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[Help Thread] Square-1 Discussion

Sometimes when doing CS I'll have a case where all edges are connected, except for one that isn't connected(same layer). How do I set this up to Scallop-Kite?
You have to slice it into a scallop pawn, than in the pawn there is a half kite kind of shape that you would bring up to the scallop so it would be a 5-1 and 2 case. Then, you can move the 5-1 so when you slice the bottom half of a kite would go on the bottom, then set up your 2 edge pair on the other side and boom, scallop kite!
 
You have to slice it into a scallop pawn, than in the pawn there is a half kite kind of shape that you would bring up to the scallop so it would be a 5-1 and 2 case. Then, you can move the 5-1 so when you slice the bottom half of a kite would go on the bottom, then set up your 2 edge pair on the other side and boom, scallop kite!

Uh huh.


What?
 
So I've been watching videos on Squan, and I've noticed a couple weird things that I'm not sure of the reason behind. First, why do people who have a normal color scheme on 3x3 use a black side on Squan? And second, why do people switch the green and blue equator caps(therefore mirroring the color scheme)
1. Because it's much easier to recognize the difference between black and white or black and yellow instead of yellow and white, and since there isn't such thing as color neutrality (well, there kind of is but being y2 CN is trivial on square-1 and the only difference is AUFs) you don't have to worry about it. It just makes it easier to solve, especially in low light conditions.

2. That's how you change your top color. If you have yellow on top and want to switch to white, just switch the green and blue (or red and orange works too) caps and do / 6,6 / to change from yellow on top to white on top.
 
@Sub1Hour How do I execute algs quickly with out locking up, dropping the cube, or my hand slipping? I average ~20 seconds, but I would be sub 16 without these problems. I use a B-Mod YLM squan.
Just be comfortable with your cube. It sounds like your turning style is very unrefined and you need to work on being accurate with your turns. Square-1 is extremely unforgiving if you don't turn accurately, so you need to slow down your turning to be accurate, and then speed up from there. You can't turn on a square-1 like a 3x3, like how you can't turn a big cube-like a 3x3. At this point you just need to adapt to your hardware being worse, It was not nearly as hard for me since I have been doing big cubes as my main focus ever since I started getting fast but your accuracy matters the most on square-1 than any other event aside from clock.

Also, I watch this thread so no need to tag me ;)
 
I’ve recently gotten into solving square-1, and I’ve noticed that the typical parity algorithm is rarely the best way to solve the given case. I know I should learn the Adjacent- U perm cases, but are there others cases I should learn? I average about 20 seconds. (I’m also open to other Ep suggestions as well.)

I currently know Adj-Adj, Opp-Opp, both U perms, H, Z, the basic 1-swap parity, Adj-Opp, Ua-Ub, and Ub-Ua.

Please leave a comment on which cases I should learn.[emoji106][emoji106][emoji106]


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Adj on top or bottom, opp on either top or bottom and maybe the 4 U/Adj if you want. After that, the time they save is either barely more than doing the closest non-parity alg and an adj swap, or completely outweighed by CSP.
The best thing to improve at your time is higher TPS, more non-parity algs, and less pause between steps.
 
In what order should I learn the Vandenburgh alg sets, and about how fast could I get with them?
Learn all of EO and CP, then learn chunks of non-parity EP cases with CSP. For how fast you could get, in my experience, I only know barebones Eo and EP and I'm sub 12, so you can get really fast with not a lot of algs.
 
How should I get to sub 25? I know basic EP, CP, and most of EO but what should I learn? Should I learn full CS? CSP?
Practice, practice, and more practice. You don't need to learn big alg sets until you hit a wall. I feel like im either at or approaching a wall soon so I will most likely be learning some more alg sets. However if you feel like you are already at a wall, then learn some new algs and you will improve shortly.
 
What is an alg for Lin CP+DF when the corners are solved? The wiki page gives diag swap and the 4 adj swaps, but not when the corners are solved. Should I just do an M2 uperm U' M2?
 
Here are some of my experiences after my very first week of Square-1. My best rolled ao50 so far is 1:05.14 (σ = 12.13), 35.69 single, and 46.00 "best parity". This is from 398 timed solves and 14:19:15.83 according to csTimer's cross-session stats (obviously I have no data for untimed solves and other practise). I use the adjacent parity swap and didn't stick with CP parity for too long because I found it irritating compared to adjacent swap.

Some of the things I've personally found useful:

Contrary to apparent common beginner belief, the adjacent swap parity alg is in fact very easy to memorise. What I found very useful was how Tingman explained it in a new beginner tutorial at 32:50. Get a feel for the shapes that are formed. Additionally, my extra tip when starting to learn it is to memorise the following as a kind of simple phone number: 3333 2224 2214 (it's not difficult at all; just look at it). Doing so allows one the gentle challenge of "figuring it out" during initial recall. The pseudo-mnemonic should be enough to go off before the priority moves towards doing it more smoothly.

I've so far found Cube Master / Samuel Fang's tutorials to be very useful and easy to follow, including his beginner method tutorial. There are other great tutorials on YouTube as well as tips earlier in this thread, but I think the collection Fang has produced doesn't need much further elaboration.

Scrambling: I can't say I can scramble fast at all yet, but I believe that learning to scramble accurately is helpful with understanding how to turn during a solve (similar to learning to scramble clock properly). Don't forget about csTimer's "Label key move(s) in scramble" setting (Settings > scramble) - it appears as an underline and I find it helps a little. One might think that incorrect scrambles are fine, but I think a good use of time is to practise accurate turning and fingertricks during the process of scrambling. Compared to a week ago, my scrambling feels a lot less burdensome which has allowed me to free my mind up more for solves (and legitimate potential singles). Perhaps I'm a bit too much of a stickler for accurate scrambling, but it's still fun and feels like a mini-game for me. I believe it's beneficial in the long run, especially during longer practise sessions.

Lastly, I bought Traxxas 10K and Traxxas 50K yesterday from an RC hobby shop (tip: look for hobby shops that sell Traxxas stuff - they don't always list their lubricants online, so just look for the Traxxas brandings). I already had Lubicle Silk and DNM-37, but felt like trying something different where I had confidence in it never running out (each bottle is 50mL). The 10K actually reminds me of DNM-37 but is more "cushiony/plush" and the 50K while quite gloopy out of the nozzle, doesn't actually seem all that slow (so perhaps comparisons to Silk / "Weight 5" aren't that far off. With 10K and 50K, I see no need to get 30K - I'm a bit surprised that there are so few suggestions about mixing the two. Anyway, my point here is that placebo or not, the slightly different feel that different lubes provide some extra motivation to practise because my puzzles suddenly start feeling slightly different and more interesting (at least for a little while).

Very lastly - Yuxin Little Magic tip: The easiest way to remove the YLM M long equator caps is to first remove the medium equator caps (FR or BL), which will provide access to the long caps. Pry from the middle of the cube, not where FR meets RF. Do a half twist if that makes it easier to reach the using the hole. The rounded corners on the medium caps have quite a noticeable lip on them.
 
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Can I get algs for the PBL cases where there is a pure adjacent corner swap on top and bottom and the case where there is a pure diag swap on top and pure adjacent swap on bottom.
(By pure, I mean all the edges are solved and only the corners need to swap.)
(I did my math and I know that these aren't parity cases)
(I need <(3,0)(0,3)> gen algs because I'm working on a variation of mehta method on 3x3 that uses these algs)
EDIT: <8 slices only please.
@Christopher Fandrich
 
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