here's an idea for a new mine support

[Ysh]

miner's helmet

Needs metal, which you don't have at the beginning.

I believe he is replying to my suggesting of new helmet which function like miner's helmet but do not cost metal. This seem to make more sense to me for this purpose than to add new kind of support.

[Vigilance]

tbh i'd be willing to spend the same amount of metal it currently takes me to repair my support on a helmet that would give me an extra life when im playing the new and improved w11 mining game

[Machenoid]

This would perhaps be too good.

In real life it's called "Cribbing" when it's made of wood and "Backfill" when it's made of excavated stone.

If you were stupid enough to try to use the "Cribbing" support type to actually mine with, the entire mineshaft would suffer a total collapse because there's simply no space for the rocks to go except to hit all of the other supports.
It wouldn't just delete you... It'd delete your entire mineshaft, which would have to be excavated diagonally because that would be more efficient for tile protection (doubling the amount of time to recover your character's body)
Spending one whole stockpile worth of wooden blocks (and maybe some chipped stones) to prevent a "lone assassin" cave-in from a cavern wall is a good starting option, because once you get metal it would be terrible, as it should be.

All that being said, it would be much nicer to see mining features that made mines look like... actual mines.

[Saxony4]

We really need timbering. I don't care if I have to haul in 20 logs to shore up a cave, it's simple and it works.

[bluebooksky]

A support that can be made without metal and wax and only covers a tiny area, just enough to probe cave walls, would be something.
Simply because playing the blindfolded cave-in slot machine when initially breaking cave walls isn't a good mechanic, IMHO.

i mean its really not that complicated of a mechanic. if you can grasp basic minesweaper youve got a hold on mining in this game. its just that like minesweeper, make a mistake once and you lose the entire game.

my issue is minesweeper is not haven and hearth. For me it breaks immersion of a survival game.

[Machenoid]

We really need timbering. I don't care if I have to haul in 20 logs to shore up a cave, it's simple and it works.

Upgrade the cave entrance or mineshaft to let a cart through, damned if i'm hauling them in 1 by 1.

Add another upgrade to the mineshaft and give it an elevator to dig 1 level deeper, and requires hard metal, steel, and lots of rope.

[Saxony4]

Upgrade the cave entrance or mineshaft to let a cart through, damned if i'm hauling them in 1 by 1.

You can move carts in and out of caves though