FMC: Where to start?

[atovih.rosos]

Hi all.

I've been cubing since March this year and I'm still averaging around 40. I think speedcubing is just not my thing: I love it and it's been my most favorite hobby since March, but I stink at it so I don't see the point in proceeding with speedsolving.

There are people out there who started when I started and are now averaging 15 or even lower. I tried tons of methods and 40 is the best average I've been having for months now.

That's why I want to try something else. I was thinking about FMC.

However, I understood that you have to know a lot of methods and algorithms so that you can pick the most suitable one for the case you're having. Where should I start? What are some must-know algorithms in order to start with FMC? Are there any techniques which could come in handy when doing FMC? I should note that I suck at block building.

And another question: is there any other challenges and great things to do with the cube besides speedsolving and FMC?

Thanks!

 

[Joker]

Get good at block building. It'll help you get X Crosses during FMC.
Other than that I can't help, cause I never tried FMC.

 

[Escher]

http://laire.fi/jarcs/
That and intuition.

Plus research 'insertions' and learn to use commutators, research the term 'pseudoblocks'. Go on the weekly competitions and look at everybody's solutions - try to understand the solutions that are less than 40 moves and critique those that are above.

Experience, practice, understanding and ingenuity are required for FMC, good luck

(Btw, I suck at FMC)

 

[Kenneth]

[wiki]Blockbuilding[/wiki], [wiki]L3C[/wiki], [wiki]VHF2L[/wiki]

A good start, don't bother about skills for the blocks, just try something and see what happens, you have an hour, not 20 seconds =)

L3C is a complete LL method but the algs are commutators and the most useful LL group for FMC, [wiki]L4C[/wiki] is a larger system, pretty advanced, only a few persons knows all of them, [wiki]ZBLL[/wiki] even more advanced.

VHF2L is useful for orienting the last layer edges while inserting the last pair, unoriented edges in the last layer is not good in FMC (only in rare cases like when FRUR'U'F' solves it all).

Other events that is not so speed dependant is multi BLD and big cube BLD.

 

[blah]

Get good at block building. It'll help you get X Crosses during FMC.
Other than that I can't help, cause I never tried FMC.

Someone ban this guy.

 

[irontwig]

VHF2L is useful for orienting the last layer edges while inserting the last pair, unoriented edges in the last layer is not good in FMC (only in rare cases like when FRUR'U'F' solves it all).

I don't know about that. As long as the case is solvable with two three-cycles or you can leave three unsolved pieces in 6-8 moves I think you can do ok.

 

[qqwref]

The general technique is to start with some blocks (of any type) or extended crosses, then directly solving more and more to try to get ALMOST all pieces solved in relatively few moves (say, 30 or fewer). The Petrus method is generally good for this although Fridrich works fine if you have a very good start. Then, you solve the rest of pieces using commutators, which move only 3 pieces around. If you can track where the pieces you want to cycle go during the solve, you can do the commutators during the solve (an 'insertion') which will sometimes save you a few moves by making turns cancel out.

There are a lot of enhancements to this standard technique, though. You can try solving the scramble with one or two moves before it, as long as you remember to add that onto your solution. You can also try the inverse of the scramble (invert each move and do them in the reverse order), in which case you'll have to invert your solution too. Most people will try to get all the edges and most of the corners, but you can also leave some edges remaining. There are plenty of possibilities.

 

[Cubenovice]

Where to start FMC:

http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?1566-Fewest-Moves-Tips-and-Techniques
http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/showthread.php?13599-The-FMC-thread&highlight=fmc+thread

I am in a similar position as you: cubing for 10 months but stil slow as hell...
What I like to do is learn different methods like CF, ZZ, a little VHF2L, Petrus etc.
I al definately not fast with htem but Enjoy being able to sole cubes in different ways.

Also fun: learning BLD (not for time, just being able to do it), Match the Scramble, one hand

 

[Godmil]

I found learning the ('no algorithm') Heise method (Link) to be a really interesting challenge - it's also great for FMC.

 

[PalashD]

There are people out there who started when I started and are now averaging 15 or even lower.

The WR for FMC is 22. There is none who averages 15 or less

 

[RCTACameron]

Is that a joke, or did you just read it incorrectly?

 

[Inf3rn0]

The WR for FMC is 22. There is none who averages 15 or less

So um yeah turns out hes talking about 3x3 speed times.

 

[maggot]

i also like to point out that roux method can produce some good sol'n. not the speedsolving method, but if you deep dive into L6E cases, they can be done in very short move counts. also, roux can produce short sol'n with less effort than ZB for instance.
also, if you try to CFOP a sol'n (which is typically the easiest sol'n for an average cuber to make) multislot cases can also help your F2L (i think that the cases are hard to recognize for speedsolving, but with the algs under your belt, and an hour to produce a full sol'n, im sure this would cut down on the very heavy movecount in F2L)
also, using unconventional moves to reduce movecounts (im sure there are plenty of sites dedicated to this) i.e. M, E. ..

sorry i cant be of much help ^^;

 

[SuperStrawberry]

Try practicing Petrus or roux method

 

[Beatlecube]

So what if you average around 40, its not like you will break the world record.

 

[PalashD]

So um yeah turns out hes talking about 3x3 speed times.

oh!! sorry! I thought since we are talking about FMC we were talking about turns.

 

[anders]

I've been cubing since March this year and I'm still averaging around 40. Thanks!

I have been cubing since 1980 and I'm still averaging around 40 s. That has never stopped me from going to competitions

And another question: is there any other challenges and great things to do with the cube besides speedsolving and FMC?

How about blindfolded?

 

[Rpotts]

Yea if you've been cubing since march, 40 seconds is about average. Very few people, (nobody) average sub15 with the same amount of experience as you. If you're starting to get bored with speedsolving it could be because you are using a basic beginners method that is repetitive and boring. There are many ways to change up your solving to get your interest back up. 2-gen scrambles are a fun way to quickly solve and give you great fingertrick practice and f2l lookahead practice. Take a solved cube and only scramble the R and U faces. Now inspect the cube and try to see if you can solve the rest of the f2l in one look, that is, see the entire solution for f2l during inspection. You can also try scrambling using just the M slice and the U face. Now, like RU2gen solves, use just M and
U to solve the cube. 2 gen scrambles may require you to learn some new algs if you don't know RU EPLL algs or MU EO or EPLL.

Also try learning new methods, especially blockbuilding ones since they are whats going to help you with fmc. Try [wiki]petrus[/wiki] or [wiki]roux[/wiki] and [wiki]heise[/wiki]

Also, simply learning more algs like finishing [wiki]PLL[/wiki] or [wiki]OLL[/wiki] will increase the variance in your solves.

You could take a break from 3x3 and practice 2x2 or 4x4 or whatever. Maybe pyraminx? Skewb?

Good luck man, oh, almost forgot: when you average about 40 seconds, you are surprisingly close to a breakthrough that could make you sub30 in no time. Going from 45ish to 30 is one of the quickest jumps people seem to make, as the gap can usually be closed by just getting better at recognizing and executing the algs you use, as well as (most importantly) quickly solving f2l with few pauses and very few (0-3) cube rotations. Don't quit man (well, of course it's all up to you) I went from averaging about 28 after i came back from a year+ break to averaging about 17-18 in only about 6 months, with only a decent amount of practice (not like some of the uber serious guys here lol). I bet you could start averaging in the mid 20s in about 2 months with just more practice. Maybe re learn some algs, learn f2l algs from all angles, etc. /rant good luck

 

[iasimp1997]

Someone ban this guy.

This.
He shouldn't be posting unless he has something useful to contribute. But he keeps posting even though he knows nothing on the subject.

 

[CharlesOBlack]

This.
He shouldn't be posting unless he has something useful to contribute. But he keeps posting even though he knows nothing on the subject.

irony lol

on-topic: insertions and commutators help a lot during FMC. You're actually pretty much supposed to do like qqwref said; solve as many pieces as you can with as few moves possible (called a "skeleton") and then finish off by doing insertions. Also, if you can find insertions easily, look for good cancellations.

Also, using fridrich it's still very possible to get good fmc results, as shown by Carlos de Alcantara during SESC Santos 2010; he did a COLL alg (the corner 3-cycle from the beginner method) and got a EPLL skip... not only that, he cancelled 7 moves and got a final result of 30 moves.

So yeah. Finding different ways to approach things is the way to go for FMC.