look with practice?

@AvGalen: I guess it would be better to place methods on a spectrum. Roux would deffo be much closer to the CF end. For example:

Corners First <-- pure CF -- Waterman -- Roux -- Petrus -- 8355 --> Edges First
or
Pure Blockbuilding <-- Heise -- Petrus -- Roux -- ZZ -- Fridrich --> Alg Spamming

the 3x3 CF method I use is like this:
ortega for corners (i don't know anything else), insert 3 edges on left after rotation, do a y2 rotation and finish up the other side, insert last edge on the [now] right side, orient, then permute middle edges, or simply one look IF i know the case. sub 25 average of 12, 18/19s single? hehe.
CF methods are fun.

and Cride5: you can try M' U M' U M' U2 M U M U' to orient the FU and BU edge.

Doing edge insertion using M-slice moves deffo seems much more sensible than my original method of using E-slice moves

How do you insert the final edge on the right side? I always did the final R/L (or U/D) edges simultaneously :confused:

CF is cool ... the first ever Rubik's solve was done corners-first by Erno Rubik himself

EDIT:

rachmaninovian said:

and Cride5: you can try M' U M' U M' U2 M U M U' to orient the FU and BU edge.

Click to expand...

Ah cool, so you use this before permutation? I used to do permutation followed by orientation. This alg is pretty cool tho, because it does orientation and permutation at the same time.

I've fiddled a little with it to find variants which do similar things:

• forwards cycle / flip top edges: (x) U M' U M' U2 M U M U' (x')
• forwards cycle / flip diagonal edges: U' M U M U2 M' U M' U
• reverse cycle / flip front edges: U M U M U2 M' U M' U'
• reverse cycle / flip diagonal edges: (x) U' M' U M' U2 M U M U (x')

(the last two are really just mirrors of the first two .. just do an z2 x rotation)

Actually ... does anyone know how many algs it would take to do the mid-slice orientation and permutation in one step? My guess is that there are:
((4!/2) * 2^3)/4 = 24 cases (inc. mirrors/inverses). Is there a list of algs somewhere to do mid-slice edge permutation and orientation this all in one step? If not I might generate some algs for the wiki.

yes I use that alg to orient pieces BEFORE permuting them. recognition is easier IMO. just use it as an orientation alg and don't care about the permutation until after orientation

and also, I was trying to work on the algs for mid slice orientation and permutation in one look. I do know some...but I gave up because the recognition sucks
of course the easy cases like just permutation you should already know..

maybe i'd try to rework on the method. maybe it can go sub 20 on average :O

rachmaninovian said:

and Cride5: you can try M' U M' U M' U2 M U M U' to orient the FU and BU edge.

Click to expand...

Other possibilities:
B2 U M U' B2 U M' U' to orient FD and BD
U M U' B2 U M' U' B2 to orient FD and BU
Assuming you do orientation before permutation of course.