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[Help Thread] Megaminx Discussion and Help

Mike Hughey

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You don't really need to worry about splits at this speed. Just do ~50 solves and you'll probably be sub-2 already.
LOL. I've probably done over 2000 solves, and I'm nowhere near sub-2 - not even sub-2:30.

Of course, maybe it doesn't help that I only do approximately 5 solves per week. :)
 

One Wheel

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Different people progress at different rates. I've got about 375 megaminx solves in CSTimer and I average around 3:20. I think with another 200 I could get sub-3:00,probably another 1000 or more to get sub-2:00.
 

Mike Hughey

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Different people progress at different rates. I've got about 375 megaminx solves in CSTimer and I average around 3:20. I think with another 200 I could get sub-3:00,probably another 1000 or more to get sub-2:00.
For me, sub-3:00 was quite easy - I got there with just a little practice and without changing my method. (Now I'm back over 3:00 due to lack of practice, but with a little bit of concentration sub-3:00 was pretty easy to achieve for a while, and I'm sure I could get there again quickly without much effort.) But sub-2:30 seemed quite difficult; I think I would have had to learn something better than 4LLL to have gotten below that time.
 

One Wheel

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For me, sub-3:00 was quite easy - I got there with just a little practice and without changing my method. (Now I'm back over 3:00 due to lack of practice, but with a little bit of concentration sub-3:00 was pretty easy to achieve for a while, and I'm sure I could get there again quickly without much effort.) But sub-2:30 seemed quite difficult; I think I would have had to learn something better than 4LLL to have gotten below that time.

I'm reasonably certain I could get sub-3:00 with just a little practice and the remaining 11 OCLL cases so I can actually do a 4LLL. You're probably right about a 2:30 barrier.

E: For me, I mean. I'm sure that barrier is true for you.
 

xyzzy

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LOL. I've probably done over 2000 solves, and I'm nowhere near sub-2 - not even sub-2:30.
I often see people saying stuff like "do a ton of solves and you'll be sub-x", and I know I've said it myself, but clearly this can't be applicable for everyone. (Especially when the person bringing this up is very fast at the event, you can't tell whether they improved quickly because they were talented or because the "do a ton of solves" strategy really works for most people.)

I think I would have had to learn something better than 4LLL to have gotten below that time.
I'm reasonably certain I could get sub-3:00 with just a little practice and the remaining 11 OCLL cases so I can actually do a 4LLL.
I don't do 4LLL and I'm (barely) sub-2:00 lol. The "worst case" for my mostly-intuitive last layer method goes up to six or seven looks, although that's pretty rare and it's usually more like four looks. (The rough steps are, orient edges, build an edge-corner-edge block, solve the edges and (if easy) one corner, and finally use commutator(s) for the last three/four corners.)

Even more so than on 3×3×3, the bulk of the time is spent on F2L+S2L and general improvement there is a lot more useful than in the last layer.
 

Isaac Lai

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I think it depends very much on how often you solve. Doing 50 solves in 3 days as compared to doing one a week across a whole year can have very different effects. I think my improvement might not be very representative of others because of differing 3x3 speeds to begin with, but the general consensus amongst most people (even people who are not world-class) is that sub-2 is a relatively trivial barrier. There is a lot of flexibility in the F2L and S2L stages that provides much room for improvement, whether by inserting pairs differently, or just improving lookahead as a whole. For example, having a fixed S2L order helps because you know almost exactly which pieces you are looking out for, but at the same time the way you insert pairs can be optimised based on factors such as where the pieces are or whether you can see your next pair.
 

One Wheel

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I don't do 4LLL and I'm (barely) sub-2:00 lol. The "worst case" for my mostly-intuitive last layer method goes up to six or seven looks, although that's pretty rare and it's usually more like four looks. (The rough steps are, orient edges, build an edge-corner-edge block, solve the edges and (if easy) one corner, and finally use commutator(s) for the last three/four corners.)

Even more so than on 3×3×3, the bulk of the time is spent on F2L+S2L and general improvement there is a lot more useful than in the last layer.

I'll agree with most of that. The reason I think I could cut so much is mostly that I'm using such a ridiculous CO method right now. I'm pretty much using sune and anti-sune trying to get a case I recognize, with some R' D' R D LBL corner orientation mixed in when I give up on sune. When I get a straightforward sune OLL it's not uncommon for me to get a sub-3:00 single. I think my pb is something like 2:24, but iirc that was an OLL and EP or CP skip.
 

Eefer_Perry

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Dec 18, 2017
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Lads. I've never solved a megaminx and I'm on the last layer, I know how hard it is but I've already learnt the algorithm to set the grey star piece. However, I have 4 grey star pieces in place and one on the side. Applying the algorithm (F R U R' U' F') just swaps one grey piece in place with the one that's on the side. I need help because I'm actually ready to just give up and I don't wanna do that because I'm so close to solving this. Thanks in advance ^.^
3czjj

P.S sorry for bad picture quality
P.P.S hope it's clear which piece I'm on about in picture
 

Sue Doenim

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Nov 9, 2016
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It sounds to me like you have a flipped edge, which is not a valid position on a megaminx. I can't see the image though. This can only happen if the cube has been taken apart and put back together, and that's the only way to fix it. Just take out the piece, flip it, and put it back in.
 

willfcc

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Jan 11, 2015
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Gently pry with a blade. They will separate enough to slip in a fingernail and pry apart. Did the same mod to my V2.
 
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