Is a cave in more likely further from the minehole?

[Jalpha]

Pretty much as the topic title asks I'm trying to work out if cave ins become more likely the further you get from the minehole and/or the nearest support.

The other option is that certain areas are just literally riddled with caveins like swiss cheese.

[DDDsDD999]

Minehole has a cave-in protection radius of a wooden support. Cave-ins cannot occur under a protection radius.

Cave-ins can occur on tiles adjacent to a tile that produces dust when mined.

[Jalpha]

I was aware of those basic mechanics, the distance I'm talking about is much further than this. I've mined aproximately two full view distances from the minehole using no supports just avoiding cave ins along the way. However I've now hit an area where a cave in seems highly likely. Instead of being able to mine in a relatively direct line in any direction I seem to run into a possible cave in mo matter which direction I mine in.

I ran the gauntlet for a bit but it seems like cave ins are getting more and more likely in every direction.

I'll try another direction from the minehole and see if the same thing happens.

[Granger]

The unstable tiles seem to cluster at some areas, other areas are nearly free of them.
I think it's unrelated to any cave entrances / mineholes placed.

[Asgaroth22]

The unstable tiles seem to cluster at some areas, other areas are nearly free of them.
I think it's unrelated to any cave entrances / mineholes placed.

I too think that. I had to use supports for like 3 minimaps of mining out from minehole entrance, and after that no cave-in tiles for another 2 minimaps.

[Jalpha]

Yea, upon further exploration it appears that unstable tiles were seeded in much the same way as veins but much less dense. You hit a few unstable tiles along the edge and if you keep going forward they become more numerous. It's very difficult to find a way around one of these areas.

In short it is possible to mine without supports to an extent but when you start hitting unstable tiles it might be prudent to build a few supports to get you through the hotspot.