Older cubers discussions

Definitely it's lookahead that's helped me recently. I have timer updates switched off and actually it's quite predictable which will be the good or bad solves. It's all down to pauses, even if TPS feels no different. Sometimes I will pause in F2L then try to speed up to compensate, and maybe lose lookahead and pause again. That will come in 27-28 or worse. When F2L is fluid, I know that I'll come in 21-22 as long as I don't screw up the LL. The pauses don't seem to last anywhere near 2-3 seconds at the time, but that's the kind of difference they seem to make. I should video a few solves to see.

Edit: sometimes the pauses are during cross
 
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The G-perm is with headlights on the left and bar on the right:

R U R' (y') R2 u' R U' R' U R' u R2 (http://alg.cubing.net/?puzzle=3x3x3&stage=PLL&type=alg&view=playback&alg=%28y2%29%20R%20U%20R%27%20%28y%27%29%20R2%20u%27%20R%20U%27%20R%27%20U%20R%27%20u%20R2)

I would not mind being stuck at 16 secs.. ;) I highly doubt I will ever get there.. I think you will break that barrier soon.

I thought that was headlights on the front and bar on the right (or headlights on left and bar in front)?

I don't know... I think I'd rather be at 20 seconds but still progressing. I don't like to stagnate. Fortunately, cubing still provides enjoyment aside from progression. At least I still have those "I think I'm improving" moments.
 
FTFY, but he sings in French.

Yeah, I know.. I didn't think it was relevant ;) Is Stromae also known in Denmark?

I thought that was headlights on the front and bar on the right (or headlights on left and bar in front)?

I use R L U2 R' L' (y') R' U L' U2 R U' L for that one. Awefull alg.. (headlights front, bar on right)
 
Nice one - what was your PB before? Were you spamming TPS?

A few months ago I was sitting at Ao5 13.40. Then a day or two ago I managed a 13.35 and today broke again with the 12.64 which made me really happy. I had a couple good solves a few solves before that average too (another 11.x and a 12.x). I was half spamming TPS. So I guess it can't really be called "spamming", but I definitely was turning faster than before while at the same time maintaining the look ahead. Now if only I could do that consistently! Ok, so I'm not really stagnant and I am better than a year ago, but I can't even call my progression crawling pace. More like... erm... what do you call slower than crawling?
 
Well that's a significant improvement, 0.76 seconds, so you came off your plateau in style. Have you noticed any improvement in ao50 or ao100 from turning faster?
 
Well that's a significant improvement, 0.76 seconds, so you came off your plateau in style. Have you noticed any improvement in ao50 or ao100 from turning faster?

Could be that I was just in the zone when I nailed that 12.64. I really don't know how though because these days I am feeling really tired. (See sig: IAST = I Am So Tired)

I'm beginning to believe that I do need to turn faster and that kinda started from kclejeune's suggestion about spamming TPS. Maybe I was at the point where I was turning comfortably fast and my look ahead at that speed was ok that I had to just turn faster so my brain would be challenged to track pieces faster and look ahead faster and all that. When I turned at my previous comfortable speed my brain simply wasn't challenged to work any harder. Don't know if you should try this if you don't have sufficient look ahead because you could also end up reinforcing a bad habit of not looking ahead at all because it's too big a jump for your brain to handle. Well, I could be all wrong here... I'm just theorizing.

Oh, about Ao50 of and Ao100... I don't do a whole lot of solves in one sitting anymore so I hardly look at those numbers. Also, I usually reset on a new day (or after I have added the number of new solves to my running count). Today I've only had 64 timed solves so far and sitting with a 15.12 Ao50. I *think* that's better than before but I'm not sure.
 
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Yes I agree. At the end of the day, you have to either turn faster or eliminate pauses to reduce times (or reduce move count, but that's a different topic). If your lookahead is good enough that you don't have any pauses, it makes sense to challenge it by pushing TPS. Mine isn't good enough and I know that pauses kill my times, so I want to get my lookahead sorted and pauses mostly eliminated before pushing TPS. I also don't agree that lookahead "just comes", at least, not for me. I had to work pretty hard at it to get anywhere at all, so I don't want to undo that progress.
 
That's the problem, with slow solving I solve the same way I do turning fast :/

I solve cases in common ways yet my movecount is pretty high. I don't understand it :(

Well, you can keep turning faster and faster, but that can only take you so far. I think if you want to get faster in the long run you have to start breaking bad habits now.

Are you sure you have that high of a movecount? Do you count M-slice moves as two moves or one? Do you count double flick as two or one? How about if you do stuff like U' U' (not double flick?) Or do you count rotations?
 
Hi, Marcel from Holland here

Well, you can keep turning faster and faster, but that can only take you so far. I think if you want to get faster in the long run you have to start breaking bad habits now.

Are you sure you have that high of a movecount? Do you count M-slice moves as two moves or one? Do you count double flick as two or one? How about if you do stuff like U' U' (not double flick?) Or do you count rotations?

I usually count ETM. M is one, y is one, etc. I feel it's the best way to find TPS. However even counting with STM I still get into the 70's a lot. I have issues doing U2'.. I can only do it in PLL's for some reason. I feel like I can improve efficiency more with just time, like everything else :/ but it's a bit annoying :(
 
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