Older cubers discussions

[pglewis]

I'm doing my usual trick of peaking for a competition that I'm not even attending. Here's a sub-15 Ao12 from earlier today!

Glad to see someone else enjoys hard driving music in the morning. A lot of inspiration here following the progress you and @Selkie continue making. I'd have to consider that 6-move T the next best thing to a LL skip, robbed again!

[regarding COLL] If you're going to learn some cases then consider which ones go together - e.g. D2 + D3 + E3 + E5. These four cases go together because they're essentially mirrors and inverses. They also look very similar from the top - e.g. D2 and D3 both having matching colours on top whereas E3 and E5 have adjacent colours on top. I learned COLL in 4's because you can do the two cases which look the same on top and their inverses (typically another OCLL).

Interesting approach, I hadn't considered attacking it that way. I currently have the Hs and half of Pi down but I'm coming back to this over the weekend to digest it.

Intuitive EO can be useful and I do it when it's not costly. I should probably learn some easy WV cases if I'm able to spot them mid-F2L pair without pausing (i.e. between the setup and insertion).

I fiddled with EO in untimed solves long enough that it has become fairly automatic at times. I was surprised I actually had to consciously break that habit for a couple weeks in order to finish learning the dot OLLs. Spotting the EO situation seems to follow how well my lookahead is going. When I'm in a groove I just see things without searching and get a lot of effortless low 20s or better. When I'm not, I find myself watching my current pair all the way into its slot, frantically searching for a specific corner or edge that appears to have been removed from my puzzle, and realize I'm completely ignoring EO during the solve. This is obviously the area where I'll shed the most time still, training myself to harness the lookahead more consistently. It's still moving the right direction just at a glacial pace.

I appreciate the insight on the other areas, I have plenty to keep me busy with COLL for now while waiting for the lookahead to continue coming together.

 

[pglewis]

Also, @Logiqx: I'm thinking a second angle for some of my OLLs/PLLs might be more immediate payoff than the less frequent algset cases. The handful I already do this with have turned out pretty useful at least: I have 2 angles for two of the Gs (I wanted a headlights left alg for all of 'em so in theory I could AUF before I even know which it is), I can do S/AS and JPerms from two different angles (in both cases it's just two algs and mirrors).

I'm guessing you know a number of multiple angles with all the OH you do at least.

 

[newtonbase]

After 4 hard years of not really practicing I got my first sub 20s 3x3 while sat in the chippy. A top cuber would have got a 3 on the solution.

 

[xyzzy]

Just saw this post because of Logiqx's reply, and here are my two cents.

I'm interested in opinions on LL beyond OLL/PLL.

The very first thing I must say is that anything beyond a standard 2LLL hits diminishing returns very, very quickly. You can spend hundreds of hours learning parts of ZBLL (like I did…) and still not be any faster than if you'd just focused on F2L. (Which is not to say that you can't learn new LL algs or tricks or whatever; it's just that it'll provide extremely marginal improvement.)

ELL: The recognition looks easy and I suspect they'd be highly useful for blind.

I find ELL recognition to be rather annoying, but maybe that's just because I haven't practised it enough. (In theory it should be easier to recog than EPLL since you possibly have additional stickers visible on the top face, but in practice you need to learn an entirely new recognition system to handle it.) The 3-cycle and pure flip cases are useful for BLD even at the intermediate level, but the others are only "useful" if you're super advanced (sub-30?), I think.

CLLEF: I usually avoid dot cases but I do get 'em. Since they're among my worst OLLs this subset might be worth exploring.

One gigantic problem with CLLEF is that if you use any edge control at all, they'll show up in your solves very rarely and you will have alg recall issues if you don't dedicate time to drilling those algs. I've probably learnt about 20 cases and forgotten half of them.

I still think CLLEF is worth learning in the long run, but it's not going to be easy to learn and retain.

ZBLL: I'm not considering attacking full ZBLL but at least cherry-picking ones that are stupid not to know.

That's what everyone says at first, but the ZBLL rabbit hole is deep. (Personal experience.)

 

[newtonbase]

Looking forward to seeing everyone attending the Manchester Open tomorrow and best of luck to anyone competing elsewhere.

Can't wait to give 5BLD a try but I'm putting my chance of success at 20%. Domestic PB streak is relying on a half decent 3BLD round or some very good luck.

 

[bubbagrub]

Have a great comp this weekend, UK oldies, and anyone else who's competing.

 

[Logiqx]

Also, @Logiqx: I'm thinking a second angle for some of my OLLs/PLLs might be more immediate payoff than the less frequent algset cases. The handful I already do this with have turned out pretty useful at least: I have 2 angles for two of the Gs (I wanted a headlights left alg for all of 'em so in theory I could AUF before I even know which it is), I can do S/AS and JPerms from two different angles (in both cases it's just two algs and mirrors).

I'm guessing you know a number of multiple angles with all the OH you do at least.

I generally have 2 angles for OCLLs (includes Sune/Anti-Sune) and F sexy / reverse-sexy type OLLs. I only have 1 angle for Pills, except U-Perms.

If you look at my alg page(s) on a computer you'll easily see the cases that I use multiple algs.

 

[One Wheel]

This has been a long time coming: I was doing a very poor set on 3x3 before bed (1 solve over 50, most mid-30s). I got 3 sub-30s in a row, and decided I'd quit my next solve over 30 seconds. 6th solve under 30 seconds was 17.84! 2nd (maybe 3rd) ever sub-20, beats 18.79 pb from May 4th, 2016.

Scramble:
L' F2 D' F2 D2 B2 U F2 L2 D L2 U R' U' R' U R B2 D'

I tried reconstructing it, but all I can get for sure is that after some inspection rotations I did R D2 R to make a green cross. The green-red-yellow pair was my first pair, and I ended up with OLL 22 and a U-perm, with a sloppy U3' to finish it off.

 

[mark49152]

Good luck in 5BLD Mark, and good luck to everyone competing. Unfortunately I can't make it to Manchester. I got sick .

 

[Logiqx]

Good luck in 5BLD Mark, and good luck to everyone competing. Unfortunately I can't make it to Manchester. I got sick .

That's bad luck. Sorry to hear that you're unwell and going to miss out.

 

[Logiqx]

I have occasionally wondered if it would be worth having a shared Google sheet with our home PBs listed.

E.g. One tab per event so that we can list our PBs - single, 5, 12, 50, 100

I think it might be a nice way of seeing how we're all doing and give us something to chase!

 

[Mike Hughey]

I have occasionally wondered if it would be worth having a shared Google sheet with our home PBs listed.

E.g. One tab per event so that we can list our PBs - single, 5, 12, 50, 100

I think it might be a nice way of seeing how we're all doing and give us something to chase!

I like the idea. But one problem I have now is that I've lost track of my PBs. Just about all my PBs are several years in the past, and I since lost track of all my timing sessions. Lately I've been using trying to break my competition PBs as a current motivator. Unfortunately, I still have a rather long way to go to get where I was before in most official events (specifically, all but multiBLD).

I suppose that as a starting point, I could use my PBs in competition, either official or online, whichever is best? I suppose I can argue those are my best times of those I have recorded, so it's not too far off?

 

[SpartanSailor]

I don’t track my PBs in every event... I do keep track of my 3x3 and 4x4 singles and Ao5, but not 50 or 100.

I kind of know my 2x2 single, but that one can be so lucky that I focus more on consistency and trying to get a comp Ao5 under 6 (which I’m a long way from doing).

 

[Shaky Hands]

Hope you feel better soon @mark49152.

 

[pglewis]

Good luck to all those competing this weekend and big props to @newtonbase and @One Wheel for sub-20ing without really trying

My main target for this weekend is to begin stretching my legs a little for mbld, I'd like to land a 2/2 under 20 mins.

 

[newtonbase]

Firstly day of Manchester done. PB average on 2x2 due to lucky scrambles. Missed OH PB by under a second. Thought I'd beaten the skewb cut by .1s but got a plus 2. Clock started OK but ended in DNF average. 5BLD was the main target today but was my worst attempt yet. The scramble was rubbish with 4 cycles on wings and only 1 solved centre but it was poor execution that let me down. There was only one successful solve in the whole round.
Looking forward to 3BLD tomorrow.

 

[mark49152]

Unlucky with the 5BLD scramble Mark. It's the toughest and most unforgiving event. Good luck to all tomorrow!

 

[newtonbase]

Unlucky with the 5BLD scramble Mark. It's the toughest and most unforgiving event. Good luck to all tomorrow!

Can't blame the scramble. Memo felt good and I had time for extra reviews which is a positive from the experience i do beed to improve my focus and get more used to the setups. I'll work on 4BLD and 5BLD until High Wycombe I think.
Missed opportunity for you today.

 

[Jason Green]

I have occasionally wondered if it would be worth having a shared Google sheet with our home PBs listed.

E.g. One tab per event so that we can list our PBs - single, 5, 12, 50, 100

I think it might be a nice way of seeing how we're all doing and give us something to chase!

I like the idea a lot, partly because I don't track most PBs and it would give me a reason to do it (if I could get in the habit).

 

[mark49152]

Missed opportunity for you today.

Looks that way, but I've done no practice on 5BLD since UKC so would have been rusty but still rushing to fit in 3 attempts. Had very little time to practise anything in the last few weeks. I'm looking forward to MBLD at Guildford but hope I can actually get to prepare for it.