Mine Supports and the Cave-in Particle

[TwentyThree]

If you have a mine support and mine the area, and the cave-in particle effect appears while mining, can you still keep mining without cave-ins?

*Directed at Jorbtar, mostly.

[rabidduck]

I don't think the particles signify anything Ive been seeing them for 20+ blocks deep,with no supports.

[jorb]

The particles are not insignificant.

[PhrozenFox]

The particles are not insignificant.

Stoic as always.

[Audiosmurf]

Here's how mining works. Courtesy of Sevenless.

Also the particles still appear in support range, as the tiles are still marked as cavein causing, you're just protected from any caveins happening.

[VDZ]

With supports, you can ignore the particles. They're harmless.

Without supports, particles indicate one of the surrounding tiles is unstable. Mining out an unstable tile causes a cave-in. You could continue mining and chances are you'll be fine, but there's also a good chance you'll hit the unstable tile and the cave falls on your head. However, the opposite is also true; if you do NOT see any particles directly after mining out a tile, that means the surrounding tiles are all safe. You can use this to keep mining without supports, though you'll have to avoid many tiles. (Please note that particles stop falling shortly after mining out the tile. This of course does not mean the tiles became safe, it just means you need to remember which tiles are safe and which ones aren't because the game won't keep track of it for you.)