Cube Momentum
- File name sp_a1_intro5
- Appearance Courtesy Call
- Native to Challenge Mode Yes
- World Record loading...
- Least Portals loading...
Contents
Overview
Cube Momentum is easily the most complicated map up to this point in the game for most new players. Speedruns for this map, however, are fairly straightforward, and much easier than doing the map intended so long as you understand the concepts.
General Route
Location of the trigger that opens the Orange Portal
After you circle jump out of the elevator, wall strafe up near the door, and stop with a small distance between you and the door. Similar to Smooth Jazz, hopping under the door will be optimal for this map. The reasoning for this hop pattern is different in this map, as the trigger to open the orange portal for you is farther ahead, where the floor transitions into a more uniform surface. A good circle jump under the door gives you extra speed, allowing you to open the orange portal sooner.
Shoot a portal on the smooth ground between you and the cage-like broken wall. Your goal is to fall through this portal and air strafe right, aiming towards the button. The fastest way to fall through the portal is if you crouch while falling. The current world record does not use this method, since it's a relatively new development. As you move to the right, your goal is to turn around, press the button, and turn back around in time to continue walking towards the wall on the right side.
Once you reach the wall, shoot your blue portal onto it, then Portal Stand so you can see the raised area with the exit door and floor button to your left. A quick overview/tutorial of the portal stand is that you want to be standing in a portal, shoot a new portal to the left wall near the floor button, then push backwards into the orange portal you came out of to avoid being pushed out by the portal. If you're having trouble, hugging the orange portal too tight will result in your being pushed out more often than not, you want to be relatively far out of the orange portal, just without falling.
When shooting the portal near the floor button, the farther away your portal is from the right corner of the wall, the faster you can reach the exit door at the end, but the harder it is to aim the follow up shot underneath the cube dropper on the right. Zypeh, in his world record, shoots more than a panel away from the corner, but newer runners are encouraged to shoot closer to the corner if they are struggling with the follow up shot.
After shooting the blue portal and stepping back through the orange, aim towards the cube dropper on the right and shoot under the cube. There are fast / safe variants detailed in the Challenge Mode / Full Game sections, but the basic method for getting the cube is to shoot underneath it, turn left to face the nearby wall, wait a fraction of a second, then place a new portal in front of you and grab the cube that has just fallen onto the other side of the portal (this is a Single Portal Cube Grab).
Once you have the cube, hold your +back key and reverse past the button. We hold the +back key because there is a small delay between picking up and being able to drop a cube. This delay lasts roughly the same time it takes to move past the button, so it is ideal to move backwards, drop the cube on the button, and then hop through the door.
Challenge Mode Specific
World Record run by Swagatron
In Challenge Mode, the main optimizations are to try to strafe as far to the right as possible when leaving the first portal, and hit the button with a (larger than will initially feel comfortable) turn to the right.
During your portal stand, you want to shoot farther to the left, so that you come out closer to the door. This makes shooting under the cube more challenging, but the muscle memory for the line-up comes with practice.
Faster Cube Grab
The fastest way to get the cube in Cube Momentum, is to:
- Make sure that you finish your portal stand quickly. Your timer on this strategy begins once you hit the button, so you'll have to be quick.
- Shoot the portal for the cube while the cube is still falling.
- Replace the portal, and hit your '+use' key to grab the cube as soon as possible.
If done correctly, the cube should come through the portal, towards you, as opposed to falling outside the portal, as it does in the slower, more consistent strategy, where you'll need to stand by your portal to grab it. With this strategy, you should be able to start moving backwards almost as soon as you finish your portal stand.
Full Game Specific
Example in a Single Segment run by Can't Even
Safer Cube Grab
This method is far safer than the challenge mode approach while not losing much time. Even in challenge mode, this method can be used to earn a time on the leaderboard if performed quickly.
To perform this method:
- After you step backwards out of the portal stand, look right to where the cube is on the floor underneath the dropper.
- Shoot a portal under the cube, then quickly look at the wall next to you and re-shoot. You want to stand near where you're going to shoot the second portal, as the cube might be out of your reach if you're too far from the portal.
It is possible to shoot the final portal too quickly, preventing the cube from falling through the portal you shot underneath it (if you look back towards the cube dropper and the cube is still there, this is likely what happened). Practice to get a good feel for the timing, as this map is almost entirely muscle memory.
Full Game Dialogue
Note: Dialogue can sometimes fail to trigger with non-centered cube placement. Attempt to place the cube in the center of the floor button to ensure the dialogue triggers.
The optimal dialogue for the Elevator Fade is entering the elevator while the Announcer says "constructs."
"Well done! The Enrichment Center reminds you that although circumstances may appear bleak, you are not alone. All Aperture Science personality constructs [Enter Elevator] will remain functional in apocalyptic, low power environments of as few as 1.1 volts."