...you blow your own legs off with an exploding mantis. I was wondering if the explosions caused by the perk could hurt you or not, and know I know the answer. The Meltdown explosions can and will hurt anything within range, including you. I'm not sure yet how people react to there friends being killed by the blast. The explosion looks like a small plasma cloud; there's a screenshot and the end of this post.

The perk description says, "Foes killed by your Energy Weapons emit a corona of harmful energy. Note: This can cause a chain reaction."

My first reaction was, "That sounds awesome". When I encountered a group of geckos attacking a settler near the well, I shot one of them with my Laser Pistol. It exploded setting off a chain reaction that killed the settler as well as the three geckos, and sent body parts flying in all directions. My reaction was, "Holy ****, this is ****ing awesome".

A little while later I encountered a Mantis. I laughed at it's tiny size and harmless attack, and then shot it in the head. Like most animals, it prefers to fight close range so it was standing at my feet when it died. I had quite a good laugh when the Meltdown explosion blew my legs clean off sending my body airborne.

Now I'm beginning to wonder if this perk is a good idea.

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/157/meltdown.png

Ya I was suspecting meltdown had a very bad side to it;/ Its off my perk list now for all characters...