Cave-Ins but I already played alot without them

[Rainbow Fresh]

I was curious about the option to enable cave-ins. As my difficulty is derived from slightly modified "standard" difficulty, I have been spending the last 1.5 in-game years all the way up to the break of the iron age with them being disabled. If I were to turn that on now just to see if that makes for a fun challenge:

- Does it affect any block existing in the world, or is this a world-gen condition that only applies to newly generated terrain?
- How bad/unforgiving is the collapsing? Like, will all my previously mined places just immediately implode on themselves when next updated or does it take some serious excavation to run into any issues?
- How exactly does it actually work?

[MKMoose]

15 minutes ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

- Does it affect any block existing in the world, or is this a world-gen condition that only applies to newly generated terrain?
- How bad/unforgiving is the collapsing? Like, will all my previously mined places just immediately implode on themselves when next updated or does it take some serious excavation to run into any issues?

If I recall correctly, the trigger only goes off on blocks adjacent to the block you mine. Your existing mines will not collapse by themselves, and if you expand them, the risks are the same as in a fresh mine, so you can try it in an existing world with little to no risk.

 

I'm kind of biased against it, but my honest recommendation would be not to bother, because I think that cave-ins are a buggy and unfinished mess that should never have been added to the game in this state. If you want to try it either way, keep in mind that support beams only work one way, though I don't remember which way at the moment.

[Rainbow Fresh]

17 minutes ago, MKMoose said:

If I recall correctly, the trigger only goes off on blocks adjacent to the block you mine. Your existing mines will not collapse by themselves, and if you expand them, the risks are the same as in a fresh mine, so you can try it in an existing world with little to no risk.

 

I'm kind of biased against it, but my honest recommendation would be not to bother, because I think that cave-ins are a buggy and unfinished mess that should never have been added to the game in this state. If you want to try it either way, keep in mind that support beams only work one way, though I don't remember which way at the moment.

That bad, eh?

I was just curious thinking the risk of cave-ins would give me a reason to build proper, supported, good looking mineshafts over just digging straight until the propick says "you arrived at your destination". But if it's outright non-functionally bugged like that, maybe I should drop that sentiment.

[LadyWYT]

5 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

I was just curious thinking the risk of cave-ins would give me a reason to build proper, supported, good looking mineshafts over just digging straight until the propick says "you arrived at your destination".

I recall @Thorfinn saying once that the cave-in mechanic really only matters if you're digging under affected rock layers--it doesn't account for digging from the top down. So if a player is always working methodically from top to bottom they should, in theory, be able to mine mostly as normal without needing to account for support beams. Of course, I'm not entirely sure either, since I don't play with the mechanic enabled.

Doesn't hurt to make a backup of your world and try it out though. That way you can undo whatever happened if you decide it's not something you enjoy. I do know that it can make landslides a lot worse, so you may consider a mod like Sticky Dirt if you decide you enjoy the mechanic but think the landslides are a little much.

[Slam]

5 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

That bad, eh?

I was just curious thinking the risk of cave-ins would give me a reason to build proper, supported, good looking mineshafts over just digging straight until the propick says "you arrived at your destination". But if it's outright non-functionally bugged like that, maybe I should drop that sentiment.

I personally when mining ore, can just away with 7x7 as long as there’s a piller of unmined blocks in the middle, and making sure there’s not one gap bigger the 3 blocks between pillers.

Though it can cause problems if mining up, since you’d be breaking an unstable block.

[Moa]

I found them scary af at first, but... You can have an unfathomably large quantity of rock land directly on your head, then just press jump to emerge onto the top of the pile, and be pretty much fine. They don't hit near as hard as they you'd think. I eventually started just tanking them instead of putting much effort into avoiding them, and using poultices or taking a break when needed. So they're sometimes just annoying.

I also find it jarring from an immersion perspective, because the fact that some blocks can be unstable and fall makes it feel a lot weirder that other blocks (especially player-placed building materials like cobblestone or polished stone) can't. Although maybe it doesn't make sense that I feel that way, quite, since gravel and sand falling don't bother me the same way. I guess maybe it's because gravel and sand is a lot more intuitive and predictable; it always behaves the way it behaves, and there's no "repeatedly looking at certain blocks to read a percentage number" element that feels more UI than world. (It's also possible I would have less of this problem if I'd turned dirt collapse on, since then at least the stone wouldn't be weirdly more unstable than the dirt, but the one time I tried that option I instantly hated it, quit, and started over without it.)

Though, sometimes the cave-ins help me find that last little bit of ore that was hiding in the ceiling =P And I like the sound effect and the dust clouds. 

I'm actually not sure whether or not I'll turn it on for my next world. I guess I don't feel especially strongly either way.

I think it's worth trying. But it's maybe worth checking if there are some mods available that might improve things.