Older cubers discussions

[ryuusei86]

Don't worry about that, I'm guessing it would as painful as watching this poor guy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GES2r6vVakc

Don't give up, you almost have it, watch again those tutorial videos, practice that part a bit and then you could have all the fun

If I may put an advice: dont do your own method. If you solve Roux way - solve with all steps of that method. Doing bottom edges first ruins all the power of the method. If you dont like M slices or something else - switch to CFOP. At this point you are, you need a patience, because you need tons of solve to learn of good habits. But they will pay you off later with a very good progress. Just try to understand how to orient the edges.

And talking about parity. Don't be afraid of cube rotations. It's impossible to solve the cube without them (ok. in Roux you can do no ratation).

Good luck, you can make it!

I appreciate the advice and I think you're both right that I almost have it. The middle slices are plenty useful even in just getting the first two 1x2x3 blocks, so I can see the utility of leaving it available until the end. I will keep watching those videos again and practicing.

As for that video, never mind how bad it looked, I couldn't stand how bad it sounded. I had to stop watching after the scramble because it made my ears hurt. And I thought my Cyclone Boys 3x3 had bad spring noise at first.

Edge flip (Edge at UF)
r', U2,l,F2,l',F2, r2,U2,r,U2,r', U2, F2,r2,F2 - you can switch all the inner slices moves for wide moves if you prefer on this one

Opposite edge swap (Edges at UF and UB)
r2,U2, r2, Uu2,r2,u2

I'll definitely give those a try the next time. My 4x4 is at work at the moment. (Yes, "my" as in "my only one." A GuanSu is on the way since I know this is unacceptable.)

Cube buying is indeed an illness and is rife on this site. The theoretical cure is to own enough cubes but nobody has ever got into that position.

I am very prone to such illnesses, but this is the cheapest one I've caught in a long time. It seems to me that for $200 one can get enough cubes to last a while at least. Whereas while golfing was never one of my hobbies, I would guess that $200 is hardly enough to get even one golf club set that's worth having.

 

[Lid]

For the "Opposite edge swap" PLL parity on 4x4 I prefer: Rw2 F2 U2 r2 U2 F2 Rw2, especially on 6x6, which also works on 5x5, while the "normal one" does not.

 

[h2f]

For the "Opposite edge swap" PLL parity on 4x4 I prefer: Rw2 F2 U2 r2 U2 F2 Rw2, especially on 6x6, which also works on 5x5, while the "normal one" does not.

I use it 4bld and 5bld as well. But not in "normal" solves.

I'm practicing before a competition next Saturday:

 

[moralsh]

I also use it for 4 and 5BLD.

I have been practicing some 5BLD this weekend for next week's comp (yeah, me too Grzegorz xD) which is going to be madness, 128 people and counting. And I'm one of the organizers.

The damn category is no forgiving at all.

DNF because I almost popped a center in the middle of an alg solving wing
DNF by 3 wings
DNF by 2 centers and 4 corners
DNF by 4 centers
DNF by 2 centers
DNF by a lot after executing X centers on + centers, going all the way back and re executing
DNF by 3 centers
DNF by 2 centers again

not a great success rate , but I'm loving the event

 

[mark49152]

I'm practicing before a competition next Saturday:

Very nice .

@Raul: Yeah 5BLD is unforgiving indeed . I'm still undecided whether to do it at my April comp. There's 1 hour for both 4 & 5BLD and I don't want to consume all my 4BLD time on a 5BLD fail. Depending how they organise it, I might only do 5BLD if I get a good PB on my first 4BLD attempt.

 

[h2f]

Thanks. Memo was around 32 but I thought it was faster. Execution inclueded a lot of adv M2 but I've lost scramble and I could make reconstruction. But first pair was UB-UF which I've made M',U2.... And there was parity.

@Raul, It's gonna be fine competition....

 

[mafergut]

For the "Opposite edge swap" PLL parity on 4x4 I prefer: Rw2 F2 U2 r2 U2 F2 Rw2, especially on 6x6, which also works on 5x5, while the "normal one" does not.

New alg committed to permanent memory (it was easy enough).

Right now I'm just a beginner at 5x5 and my only strategy to pair tredges is:
- freeslice for the first 8 edges. I try to do the white ones and leave them already correctly place as cross on bottom, then I do whatever 4 edges I find easier.
- realign centers and do another 2 edges by slicing - replacing - slicing back, this can take up to 2 step per pair unless I happen to have two pieces connected in some of them.
- do the last 2 edges with the same alg used for 4x4 Yau last two edges (might need to apply twice as well)
- apply parity alg on the last edge if necessary (center piece of the edge flipped). Same alg as 4x4 OLL parity but with 3Rw after Lw.

This nice alg can cover a two last tredge case that would take some fiddling around with my current strategy (invert one of the edges, pair two pieces 1st and then the 3rd)

Any other uses of that alg on 5x5 that I might be missing?

Also, any recommendations to improve my edge pairing strategy? I have come to that without looking at any tutorials so it might be easy to improve

Thanks. Memo was around 32 but I thought it was faster. Execution inclueded a lot of adv M2 but I've lost scramble and I could make reconstruction. But first pair was UB-UF which I've made M',U2.... And there was parity.

@Raul, It's gonna be fine competition....

Nice to see you solve 3BLD, as always... I have also realized watching your video that you have apparently managed to make your stackmat pro timer work with csTimer. Jason and I would like to know how, as we have both bought cables and left wondering what the heck happens, as it does not work

 

[muchacho]

PBs in the Megaminx race to sub-5 ao12:

Single: 5:18
Ao5: 5:54
Ao12: 6:09

I think I can (maybe) get it within 7 days, what worry me most is that you have a chance of ending this tomorrow at the WC... no pressure btw

 

[mafergut]

PBs in the Megaminx race to sub-5 ao12:

Single: 5:18
Ao5: 5:54
Ao12: 6:09

I think I can (maybe) get it within 7 days, what worry me most is that you have a chance of ending this tomorrow at the WC... no pressure btw

My last 7 times make Ao5s of 5:20 to 5:23 so I doubt with another 5 solves I'm gonna make it. I would need to do all below 4:40, which I seriously doubt I can do. So, the chance is yours this week. I'm also a bit distracted trying to get today a success at 3BLD for the WC before they close it tonight.

 

[h2f]

Nice times in mega you got, Raul and David. In this week I'm focused on my pll - I'm gonna drill them till competition and I'll try to do a few hundreds of solves (maybe) and on skewb. I'll do some rest from 3bld to be fresh on Saturday and I'll do only few solves per day. But they are all stackmated. I must achieve good habits in using stackmat.

 

[muchacho]

moralsh is called Raul, mafergut is Miguel Angel (I think).

@moralsh, you don't do Mega?

Good luck in your comps!

 

[moralsh]

Mafergut is Marcos, if I'm not mistaken.

@muchacho: I plan to do mega to get an official single on Murcia, I try to solve it (untimed mostly) every now and then I think I am between 4 and 5 minutes.

I'll try to rack up as many 5bld attempts as I can before friday to see if I can solve confortbly under 30 minutes

 

[h2f]

Sorry for my mistake in names. my memory is weak...

 

[mafergut]

Well, david is right, I'm Miguel Angel or Miguel, for short.
The fault is mine because I don't have a WCA profile where you can check my name, which is what I do with yours whenever I'm in doubt
So I will point my speedsolving profile to my Youtube channel, where you can check as well

By the way I tried another 3 times at 3BLD and my head hurts. Of course all were DNFs and I couldn't even finish memo in some of them. I get so confused when breaking into new cycles... and I got plenty of those (or so I think).

 

[moralsh]

Sorry for my mistake in names. my memory is weak...

It's not weak, it's way too focused on BLD events

 

[h2f]

. Yeah. I've made a note.

@Miguel, breaking in cycles is a problem for everyone who starts with 3bld. Do you want example solve? Just put a scramble and scrabmle in your orientation...

 

[mafergut]

. Yeah. I've made a note.

@Miguel, breaking in cycles is a problem for everyone who starts with 3bld. Do you want example solve? Just put a scramble and scrabmle in your orientation...

Yeah, I tried the 3 scrambles from this WC, the first one I posted yesterday with my memo, where there was some mistake in the corners but the edges were just fine. The other two, are these:

2. D2 B2 L' B2 U2 R D2 R2 B2 L' D2 B U' F2 R B2 F2 R' B2 D'
3. B2 L' F' U' B R' L2 D2 B2 D B R2 F L2 B' D2 F2 D2 R2 B'

I scramble in WCA orientation and use that too for memo (white on top, green in front). I don't really remember what I did but I struggled so much with memo of both corners and edges. I have a very difficult time to keep track of the already solved stickers and where I shot when breaking into a new cycle so, when I end up there again and have to break again... I get all the memo messed up. Also a problem is I need so much time I forget my memo and, also, because I have so little practice, I don't know what words to use with most letter pairs Maybe I should start writting down the memo until I am a bit more efficient tracking the pieces around the cube.

 

[moralsh]

first scramble has 2 cycles in your orientation UBL -> BDL -> FUL and RDF -> BUR -> UFR -> FLD -> DBR -> FRD when breaking into new cycles I usually start with the target (as I did here) if it's not already done, and the stickers with easy set up if it is, you'll get used to it

edges have also two cycles one is UB -> BR -> UB and the other the rest with M2 you find the second cycle just shooting to the target, with OP edges you just have to check which are done and which are not. if you get stuck just check the letters in order

Second has also 2 cycles of corners: UBL -> FRD ->UFL and the rest (I'd break into new cycle starting with BDR as the target was already done

Edges are way worse, 3 cycles and LF flipped, I Use UB and FR for breaking into new cycles in this case, the flipped edge I just remember it.

 

[mafergut]

first scramble has 2 cycles in your orientation UBL -> BDL -> FUL and RDF -> BUR -> UFR -> FLD -> DBR -> FRD when breaking into new cycles I usually start with the target (as I did here) if it's not already done, and the stickers with easy set up if it is, you'll get used to it

edges have also two cycles one is UB -> BR -> UB and the other the rest with M2 you find the second cycle just shooting to the target, with OP edges you just have to check which are done and which are not. if you get stuck just check the letters in order

Second has also 2 cycles of corners: UBL -> FRD ->UFL and the rest (I'd break into new cycle starting with BDR as the target was already done

Edges are way worse, 3 cycles and LF flipped, I Use UB and FR for breaking into new cycles in this case, the flipped edge I just remember it.

Well, I'm glad to know that the scrambles were so bad because I was finding cycles everywere. To be honest I got completely lost with 3rd scramble edges and just executed what I remembered to get the DNF but corners where wrong as well

I will redo the scrambles and trace them again with your new cycle targets to see if I can make sense of it. I will follow your advice of breaking new cycles with easy targets. For no reason I have been using, for corners, B (UBR) as a new target. Not a bad setup but P (RDF) is much better of course.

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

[h2f]

Scramble: D2 B2 L' B2 U2 R D2 R2 B2 L' D2 B U' F2 R B2 F2 R' B2 D'

FL-DL UF-DR RU-DB FR-UL LB end of cycle. Which one? I have edges I do cycle break always. And they are not solved yet because I havnt mentioned them in my memo. How do I know I'm not finished? Theres only 4 and half pairs and theres no solved edge. So, I've solved 9 edges so far of 11 it should be (last one is solved automaticaly). So I do a cycle break LB-UB (the first sticker I've always take) BR-UB (I'm back to the edge I took so I'm done). Theres 6 pairs, this means 12 edges. So, I'm done.

Corners: BDL-FLU end of cycle. Which one to start? I've always start with a target so: RDF-BRU UBR-FDL DBR-FDR. Im back to corner I've starte a cycle break. Edges are even so there's no parity. I got 4 pairs so far with a cycle break, so I've solved 8 corners of 8 corners. I'm finished. Now time to execute.

Let's review:
- edges: FL-DL UF-DR RU-DB FR-UL LB-UB BR-UB
- corners: BDL-FLU RDF-BRU UBR-FDL DBR-FDR.