FreeFOP beginnings. good or bad?

[Zachary Palan]

While I have been cubing for a while, I still am not that good at lookahead. recently though, I have been trying a mixture of CFOP and Roux as my F2L and is seems to be easier to look ahead. If possible, I would like to know why, and if it is a good idea to do this awkward form of a FreeFOP. I take priority of my F2L pairs and block build them into the roux style, but I dont mind my edges. for some reason, I find it easier to look for my F2L edges, not my white cross edges. anyway, after the pairs are inserted, I take priority of fixing my bottom cross since the pieces are everywhere, then move on to whatever for the LL (usually partial full oll and full pll). any ideas on this weird and inefficient freeFOP? I do know I think weird, so that may be why this is easier for me to lookahead, but it probably confuses a lot of people.

 

[genericcuber666]

FREEFOP IS THE MOST AMAZING METHOD EVER
"structured freefop" is not
i think the look ahead thing is just placebo/nocebo

 

[Zachary Palan]

placebo/nocebo? what?

 

[genericcuber666]

placebo
pləˈsiːbəʊ/
noun
noun: placebo; plural noun: placebos

1. a medicine or procedure prescribed for the psychological benefit to the patient rather than for any physiological effect.
   • a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs.
   • a measure designed merely to humour or placate someone.
     "pacified by the placebos of the previous year, they claimed a moral victory"

basically when you say to yourself
"this should work"
then your brain only sees when it does work not when it dosent

 

[mDiPalma]

it looks like you're doing a version of columns first (see PCMS) because you are making the F2L pairs before the cross.

i also started out with columns first, and I agree - it's much easier to look ahead, especially in the beginning. it's usually easy to find a 0-move or 1-move first pair, and even the most novice speedcubers can look ahead to the second or third pair during inspection.

one way to vastly improve the efficiency of your method is to try put off solving the cross edges until the end of the solve - try to follow the PCMS method I linked above. It's mostly intuitive

 

[Zachary Palan]

cool! thanks dipalma
I just tried it! all you basically need is a couple of olls and the edge plls and you are set with this method I guess! its pretty cool!

my new fave alg from these types of methods is: M' U M

 

[Zachary Palan]

the funny thing is: most people will tell you not to do this type of thing because you have to look ahead on the down layer then. but what I think they don't understand is you already have to do so with CFOP, because there can be corners in be bottom back for your f2l pairs I execute algs in a way that they usually lead into the last move being a cube rotation during F2L so I dont have to worry about it XD
(I have been doing this since beginners method. long term habits)

 

[genericcuber666]

the funny thing is: most people will tell you not to do this type of thing because you have to look ahead on the down layer then. but what I think they don't understand is you already have to do so with CFOP, because there can be corners in be bottom back for your f2l pairs

yes but from someone who is the same speed at roux zz cfop and almost petrus with corners you only need to look at 2 sides to know if its useful never having to look at the bottom however with edges you cant tell if its usefull by one sticker you have to see the bottom

I execute algs in a way that they usually lead into the last move being a cube rotation during F2L so I dont have to worry about it XD

what do you mean?

 

[mDiPalma]

I just tried it! all you basically need is a couple of olls and the edge plls and you are set with this method I guess! its pretty cool!

yeah, there are plenty of ways to go from columns -> solved

i always liked the PCMS style of [solve 3 edges and all centers] -> [orient last 5 edges] -> [permute last 5 edges]

but you can also do cool things like this:

x D U2 R E R' x' U F2 U' F U' L F' L2' U2 x // make 4 F2L pairs
L2 U L' U L U2 L' // solve LL corners
M2' S' U' M' U' y' R2 U M2' U' R2 // solve both sides
x' U2 F M' F' U2 M2' F' M' F // solve middle edges
=40 stm