Older cubers discussions

[mafergut]

@Selkie, I'm glad to hear that your company is offering you a package worth considering. Good luck with looking for a new job. I really wish you the best!

Also,... that 3:32.xx 6x6 time is insane!!! What's your 5x5 PB? Because that is like the equivalent of a 1:45.xx 5x5. I know you can reach sub-2 at 5x5 but, c'mon, at this pace you are gonna be the fastest over 40 on this whole mudball!!!

 

[h2f]

@Selkie, Chris good luck. I know what you feeling. Maybe I will have to change a job during spring time...

I've made subtitles to my last vlog. I hope they are understandable.

 

[Selkie]

@pglewis - Lookahead will come in time but a good test in F2L is to look at a pair. Close your eyes and solve it. Rince and repeat. This will tell you if you actually need to look at any cases whilst solving them. When you don't then you also don't need to look at the whilst solving with your eyes open leaving you to watch how the other pieces move

@mark49152 , @mafergut , @h2f - Thanks guys. I am sure it will all work out in the end.

@h2f - Thanks for taking the time to add sub titles, really enjoyed watching

@mafergut - I think my PB on 5x5 is a 1:47.xy but on 5x5 I average about 2:08. The improvement on 6x6 has been in the last two weeks where my PB for a mean of 3 was about 3:56.xy I seem to be beating that every few days. I am going to say that is more down to the new hardware rather than me, especially the Qiyi WuHua which seems perfect for me. Really enjoying the larger puzzles at the moment 6x6, 7x7 etc

 

[h2f]

@h2f - Thanks for taking the time to add sub titles, really enjoyed watching

Thanks for a feedback. It's only 7 minutes but I needed more than an hour to prepare it. I wish my English was better.

 

[bubbagrub]

@Selkie: Sorry to hear it's been a stressful time, but glad to hear the result has been not too bad. I hope it works out well.

A question I have for everyone: I've never done any kind of edge control, and am getting sick of horrible dot OLL cases, and also have a feeling that if I learn some edge control it might also generally contribute to my understanding of the cube which might be helpful for things like FMC. Anyway, I've been practising some slow solves where I do my best to orient all edges while inserting the last pair, and at least ensure there are two edges oriented in the worst case. I'm finding that doing it slowly, I can easily figure out without too much thinking how to orient edges, but then when I do fast solves it all goes out the window. I assume that if I practise it enough, it would start to come naturally including when I was solving more quickly, but I wonder if anyone else has experience or views on this? Is edge control worthwhile, or does it add too much overhead to the F2L?

 

[mark49152]

Thanks for a feedback. It's only 7 minutes but I needed more than an hour to prepare it. I wish my English was better.

Yeah thanks, I really enjoyed watching that, it's nice to see some other thoughts and views on the topic of cubing. Your English is fine. It's a shame there's not more YouTube content like this. There's only so many solves and unboxings I can watch before I get bored.

 

[Shaky Hands]

Thanks for a feedback. It's only 7 minutes but I needed more than an hour to prepare it. I wish my English was better.

Thanks for the subtitles. Much appreciated! Your English is absolutely fine.

 

[Shaky Hands]

@Shaky Hands Wow Andy your 5x5 times are coming on great! That on a Qiyi? Go go average a Brum Open buddy

Yes that's on Qiyi. I adjusted the tensions (tightened it from default settings) and it improved a bit for my turning style.

I don't recommend you holding your breath on the chance of me getting a 5x5 average at Brum but anything's possible. 4x4 average is more likely but I figure that's a 50% chance at best.

I think I posted here 6+ months ago, before noticing @Logiqx's thread regarding relative solve times that I'd like to get a 4x4 and 5x5 average by the end of the calendar year. I've managed to knock 50% off my averages for both since that point, so even though I doubt I'll reach that target I'll be close enough to them that the effort will have been worth it as I'm so much faster at big cubes overall than I was at the time I wrote that. Plus, for a 3x3 solver that averages ~25s I think my big cube times are respectable.

My other main targets for the year were getting a BLD success at home and learning all of OLL. I've achieved the first. For OLL, I know almost all the cases (51 at last count,) just not well enough to use them all when speedsolving. In FMC I can use them all as I can spend the additional time recognising and executing.

 

[h2f]

@mark49152 @Shaky Hands Thanks a lot. I've started adding subs for a sunday vlog.

It's a shame there's not more YouTube content like this. There's only so many solves and unboxings I can watch before I get bored.

My intial thought was close to it but after few weeks I've realized there's no cubing vlogs. So I've started to connect cubing and the things I usually do - driving for my son, driving to a job etc. For last few weeks I watch 3 or 4 channels with daily vlogs: in Polish and in Eglish (sad that Casey Neistat stopped vlogging).

 

[pipkiksass]

Is edge control worthwhile, or does it add too much overhead to the F2L?

I only use edge control where I have a made pair in the U later, and can see that RU'R' would leave me with a dot/2 corners. In those cases R'FRF' will flip the R and F edges, so I can end up either not having a bad dot case, or sometimes only OCLL cases.

Where I have a 3 move insert which will leave a dot case, I don't think it's overly efficient to NOT do the 3 move insert and do something clever. I'm sure, if you're Mats Valk, there's clever stuff to do in those cases, but making the pair in the U layer and orienting edges is, IMHO, less efficient than 2-look OLL.

To summarise: only when it's both obvious and easy to do so!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pglewis]

@Selkie: So glad to hear about the generous package they're offering even though the uncertainty isn't fun. I'm fairly sure I'd take it as well; even if I make the cut now, am I going to have to face the same dilemma annually? Here's to the path of least anxiety no matter which way the roller-coaster takes you.

I haven't started hardcore blind pair drills but it has been at least part of my regimen for several weeks and is definitely responsible for the majority of my recent lookahead gains. It has also been my primary indicator for which cases to focus on next. Y'all haven't steered me wrong yet, your collective advice is paying off. I expect by the beginning of the year sub 30 won't be the unicorn it is right now. That's really satisfying when consistent sub 1 min was a goal in late summer.

@bubbagrub: I'm in much the same boat with edge control. I definitely think it's worthwhile for me just for avoiding the dot case... when I remember to look. I question the savings in some cases still; I lose fast R U R' inserts on some last pairs plus whatever OLL case turns up, whereas the optimum for all dot OLL cases is apparently ~11HTM. (I see @pipkiksass says the same)

@h2f: Thank you for the time and effort to do the translation. I enjoyed the vlog!

 

[Lid]

More Square-1 here!
New a12 PB first sub17: 16.373, PB with 0.763(!)
Two counting 12's helps

Best time:
4. (11.855) (1, 3) / (-3, 0) / (3, 0) / (-4, -1) / (-3, -3) / (0, -2) / (-3, 0) / (6, -1) / (-2, 0) / (-4, 0) / (-4, -5)
y2 2,0/-1,0/-3,0/ || CS
1,6/5,2 || OBL
1,4/-1,2/-2,-2/3,0/ || CP, pure JJ, avoids the horrible W/O
3,-3/5,-1/-3,0/1,1/-3,0/(-1,0) || EP good U's

Spoiler: Scambles & Times

Average of 12: 16.373
1. 17.809 (4, 0) / (-4, -1) / (-5, -2) / (3, 0) / (-4, -1) / (0, -2) / (-3, 0) / (4, 0) / (-1, 0) / (-2, 0) / (-5, -4) / (-3, -4)
2. 12.989 (0, 2) / (3, 0) / (3, 0) / (-3, 0) / (0, -3) / (-5, -5) / (0, -3) / (-4, 0) / (0, -3) / (-2, 0) / (2, 0) / (-2, 0) / (1, 0) / (4, 0)
3. 17.077 (0, -4) / (-2, 4) / (5, -4) / (-3, 0) / (4, -2) / (3, -1) / (-3, 0) / (3, 0) / (-4, 0) / (-2, 0) / (3, -2) / (6, 0)
4. (11.855) (1, 3) / (-3, 0) / (3, 0) / (-4, -1) / (-3, -3) / (0, -2) / (-3, 0) / (6, -1) / (-2, 0) / (-4, 0) / (-4, -5)
5. 18.070[p] (0, -4) / (-5, -2) / (3, 0) / (0, -3) / (-4, -4) / (-2, -5) / (-4, 0) / (0, -3) / (4, -1) / (-2, -4) / (4, 0) / (6, 0) /
6. 15.932 (0, 5) / (0, -3) / (-3, 0) / (-2, -2) / (0, -3) / (6, 0) / (0, -1) / (-3, 0) / (0, -2) / (-1, -3) / (-4, 0) / (-3, -4) /
7. 16.460 (0, 2) / (4, 4) / (3, 0) / (-1, -4) / (-3, 0) / (1, -5) / (-4, 0) / (6, -3) / (3, -5) / (0, -1) / (-4, 0) / (0, -5)
8. 14.471 (3, -4) / (-2, -5) / (3, 0) / (-4, -1) / (-5, -2) / (6, -1) / (-3, -3) / (-1, -2) / (-4, -2) / (-3, -2)
9. 16.057 (-2, 0) / (0, 6) / (3, 0) / (-1, -4) / (0, -3) / (-3, -2) / (6, -3) / (2, 0) / (-5, 0) / (-4, 0) / (6, -3) / (3, 0) / (-4, 0) /
10. (24.375[p]) (1, -3) / (3, 0) / (2, -4) / (1, -2) / (5, -1) / (6, -5) / (3, 0) / (3, 0) / (-2, 0) / (4, -4) / (3, -2) / (-2, 0)
11. 12.420 (-3, 5) / (4, -2) / (6, -3) / (-3, 0) / (-1, -4) / (4, -3) / (-3, -3) / (-1, 0) / (-4, 0) / (4, 0) / (4, -4) / (0, -4)
12. 22.440[p] (1, 0) / (5, -4) / (0, -3) / (3, -3) / (1, -2) / (6, 0) / (-1, 0) / (0, -3) / (0, -3) / (3, 0) / (6, -4) / (2, -5) / (-1, 0)

 

[pglewis]

I expect by the beginning of the year sub 30 won't be the unicorn it is right now.

Haha... 30.056, 2-look last layer . It just keeps denying me

 

[earth2dan]

Today I managed to break my 5x5 PB twice in the same Ao5.

Nice! I'm loving my new QiYi 5x5 as well.

@Selkie I'm glad they've offered you a good deal. Sounds like the right call taking it. Wow, I'm totally blown away by those 6x6 times! You're an inspiration, and despite what I said now you've got me eyeballing that new QiYi 6x6

Holy smokes guys! Impressive sune's all around. I don't have a stackmat timer, just keyboard and cell phone. Not sure if my timers are a factor, but I'm not even close to you guys. I cannot, for the life of me, sub 1 a sune. I just did 20 or so sunes/antisunes and my best was 1.02/1.04 respectively. Average was probably 1.15 (if I ignore the couple I flubbed).

 

[kbrune]

I've been working on 3 cycle for corners lately. What a frustrating process! I'm finally at the point where I can solve any 3 cycle By setting up to pure comms.

However. I'm very slow! Especially when cube rotations are required. Takes forever to find a simple setup and if I have to rotate the cube it often messes me up.

I've noticed a few mentions of corner comms but am unsure who uses them in this thread.

I'm looking for any advice or tips and trick for the transition to comms. I've watched Noah's tutorial vids so I've used some of his suggestions like starting with one sticker and going through all 18 combinations. It's helped. But so far I don't see how I'll ever become quick enough to fully use comms.

 

[mark49152]

However. I'm very slow! Especially when cube rotations are required. Takes forever to find a simple setup and if I have to rotate the cube it often messes me up.

It takes a long time and a lot of work and patience to switch. I have spent months and done thousands of corners only solves and am only now surpassing where I was with OP corners. The difference is that OP is brainless and you just keep spamming TPS without pauses until done. Comms are way more move efficient, but it takes only short pauses to cancel out the time benefit gained from that efficiency. Eliminating those pauses takes a lot of practice. Comms is a long term investment.

 

[kbrune]

@pglewis
Keep at it. I remember when I challenged myself to become sub 30. It felt like it took forever (about 4 months) But then all of a sudden I dropped 5-8 second almost over night. (Prob over a couple weeks) I remember wondering if I was getting easy scrambles or unknowingly cheating. Sub 30 is all practice. No matter if you're 4 look LL or 1 look. You'll get there!

 

[kbrune]

@mark49152
That makes me feel better about the whole thing. In his vids. Noah says that it's akin to when you learned F2L. I can see the parallel but it's waaaaaaaay more difficult. Considering there are about 6 times (ish) more possible cases.

Did you spend a lot of time looking at how other people approached cases you had a hard time with? Or simply practicing the way you figured them out until they started becoming more familiar?

 

[bubbagrub]

@Lid and @pipkiksass -- thanks both for the tips. Sounds like the way to go is to use partial edge control for avoiding dot cases. I have found it interesting how easy it is (when solving slowly) in about 75% of cases to orient all edges while inserting the last pair, but it's pretty clear that this is not of much practical value for speedsolving.

 

[mark49152]

Did you spend a lot of time looking at how other people approached cases you had a hard time with? Or simply practicing the way you figured them out until they started becoming more familiar?

Both. I figured out my own system, but when I'm not happy with something, will look at how others do it to get new ideas.

F2L is a very good parallel for how you learn to figure out comms. Then over time it becomes more automatic, so each setup and comm just becomes tightly associated with the letter pair and executed from muscle memory without thought; in a way that's more like LL.