[Help Thread] FMC Discussion

[Caden Fisher]

Start with just using blockbuilding. You’ll want to then learn about pure comms, skeletons, and using insertions. Then you can start doing EO first and learn to use NISS. That’s all you need to get sub30s.
If you decide you like FMC you then go down the DR to HTR rabbit hole.

You can start by learning more methods, and using a combination of them to get the shortest solution. I started directly by using blockbuilding (requires some knowledge on how turning one piece affects the other, not too hard to get the hang of), then finishing off with CFOP last layer. Blockbuilding+optimal OLL and PLL algorithms can make your solutions sub-50 to sub-45 moves.

After you are sufficiently proficient with blockbuilding, you can begin learning NISS. I'm using NISS and blockbuilding + CFOP LL, but usually I can find a solution with either a skip or a ZBLL that I know. This can get you to sub-40. After NISS you can start with the advanced FMC things like DR and insertions.

Thanks! Is there a good tutorial for blockbuilding tips? I think I have the general idea but I don’t want to miss anything

 

[OreKehStrah]

Thanks! Is there a good tutorial for blockbuilding tips? I think I have the general idea but I don’t want to miss anything

You can check out the FMC section on cuberoot for some nice 222 cases to make sure you are efficiently building them.

 

[Samuel Baird]

Reconstruction of my official 22 single and 25.xx mean fail

 

[Silky]

For all you FMCers, do you submit your solutions ( official ) with rotations? According to regulation, rotations do not count as moves so I'm wondering if yall edit afterwards as I always see the posts here without rotations. Is putting your solves rotationless an esthetic choice? Feels like an unwritten rule of FMC as, I assume, rotations aren't particularly elegant..

 

[d---]

No rotations. I find that trying to cancel moves at the point of the rotation takes more time than writing your solution differently

 

[Samuel Baird]

Rotations are fine, just depends on how you use them. Even at advanced levels, you can find the use of rotations with certain techniques like slicey insertions or rotating centers. However, it’s generally best to avoid them when they aren’t needed as they can make it harder to spot cancellations and can be a common reason for DNFs

 

[Aldhi R.]

Writting rotationless solution makes it easier to spot cancellation, especially when you do insertion. For me, it is easier to write rotationless solution from the start. The trick is that each (side/centre) colour represent one type of move. If we follow WCA orientation, then U = white, F = green, R = red, etc.

 

[Mike Hughey]

Writting rotationless solution makes it easier to spot cancellation, especially when you do insertion. For me, it is easier to write rotationless solution from the start. The trick is that each (side/centre) colour represent one type of move. If we follow WCA orientation, then U = white, F = green, R = red, etc.

This is how I do it too. This works great as long as you're not trying to write out muscle-memory algorithms. But it makes muscle-memory algorithms pretty ugly to do.

And it's really frustrating when you use a different orientation to solve (my blind orientation, in my case), and then accidentally scramble in WCA orientation. I've done that so many times and wound up with a nonsensical solution, and it takes many minutes to figure out what it's really supposed to be. :-(

But I think especially if you're a BLD solver, using color = side works really well, other than those problems. As a BLD solver, you're used to thinking of a side as a color, so it's really easy to think that way when doing FMC. It took me almost no practice to get used to doing this when I started FMC because of my BLD training.

 

[xyzzy]

This works great as long as you're not trying to write out muscle-memory algorithms. But it makes muscle-memory algorithms pretty ugly to do.

The way I handle this (which also includes doing mirrored algs) is to write out the alg from a more "comfortable" orientation first, then transform it symbol by symbol on paper.

 

[SkewbIsTheBestEvent]

Does anybody have any tips to getting DR in a short amount of moves? It takes me around 15-20 moves to get to DR for me.

 

[SkewbIsTheBestEvent]

Maybe: keep practicing, learn from other FMCer's reconstruction (text/video). And in the attempt, check as many EO's/DR triggers as you can, because not all EO's/DR triggers would give short solution to DR.

Thanks!

 

[Aldhi R.]

25.67 (tied PB) mean from Speedsolving.com Champs 2023 week 4:

Scramble 1: R' U' F R B D2 B' L2 F D2 R2 F R2 F2 R2 U' L F2 L U2 B' L D2 R' U' F

Spoiler: Solution

(F) F2 L' F // EO (4/4)
U' (U2 L D B2 D) // DR (6/10)
L2 D2 L (D2 F2 L2 B2 R' U2 R) // HTR (10-1/19)
D2 L2 U2 L2 * F2 L2 // 3e (6/25)

* = L2 F B' U2 F' B // solved (6-3/28)

Solution: F2 L' F U' L2 D2 L D2 L2 U2 F B' U2 F B R' L2 U2 R B2 L2 F2 D B2 D' L' U2 F' (28)

5 times scramble switch paid off.

Scramble 2: R' U' F B2 D U F2 L2 U L2 D' L2 F2 U2 F2 R' F L B2 D2 R2 D L2 R' U' F

Spoiler: Solution

(U) D F L' U' // EO (5/5)
B (L2 B2 D2 L' R' B') // DR (7/12)
(B2 L F2 R U2 L2 R F2 L' R' U2) // 3c (11-1/22)

Skeleton: D F L' U' B U2 R L F2 R' L2 * U2 R' F2 L' B' R L D2 B2 L2 U'

* = R D2 R' U2 R D2 R' U2 // solved (8-5/25)

Solution: D F L' U' B U2 R L F2 L2 D2 R' U2 R D2 R2 F2 L' B' R L D2 B2 L2 U' (25)

Scramble 3: R' U' F R' B L D2 U' F2 R2 F2 R2 F2 U R2 F2 R' U2 F D U' F L2 R' U' F

Spoiler: Solution

U (R D) // EOStuff (3/3)
(U2 L' B2 L' D2 B2 L2 B') // DR (8/11) 2q
(R2 U2 R2 D2 L D2 R) // HTR (7/18)
(D2 B2 * F2) // 2e2e (3/21)

* = (B2 D2 R2 F2 R2 D2 B2 L2) // solved (8-5/24)

Solution: U F2 L2 B2 D2 R2 F2 R D2 L' D2 R2 U2 R2 B L2 B2 D2 L B2 L U2 D' R' (24)

Spoiler: Result

28, 25, 24 = 25.67 mean

Comment: Very happy with this, and I was only hoping to get sub-30 at this comp actually, so no complain.

 

[tseitsei]

Finished my PB mo3 yesterday. 26, 24 28 = 26.00

26

Spoiler

scramble: R' U' F D R' F2 U D L B D2 R2 U2 D2 R B2 L2 B2 L' F2 D' B2 R' U' F
solve: F2 U2 F2 U2 R2 F2 B U R2 F'B2 U2 B2 L2 F2 D2 R2 B' R2 D2 R2 U' R' D' U' L'

(L U D R) //EO 4/26
(U) //DR-4C4E 5/26
F2 U2 F2 U2 R2 F2 B U //DR (2q) 13/26
R2 F B2 R2 B2 * R2 B' //HTR+blocks just R2 B2 instead of B2 R2 B2 R2 is also HTR but no blocks 20/26
R2 D2 R2 //E-slice 3cycle 23/26
* = B2 R2 F2 U2 B2 L2 F2 D2 //8-5=3 26/26

24

Spoiler

scramble: R' U' F B' L D2 F' L D R' D2 B L2 B R2 D2 F' D2 B2 D2 R F' R' U' F
solve: U2 F' D L B D2 U2 B U2 F B' U B' U2 B U2 F B' U2 F' R2 B2 L2 D2

U2 F' D L //DR-4C4E 4/24
B D2 U2 B U2 F B' U //DR(2q) 12/24
F' * L2 F U2 L2 ^ B' //HTR 18/24
R2 B2 L2 D2 //E-slice 3cycle 22/24

3cycle needed 4 moves to solve so I inserted a random e-slice 3cycle at * that added 0 moves
and left me with a different 3cycle to finish with.

* = F B' U2 B F' L2 //6-6=0 moves. 22/24

That 3cycle only needed 2 moves to solve.

^ = L2 F B' U2 F' B //6-4=2 moves. 24/24

28

Spoiler

scramble: R' U' F R2 D F L2 F U2 B U2 F D2 B2 L2 U R' D' L' F' D2 R' U' F
solve: R B' U' L B2 L' F2 L' F' R2 U2 R B2 R F2 L2 U2 L F2 L2 U2 L2 U2 F2 L2 F2 L2 F2 (28)


R B' U' //DR-4C2E 3/28
L B2 L' F2 L' F' //DR(3q) 9/28
R2 U2 R B2 R //Corners 1qt from HTR 14/28
F2 L2 U2 L //HTR 18/28
F2 U2 * //2E2E + E-slice 20/28

* = U2 L2 U2 L2 U2 L2^ //6-2=4 24/28
^ = L2 F2 L2 F2 L2 F2 //6-2=4 28/28

Finally starting to get better at finding good HTRs somewhat consistently. Still quite slow tough so solves are quite luck dependent since I can't check that many DRs/EOs properly. But practise should help with that.

 

[tseitsei]

Does anybody have any tips to getting DR in a short amount of moves? It takes me around 15-20 moves to get to DR for me.

What I do is this:

First I write down all EOs (edge orientations) that are 4 moves or less on both normal and inverse. (if there are just one or two of those I will also write down some 5 movers)

Next I will go through these EOs (all of them if there are not that many but only some of them if there are a lot of them) and try to find cases where I only need 0-2 moves to get to some "good DR case" these are 4c(orners oriented) and 2e(-layer edges solved) OR 4c and 3e OR 5c and 3e. And I write down all of those I can find quickly. Remember that there are 2 possible orientations of DR for every EO, make sure to check them both.

Next I will just go through all these starts and try to find a solution for DR. For 4c2e case you want to build two "1x3" bars. For 4c3e case you want to setup a case that is solved with R U2 R' trigger. And for 5c3e the triggers you want to setup for are R U R' or R U' R.
Remember that if you dont find anything good here you can switch between normal and inverse here.

First you should take a lot of time so you can find the best solutions but after a while you will get quicker. The trick (as far as I can see) seems to be just trying LOADS of different EOs and "good DR cases". Most of them will not give you a good DR but if you check enough of them you should find some good ones. I can usually find a few DRs that are <13-14 moves during the first 20-30min of the solve

 

[SkewbIsTheBestEvent]

What I do is this:

First I write down all EOs (edge orientations) that are 4 moves or less on both normal and inverse. (if there are just one or two of those I will also write down some 5 movers)

Next I will go through these EOs (all of them if there are not that many but only some of them if there are a lot of them) and try to find cases where I only need 0-2 moves to get to some "good DR case" these are 4c(orners oriented) and 2e(-layer edges solved) OR 4c and 3e OR 5c and 3e. And I write down all of those I can find quickly. Remember that there are 2 possible orientations of DR for every EO, make sure to check them both.

Next I will just go through all these starts and try to find a solution for DR. For 4c2e case you want to build two "1x3" bars. For 4c3e case you want to setup a case that is solved with R U2 R' trigger. And for 5c3e the triggers you want to setup for are R U R' or R U' R.
Remember that if you dont find anything good here you can switch between normal and inverse here.

First you should take a lot of time so you can find the best solutions but after a while you will get quicker. The trick (as far as I can see) seems to be just trying LOADS of different EOs and "good DR cases". Most of them will not give you a good DR but if you check enough of them you should find some good ones. I can usually find a few DRs that are <13-14 moves during the first 20-30min of the solve

Thank You!

 

[xyzzy]

Some random 25 I got last weekend:

Scramble: R F R U B' R' B2 R' D F' R2 B U2 L D R2 L2 F

(B D' R F') // EO, pair (4/4)
(U B U') // 222 (3/7)
D R2 D2 B' U' B' U // almost F2L-1 (7/14)
B2 R2 B R2 // ab3c (4/18)

Skeleton: … U B' U' F R' D B' @
@ = B2 U' F U B2 U' F' U // comm (8-1/25)

Final solution (25):
D R2 D2 B' U' B' U B2 R2 B
R2 U B' U' F R' D B U' F
U B2 U' F' U

 

[Cale S]

solutions for my 21.00 tied WR mean

21.00 tied WR solutions

1) R' U' F R B' D' B2 D B2 L2 U L2 U2 R' F U2 F2 U' L B2 L' D' R' U' F R2 D' F' B' // blocky EO (U R2) // pseudo 222 + make another pair (B2 D L') // attach pair to sq + make another pair + also it's a nice DR-2e4c (D' U2 L U2 L) // DR (14) (D2 R2 D' F2 D R2) // epic 6 move finish (20) Solution...

docs.google.com

 

[SkewbIsTheBestEvent]

solutions for my 21.00 tied WR mean

21.00 tied WR solutions

1) R' U' F R B' D' B2 D B2 L2 U L2 U2 R' F U2 F2 U' L B2 L' D' R' U' F R2 D' F' B' // blocky EO (U R2) // pseudo 222 + make another pair (B2 D L') // attach pair to sq + make another pair + also it's a nice DR-2e4c (D' U2 L U2 L) // DR (14) (D2 R2 D' F2 D R2) // epic 6 move finish (20) Solution...

docs.google.com

Congrats!

 

[xyzzy]

Not a good single per se but there's a cursed insertion.

Scramble: B2 U F2 R2 D' L2 U R2 D2 F2 U L' F' L2 U' R2 B' L' F' U

F' U2 L U' D // 123 (5/5)
R F2 R B' D2 B2 // 223 (6/11)
F' @ L' U2 L // two squares (??) (4/15)
F U' F U F' U' F U2 // ab2f (8/23)

@ = [S', L' U B' L U'] = F B' U' R B' U R' F' B U L' B U' L // flip commutator (14−6/31)

Final solution (31):
F' U2 L U' D R F2 R B' D2
B U' R B' U R' F' B U L'
B U L F U' F U F' U' F
U2

I thought the comm only cancelled like 3-4 moves but when I wrote it out in full I noticed all the cancellations.

 

[Silky]

D2 B2 R2 F U2 B2 R2 D2 R2 B' D2 U2 L B2 R F' U' B U2 B2 F'

x2 y U F R U' F2 // 2x2x2 (5)
B R' U' B U2 R' B // 2x2x3 +EO (7/12)
U2 R' U' R // F2-1 (4/16)
L' U2 R U' R' U2 L // Last Pair + Shenanigans (7/23)
U R U2 R' U2 L' U R U' L R' U' // COLL (12/35)

First ever FMC attempt. Really happy with the result. Kinda just got lucky but I'll take the W.