When doing the Underground Ruins mission on New Romulus, one of my Bridge Officers accidentally triggered an overload of the Iconian geothermal power core. For some reason she didn't seem to concerned about it, despite the fact that an overload would destroy nearly all life on the planet, just like it did 150,000 years ago. But whatever...

I don't know how to stop the overload. From what I can see, I can't interact with any of the power nodes at all, and it seems all I have to do is kill Tholians until the timer reaches 0. The problem is when the Tholian Captain spawns, he uses a wide-area firebomb that instantly and simultaneously destroys all 4 power nodes. I don't see how anyone could possibly stop that. Is it even possible to save the power nodes?

This seems like a ridiculous optional on several levels. One, I don't see how to save the nodes from the Tholian Captain's special attack. Two, failing to save the node destroys New Romulus. Three, given the dire consequences of the overload, why is it optional, and why does my Bridge Officer seem so unconcerned about it? I mean, I would be ****ting my pants in fear at that point.

Any suggestions? I would like to redo this mission and complete the optional if possible.

Haven't done it in awhile, but I think it's the last misison in Romulan Reputation you're talking about? Basically to stop the surge, just run over to the console and F interact with it. Your boffs can basically take care of the tholian spawns if you do on Normal.

Yep, having Your BOffs place some Quantum Mortars and Phaser Turrets before activating the console for the last part and assigning them spots around the central area does help with the mission, too. You should be able to run towards the activated console in the meantime and be able to concentrate Your fire on the Captain afterwards. Do not forget to contact D'Tan and send in Your report before departure (using the "Beam Up"-button next to Your mini-map).

You can only interact with the concole that is overloading. You even get a note from your first officer, which one overloads. But dont worry, the first run is always the most difficult.

Alright that's probably what got me. I checked a couple of the nodes at the start and didn't see what I was supposed to do with them. I don't remember seeing any comments from my Bridge Officers either but once the Tholians spawned I was focused on fighting them so I probably missed it.

For some reason all 4 nodes went down when the Tholian Captain used his firebomb, so I assumed that's what knocked them all out. I will have to try again and get a feel for how it works.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

There's a progress bar over whichever one is overloading. Every time you get the heads up note, swivel the camera around to all four corners and see which one has a bar.

It might look like they all went down at once if you're in the middle fighting Tholians, but they go down one at a time. The timer runs out shortly after the Tholian Captain shows up, so the firebomb lining up with the failure condition is just coincidence.