Older cubers discussions

@h2f, nice solve, and great reaction. What practice have you been doing?

Mostly just solving. It means I was solving even if I was tired and it inclueded some stuff: pushing memo times, practicing comms in 3bld (thanks to @JanW trainer), finding new words/images, doing a lot of 4bld too. I want to get better in 5bld and get sub-15 times. The problem was that by whole year there wasnt any competiotion with 4bld and 5bld in Poland till Champs and the competiotion next week after Champs. But it looks like something changed and big blindes are included to the schedule in 5 competiotion in the Silesia. I've also heard that Maskow's success in big blindes and mbld made organizers in Warsaw (only 180 km from my home town) to add these events to comps they are doing. It makes stronger motivation to practice it.

ith the continued practice in 4x4 the PB's have all fallen again, except for single .... I've come close a few times though :) . It helps having a good cube that doesn't pop, which now makes me want to the the new QiYi even more.

I'm doing 4x4 too. And got some good results. Practice pays off. :)
 
That's a great solve and great video @h2f! I'm sure you'll make it to sub-15 if you keep it up!

As I learn more and more OLL, I'm now at a stage where I seem to be breaking some pb almost daily, so I won't bore you with reports on all of them. However, this one I still find worth mentioning: First sub-20 Ao5!

Generated By csTimer on 2016-12-30
avg of 5: 19.08

Time List:
1. 19.14 B' R2 D' B2 L2 U' B2 R2 U' B2 D' B2 L F' D U' L2 B' F2 L' F2
2. 17.64 B' L' F U F U2 D L2 B' D R F2 B2 R U2 R2 L B2 L' U2 R
3. (29.40) U' R2 B' L2 R2 F' R2 F' L2 D2 L2 B L' F2 R' D' U F' R' D2 F
4. 20.46 U' L2 B2 D' F2 U2 B2 R2 U2 F2 R' D2 F' D B2 L' D U' B' F'
5. (17.53) R2 F U2 L2 B U2 F' D2 B D' L F R2 B' L' F D2 U2

I'm seeing more and more 16-17s full-step solves. The sub-20 Ao12 and eventually Sub-20 Ao100 doesn't feel that distant anymore. I need to get more consistent though. Ao100 today was over 24s, way too many bad solves.
 
I want to get better in 5bld and get sub-15 times.
That's my target too, along with sub-6 4BLD. I am trying to mix up my practice and keep pushing myself. It gets easier as I get faster and more competent with memo, for example I can do maybe 5-10 4BLD attempts in a session now whereas until 2-3 months ago it was mentally exhausting and I could do only 2-3 attempts without a break.
 
What would be a good beginner's tutorial for 4BLD? When I first started 3BLD I went straight for comms, I'd like to do the same with 4BLD as well, in case there are different methods for centers and edges.
 
What would be a good beginner's tutorial for 4BLD? When I first started 3BLD I went straight for comms, I'd like to do the same with 4BLD as well, in case there are different methods for centers and edges.
I learned from Noah's and use advanced U2/r2 for centres and wings, with comms for corners. r2 is very similar to M2, and U2 is similar in concept. They are pretty efficient already so I'm in no hurry to switch to comms, although people say centre comms are easy. Of course that only makes them fast if you can execute them as brainlessly as U2 with zero pauses. I use a handful of comms for the cases that are inefficient with U2.

What are your 3BLD times like now? Are you using full edge comms too?
 
That's my target too, along with sub-6 4BLD. I am trying to mix up my practice and keep pushing myself. It gets easier as I get faster and more competent with memo, for example I can do maybe 5-10 4BLD attempts in a session now whereas until 2-3 months ago it was mentally exhausting and I could do only 2-3 attempts without a break.

That's my plan too. But now I'm in the place where you were 2-3 months ago.

@JanW If you want comms for centers you can learn from Ollie Frost's tutorial. I did it that way.
 
Sorry been absent from the forums over Christmas but will catch up at some stage.

Well as of yesterday I now know the full right hand set of Winter Variation, just need to do loads of slow solves to incorporate them whilst learning the left mirrors. Have not touched a timer with 3x3 since Birmingham and hopefully that timer embargo will last until end of February. Next up is to relearn the majority of the COLL I have forgotten.

I wish my fellow cubing brethren a belated Merry Christmas and hope you all have a happy, healthy, prosperous and cubing filled 2017.
 
What are your 3BLD times like now? Are you using full edge comms too?
I haven't done any bld in a while. PB is still over 2 minutes. I need to practice 3BLD for sure before learning 4BLD, but I think it could be interesting to learn the basics so that I could already practice sighted solves on the 4x4 with bld techniques and get a feel for how they work.

For edges I use mostly my own 3-cycle system with some M-slice comms and U-perms.
 
Brilliant 5bld, @h2f!

What would you blind experts recommend for 3bld for someone who isn't impatient? Obviously my sighted solves still have a ways to go; I'm not sure where I'll hit my first real plateau but I figure 4-6 more months at my current pace and I'll likely find out. I'm in no hurry to even make a 3bld attempt, much less a success, so I think it'd be a good idea to start learning the mechanics of a system with high potential soon.
 
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Brilliant 5bld, @h2f!

What would you blind experts recommend for 3bld for someone who isn't impatient? Obviously my sighted solves still have a ways to go; I'm not sure where I'll hit my first real plateau but I figure 4-6 more months at my current pace and I'll likely find out. I'm in no hurry to even make a 3bld attempt, much less a success, so I think it'd be a good idea to start learning the mechanics of a system with high potential soon.
Check out Noah's tutorial. He teaches OP corners and M2 edges. I found it a little but too much to take in initially and did full OP but ended up switching to M2 after a while anyway. As you aren't in a hurry then OP/M2 would be your best bet.
 
I need to practice 3BLD for sure before learning 4BLD, but I think it could be interesting to learn the basics so that I could already practice sighted solves on the 4x4 with bld techniques and get a feel for how they work.
Go for it, you're ready. I'm not sure how well 3x3 edge comms translate to 4x4 since I don't know edge comms. Wings work a bit differently to 3x3 edges as the pieces can't be flipped. Some M2 stuff doesn't work or screws up the centres. Centre comms you could probably work out for yourself easily enough.

What would you blind experts recommend for 3bld for someone who isn't impatient?
I agree with Mark A, go for M2/OP. Learn OP corners first as it's a good introduction to the concepts. Learn it sighted before you go blind, there's no point frustrating yourself wondering where you're going wrong if you're making mistakes you would also make sighted. Once you can do corners, learn M2 edges. The concept is the same as OP corners but there are a couple of added complications.
 
@JanW I dont know what kind of edge comms you use so it's hard to say wheter they affect centers in 4bld or not. Some of edge comms from 3bld dont work on 4bld, for example [M', U2], but most of them work well. You must just check it.
 
@JanW I dont know what kind of edge comms you use so it's hard to say wheter they affect centers in 4bld or not. Some of edge comms from 3bld dont work on 4bld, for example [M', U2], but most of them work well. You must just check it.
Ah, I see. My edge cycles don't work at all on 4x4, will have to look into something else. I'll have a look at different options to see which would fit me best. I don't know anything about 4BLD yet, so probably best not to decide on what technique to learn until I do know something.
 
I've been looking at 4BLD for a while and outside of the size of the memo it's the centres that I find hardest. Even during sighted solves I make lots of mistakes on the trickier cases (U and D faces mainly). Corners are the same as 3BLD other than parity and there are only a couple of things to look out for when moving up from M2 to R2. I've a lot of work to do.
 
Ah, I see. My edge cycles don't work at all on 4x4, will have to look into something else. I'll have a look at different options to see which would fit me best. I don't know anything about 4BLD yet, so probably best not to decide on what technique to learn until I do know something.

If I remember it well, you used edge comms based on setups and R/U moves. I use edge comms based on slices. In 4bld you must add wide moves and they can work - the simplest 4bld method is based on Tperm (like in OP) with wide moves. If your method is closer to Turbo in 3bld Tom Nelson posted tutorial with Turbo like algs he used in 4bld. They are close to comms and are efficient.

I've been looking at 4BLD for a while and outside of the size of the memo it's the centres that I find hardest. Even during sighted solves I make lots of mistakes on the trickier cases (U and D faces mainly). Corners are the same as 3BLD other than parity and there are only a couple of things to look out for when moving up from M2 to R2. I've a lot of work to do.

It's only a matter of practice with centers. :) I know you know. And there are always 7 or more center pieces solved so you need only memorize 16 or less of them. Writing it I must add that still centers are the biggest problem for me. I didnt practice it much.
 
If I remember it well, you used edge comms based on setups and R/U moves. I use edge comms based on slices. In 4bld you must add wide moves and they can work - the simplest 4bld method is based on Tperm (like in OP) with wide moves. If your method is closer to Turbo in 3bld Tom Nelson posted tutorial with Turbo like algs he used in 4bld. They are close to comms and are efficient.
Yes, I use RU or LU comms for edges. I already tried substituting wide moves, but couldn't find anything that would get even close to solving single edge pieces on a 4x4. I'll have a look at those different options you mention.

I did manage to work out comms for centers and did a couple of sighted solves with them. It's obviously very slow right now, but otherwise they seem manageable.
 
Btw. I must take back some of the praise I gave for the MoJue M3. It was great out of the box, but only about 300 solves later it became sluggish with horrible spring noises. I lubed the core to get rid of them, which made it a bit better, but not nearly as good as it was at first. I've never had a cube decline that fast. Now I'm waiting even more impatiently for the Valk!
 
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