Triplex

ben1996123 said:
Also, new bug in Quadplex: When a solve is finished and you close the certificate, you can mix it up and do another solve without pressing reset, so the timer also doesn't reset, it just continues from the previous solves time. I noticed this when I got a 9 minute single :/
Click to expand...

ben1996123 -

This was a "feature". I never intended to make these 'Plex puzzles stand alone, so the buttons were really intended...... oh-h-h who am I kidding? I screwed up.... again! This is a residual that got left behind.

I see you found one on QII too. I'll go after that one next!

- george
 
Congrats to Meep for figuring out Quadplex II. Here's my method/explanation:
For convenience I'll call the big hexagons "edges", the small squares "corners", and the small triangles "centers". I'll use the colors in my sim: clockwise from the top, we have green, lime, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, cyan. I'll call the four faces U, R, F, and L.

The first method I used works like this:
1) Solve the red edges and corner, and then the green edges and corner. Edges should be obvious; we can move corners around with sequences of only F and U moves.
2) Solve the blue edges and corner, then the yellow edges and corner. We can move edges with algs like UL'U', and once the edges are solved we can move corners around with sequences of only L and R moves, as in step 1.
3) Solve the remaining four edges and five corners. The edges can be moved with algs like U'RUR', and the corners with algs like L'RLR'. I usually solve the purple and orange edges/corners first, which leaves two possible parity cases. First, cyan and lime are swapped; my solution is to do RU2R'U'RU'R' and then fix the green corner (LR'L'RU'). Second, we end up with a corner position that can't be solved with our 3-cycle alg; my solution is to do U'RUR'URU2R' and then fix the green corner (R'LRL'U2).
4) Now, we cycle all of the centers. It's very important to realize that the centers are actually in two separate orbits (groups of pieces that cannot be intermixed); each one contains 16 pieces. For instance, one orbit contains the four centers closest to the fixed point of the F face, the four centers closest to the fixed point of the U face, the four centers on the outside ring of R, and the four centers on the outside ring of L. I call this the UF orbit, and the other one is the LR orbit. When I do these pieces, I generally try to solve the outside pieces last because there are many of them (e.g. four yellow centers and four blue centers in the UF orbit) and so they're easier to keep track of. My alg looks like this: (LR'L'R) (U2FU2) (R'LRL') (U2F'U2). Note that a mirror (doing the LRLR cycles in the opposite direction) is also possible, and the F moves can be replaced with any turns of the F face, so you can cycle between any two of the four F centers. Being able to do this alg from any direction is recommended, and in fact, executing it 90 degrees off is required on this puzzle in order to solve the LR orbit.

So what's the improved method I've been using? Basically, I just try to blockbuild as many of the red and green centers as I can during the start, because that ends up saving some time, especially in the LR orbit, which I find a little more awkward. For red, I first build the two edges; imagine the F face is 180 degrees off from solved. Then I insert the center pointing down (R'LRL' or similar), the center (U moves), and the left/right pointing centers (LUL' and similar, and R'UR and similar). Finally I put in one or both of the other two centers (mostly U and F moves). Of course, all these algs require certain pieces to be in one of a few places, so I'll often move the red face to solved and do some other moves to set up the pieces for these steps. Now, for green, you can use similar moves (albeit a bit longer), but be aware that the parity algs will mess up some of your hard work, so it's up to you as to how risky you want to be with it. Each center you solve saves some significant time later on in the cycling step.

So yeah, it's kinda complicated, which is why I wouldn't be surprised if there's something way better out there. It's something, though, and after a bunch of solves you can get used to what you need to do.
 
qqwref said:
Congrats to Meep for figuring out Quadplex II. Here's my method/explanation:
For convenience I'll call the big hexagons "edges", the small squares "corners", and the small triangles "centers". I'll use the colors in my sim: clockwise from the top, we have green, lime, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, cyan. I'll call the four faces U, R, F, and L.

The first method I used works like this:
1) Solve the red edges and corner, and then the green edges and corner. Edges should be obvious; we can move corners around with sequences of only F and U moves.
2) Solve the blue edges and corner, then the yellow edges and corner. We can move edges with algs like UL'U', and once the edges are solved we can move corners around with sequences of only L and R moves, as in step 1.
3) Solve the remaining four edges and five corners. The edges can be moved with algs like U'RUR', and the corners with algs like L'RLR'. I usually solve the purple and orange edges/corners first, which leaves two possible parity cases. First, cyan and lime are swapped; my solution is to do RU2R'U'RU'R' and then fix the green corner (LR'L'RU'). Second, we end up with a corner position that can't be solved with our 3-cycle alg; my solution is to do U'RUR'URU2R' and then fix the green corner (R'LRL'U2).
4) Now, we cycle all of the centers. It's very important to realize that the centers are actually in two separate orbits (groups of pieces that cannot be intermixed); each one contains 16 pieces. For instance, one orbit contains the four centers closest to the fixed point of the F face, the four centers closest to the fixed point of the U face, the four centers on the outside ring of R, and the four centers on the outside ring of L. I call this the UF orbit, and the other one is the LR orbit. When I do these pieces, I generally try to solve the outside pieces last because there are many of them (e.g. four yellow centers and four blue centers in the UF orbit) and so they're easier to keep track of. My alg looks like this: (LR'L'R) (U2FU2) (R'LRL') (U2F'U2). Note that a mirror (doing the LRLR cycles in the opposite direction) is also possible, and the F moves can be replaced with any turns of the F face, so you can cycle between any two of the four F centers. Being able to do this alg from any direction is recommended, and in fact, executing it 90 degrees off is required on this puzzle in order to solve the LR orbit.

So what's the improved method I've been using? Basically, I just try to blockbuild as many of the red and green centers as I can during the start, because that ends up saving some time, especially in the LR orbit, which I find a little more awkward. For red, I first build the two edges; imagine the F face is 180 degrees off from solved. Then I insert the center pointing down (R'LRL' or similar), the center (U moves), and the left/right pointing centers (LUL' and similar, and R'UR and similar). Finally I put in one or both of the other two centers (mostly U and F moves). Of course, all these algs require certain pieces to be in one of a few places, so I'll often move the red face to solved and do some other moves to set up the pieces for these steps. Now, for green, you can use similar moves (albeit a bit longer), but be aware that the parity algs will mess up some of your hard work, so it's up to you as to how risky you want to be with it. Each center you solve saves some significant time later on in the cycling step.

So yeah, it's kinda complicated, which is why I wouldn't be surprised if there's something way better out there. It's something, though, and after a bunch of solves you can get used to what you need to do.
Click to expand...

My pure 3-cycle was [ Doublesune , F2 ], though sunes in general were helpful with the blockbuilding lol

Edit: 11mins ): I keep messing up my F-R sunes. My method's building everything but the top circle, then use my Square-cycle [Sune,F2] and my triangle-cycle [Doublesune,F2] to solve the last circle either with a buffer or just a bunch of setups.

Edit2: 7mins, forgot a setup for an F-R sune again. ): Building the first 3 circles became a lot easier. Also found an O perm for top-circle squares: Righty Sune + Lefty Sune + U'

Okay I can probably build the bottom 3 circles sub1:30 now lol, I make 'hammers' on adjacent circles and connect them to their center, then build a 'bullet' and place that with the hammers to build a block. If that made sense. Might take screenshots of what I mean if people are interested.
 
Last edited:
uhallgeo said:
qqwref-

This bug is (hopefully was) a serious problem. Since you're a coder......

Most of my career I've been doing embedded stuff. It's really straightforward to push ones and zeros around. This working with humans stuff is a real nightmare. The UI is 90 percent of the code! And, working with events through the web is all brand new to me. None of which I ever had to work about before.

But.... this is fun!

- george
Click to expand...

I think the problem's that you can't move anything while the GO! text is still there. You can only make moves as soon as it completely fades away (Which takes ~1 sec).
 
Meep said:
I think the problem's that you can't move anything while the GO! text is still there. You can only make moves as soon as it completely fades away (Which takes ~1 sec).
Click to expand...

Meep-

Yeah.... that's another 'feature'. I actually did put that in. The timer should start within the same 33 millisecond period after 'Go' fades completely. I never liked that "Ready - Set - Go" script. I really hate being an artist whose the equivalent of a third-grader with a box of broken crayons, but.... that's what I be.

I'll see if I can come up with something better for the compilation. If you want to suggest anything, you'll find I'm listening.

- george
 
Meep said:
Okay I can probably build the bottom 3 circles sub1:30 now lol, I make 'hammers' on adjacent circles and connect them to their center, then build a 'bullet' and that with the hammers and place the block. If that made sense. Might take screenshots of what I mean if people are interested.
Click to expand...
Huh, interesting. I'd like to see how you do this (a video, perhaps?).
 
Cool technique. I experimented a little, and I think this is a reasonable amount to try to solve "intuitively" (nothing more complex than sunes and 4-move comms):

quadplex2intuitive.png
 
qqwref said:
Cool technique. I experimented a little, and I think this is a reasonable amount to try to solve "intuitively" (nothing more complex than sunes and 4-move comms):
Click to expand...

It wouldn't be too much more to get the red blue and yellow triangles in too. The purple and brown square+hexagons can be easily inserted with just RUR' or L'U'L, and the last center's hexagons/squares can be done with sunes. I take advantage of sunes/doublesunes inserting triangles into the middle-D triangle while messing up the top circle when solving purple/brown, so I don't have to do my long comms.
 
I'll definitely have to play around with it some more. I got a 1:33 single with a heavier blockbuilding strategy, but then I was back to the normal 2:00ish solves, so it definitely needs some tweaking. The big question for me is how many pieces I can get done without using too many moves (as compared to the commutator step).
 
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