Incorporating Empty Slots

[CubeLord]

Some people like Badmephisto say that empty slots can be useful and speed up your times. He says that you need to make use of empty slots. I don't see how empty slots can be of use to us cubers. Could this be the reason why my times are paralyzed? Is this why all the good cubers are where they are? Please tell me speedcubers. I need help.:confused:

 

[cmhardw]

Some people like Badmephisto say that empty slots can be useful and speed up your times. He says that you need to make use of empty slots. I don't see how empty slots can be of use to us cubers. Could this be the reason why my times are paralyzed? Is this why all the good cubers are where they are? Please tell me speedcubers. I need help.:confused:

I just recently wrote a post semi-related to this on the speedsolving yahoo group.

tinyurl.com/mhrn72

Hope that shows at least some cases where empty slots are really nice. And yes, I think empty slots are an absolute staple of my F2L solving.

Chris

 

[Ellis]

Empty slots can be extremely helpful to utilize. You said your heard badmephisto say it, well doesn't he give a specific example? Standard F2L algs are under the assumption that all other slots are filled, so you have less freedom in how you pair up the corner and edge. But a lot of the time there are quicker ways to make the pair if you don't have to worry about messing up certain other slots.

 

[ThatGuy]

I can't do the reverse scramble but there is a case where if there is no empty slot 2 cube rotations are required.

FDR corner is in FUR with the white sticker facing you. FL edge is in UF. Imagine the BL slot isn't filled, and solve that case. (I can only set this up by removing cubies)

 

[Ellis]

I can't do the reverse scramble but there is a case where if there is no empty slot 2 cube rotations are required.

FDR corner is in FUR with the white sticker facing you. FL edge is in UF. Imagine the BL slot isn't filled, and solve that case. (I can only set this up by removing cubies)

FDR corner and FL edge?

No case has two rotations required.

 

[jcuber]

No case has any rotations required.

 

[Ellis]

No case has any rotations required.

Thanks for making the point I was just making.

 

[brunson]

I'm big on empty slots, the can cut insertion move count in half in many cases.

But, there's an added bonus:
What are the odds of "accidentally" making a corner you're not trying to insert if you use a last slot algo? 0
What are the chances you're "accidentally" make the open corner if you use it? >0

(>0)/0 = Infinity, therefore using empty slots is infinitely better than not.

Q.E.D. ;-)

 

[ThatGuy]

But they are required if you want a faster F2L. It's all about how you put it into context.

 

[Ellis]

But they are required if you want a faster F2L. It's all about how you put it into context.

I don't even think that's necessarily true. You could use d/d' moves instead. But still, I don't think that you can say for everyone that cube rotations are required for it to be as fast as it can be. How do you know there aren't some people that are just faster with B moves rather then doing full regrips/rotations? To me, saying that two rotations is required for a case is like saying that it's required for right handed people to do OH with their left hand.

 

[ThatGuy]

Fine. To convey my meaning, replace all required's I wrote with "just browsing among the general populous more efficient."

 

[CubeLord]

So you just use empty slots as storage places for other pairs

 

[blah]

I can't do the reverse scramble but there is a case where if there is no empty slot 2 cube rotations are required.

FDR corner is in FUR with the white sticker facing you. FL edge is in UF. Imagine the BL slot isn't filled, and solve that case. (I can only set this up by removing cubies)

R U' R U'2 R'2 U' R2 U' R'2. No one taught you that if an E-slice edge is correctly oriented (this: <U,D,R,L,F2,B2>), it can always be solved using R and U only?

Forget cube rotations, there's not even a regrip here.

 

[brunson]

So you just use empty slots as storage places for other pairs

Is that a question? If it is, then no.

 

[Stefan]

R U' R U'2 R'2 U' R2 U' R'2.

R B L U' L' B' R' is nice, too.

 

[Lucas Garron]

R U' R U'2 R'2 U' R2 U' R'2.

R B L U' L' B' R' is nice, too.

I vote for R' U2 R' U R' U' R U2' R.

 

[brunson]

I can't do the reverse scramble but there is a case where if there is no empty slot 2 cube rotations are required.

FDR corner is in FUR with the white sticker facing you. FL edge is in UF. Imagine the BL slot isn't filled, and solve that case. (I can only set this up by removing cubies)

That description is ambiguous. What's the orientation of the FL edge in UF? F sticker matches F center or not?